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Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

by devShark on 1/15/22, 8:47 AM with 12 comments

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!

  • by mackatsol on 1/15/22, 4:42 PM

    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.

  • by hkarthik on 1/15/22, 8:10 PM

    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.

  • by nakrou on 1/15/22, 9:32 AM

    What you’re referring to in #2 is called a KVM. Ones with more than two input PCs are kinda uncommon, but here’s the first one I saw on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TESmart-DisplayPort-Switcher-Supports...

    You’ll need a DP cable and a USB-B cable for every laptop which might be annoying.

  • by chunkles on 1/15/22, 9:31 AM

    The hardware box you probably want is called a KVM switch. It lets you have one keyboard/mouse/monitor and switch between source computers.

  • by dcminter on 1/15/22, 4:25 PM

    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?

  • by taubek on 1/15/22, 9:42 AM

    I've never had a Mac so I don't know how specific they are when it comes to KVM implementations. Try to see if there is a reason why one would be called Mac compatible, e.g. https://www.kvm-switches-online.com/mac-kvm-switches.html

  • by misterioss on 1/15/22, 9:16 AM

    Logitech MX series has buttons to switch between up to 3 different devices. It's not your case but close.

  • by helloSam43 on 1/15/22, 10:10 PM

    upvote for synergy