HN Explorer

Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

3 points by devShark ↗ HN
At work, I need to work with 3 laptops (3 mac book pros).

My employer is happy to pay for whatever hardware or software to make it easier.

What setup should I go for?

I thought about the following options

1) my current setup I simply have the 3 laptops sitting on the desk, and 1 screen. I move one laptop to the center of the desk, unplug the hdmi cable to the screen of the other laptop, and plug it in the laptop I want to use. This is a bit unwieldy, and there's a lot of unplugging/replugging

2) 1 keyboard, 1 trackpad, 1 screen A better option might be to have 1 external keyboard, 1 external trackpad, 1 screen. Laptops would stay on the side of the desk, and I would have a little hardware box on which I click a button that says which laptop the screen/keyboard/trackpad are linked to. Does such a box even exist? Does it make sense?

There are probably good options that I am missing. I'd be grateful for any thoughts. Thanks!

13 comments

[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 42.2 ms ] thread
misterioss
Logitech MX series has buttons to switch between up to 3 different devices. It's not your case but close.
devShark
Ok, I will look into that. Thank you
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
chunkles
The hardware box you probably want is called a KVM switch. It lets you have one keyboard/mouse/monitor and switch between source computers.
dcminter
Given that you'd already speculated about something similar, sounds like KVMs are the way to go.

You could also take a look at https://symless.com/synergy or something similar (I think there's an open source version too).

I assume you've already considered ssh-ing into them from one "master" machine?

mackatsol
Synergy or a similar software KVM. Works well.. one of my kids is using that for school, iMac is the main screen and laptop is for video calls. All managed from the iMac.
hkarthik
I have 3 machines: 1 work MBP, 1 personal MBP, and a windows desktop for gaming.

I tried several solutions but recently purchased a LevelOne Tech KVM. Best solution I've found thus far (albeit a little pricey).

https://store.level1techs.com/?category=Hardware

Find the 4 port option which works best for you (single or dual display). This thing has been bulletproof so far.