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Ask HN: How do you organize work and personal computers at your home office?

5 points by throwaway92838 ↗ HN
I WFH. I have personal and work laptops, and I find it cumbersome to switch between them in my home office. Even having a thunderbolt docking station doesn't help too much. If I just want to do some quick browsing, unlocking the work computer is just more convenient than unplugging the dock, plugging it in the personal computer and starting it up.

If you WFH, do you also feel the same? How do you organize work and personal computers?

9 comments

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andrewfromx
what a great question. I worked as a W2 employee for a big company and their policy was you should use their provided laptop BUT you were allowed to use your own if you wanted. You just had to agree that in the event that your laptop was stolen or lost and someone got all their code, YOU were personally liable and the company could sue you. My question was always, has a lawsuit like that ever actually happened to some lowly developer? Like wouldn't I need to pass a credit check first then if they really thought I could cover the millions?

(but to answer your question I'm working 1099 now and it's great! Just 1 laptop. I really hate that switch-a-roo game.)

hakkoru
I put a second desk in my office. One for my work laptop, the other for my personal desktop. I roll my chair between the two if I need a quick non-work browsing break.
jareds
I use a KVM switch so I can share the same keyboard and headphones between two computers by pressing a button. I know KVM switches also allow you to share monitors but I don't have any experience with this since I'm blind and don't need external monitors.
gidorah
I have a personal desktop and work laptop. I git my brother to 3d print some brackets for the latop to wall mount it. I have a usb switcher for peripherals and hdmi over separate inputs to the moniter.

Switching between computers is a case of desktop button to switch peripherals, then switch monitor iputs.

legitster
I used a KVM switch for a while, but my company Macbook just really doesn't work well with a lot of peripherals and accessories.

I moved my office into a bigger space and now just have a desk for my computer and a desk for work and put up with the mess.

beardyw
When I was working from home I had separate users with distinctively different themes on the same machine. Come "home time" I logged out of one and into the other. Maybe you don't have that option?
throwaway92838
Yeah, I had that with a dual boot laptop which I used as a personal and work device. Some companies demand you use their own equipment, which is my current situation.
thanatos519
I have a dual 4k desktop (landscape centre, portrait on the right) and add my work laptop to the left via x2x.

(a more or less transparent and zero latency process, no translation like say synergy; feels like the laptop is just a 3rd monitor)

Then on one of my virtual desktops I have shells onto the laptop and a browser using my work profile, just for bookmarks etc.... Only the laptop is on VPN, but I never touch it thanks to x2x.

When I am not working, the laptop is in its bag.