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Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

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Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

#1
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!

Re: Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

#7
post #5

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.

ok, thanks, I will look into that.

Re: Ask HN: Setup for 3 Laptops

#9
post #6

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

Ok, good point. Thank you
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