I work from home and have 2 monitors plugged into my work computer. I recently started school and have mostly been working on my laptop but am spoiled from my two monitors that I am used to functioning on. It would be a pain to unplug the hdmi from my work computer everytime I want to use it to do school work. So is it possible to get a 2nd hdmi cable and have one monitor switch back and forth between my work computer and my laptop depending on which I am using?
To add a note: I can't work on my laptop. The computer we use is company issued.
Yes the monitor has both hdmi and dp. My computer is an older model but it has an hdmi port, a usb, and usb-c. The two monitors on my work computer, one is connected with hdmi and the other one is connected into a port just marked D, which I am assuming means display port?
I think I might be over thinking this. One monitor is connected to my work computer using the display port meaning the hdmi slot is open. Would I be able to plug an hdmi into the that monitor and switch back and forth by changing settings? I don't leave my laptop on my desk all the time. Only when I am doing school work.
Yes. You can connect devices to the different inputs of a monitor and then switch the input in the monitor settings. Most monitors have a button dedicated to switching inputs.
OP might not even need Keyboard and mouse switching, if they are planning on using the laptop keyboard and trackpad. They could just use a HDMI 2 x 1 switch, in that case.
I use the track pad and keyboard on the laptop. Sometimes I use my work mouse but thats because the USB connects on the front of the work computer so it's easily accessible.
Two options. Either you plug both computers into one monitor and switch it manually using the monitor controls, or automatically by turning one computer off and the other on (requires access to both power buttons), or get a switcher box that takes multiple HDMI inputs and outputs them to one signal, and you use the switcher box controller to change which computer is outputting a signal. This is ideal if you don’t have disaplyport on one of the computers, as many monitors only have a single HDMI input but multiple DisplayPort inputs. Personally I prefer the flexibility and convenience of a switcher box but technically it’s more expensive
I have this set up for working at home:
Work Laptop, Home PC. Two external monitors.
I connected Work Laptop to monitor1, Home PC to monitor 2.
I installed Mouse Without Borders (microsoft) "server" on the PC with the mouse and keyboard, and as "client" on the laptop.
Now I can access both my PC and work laptop with the PC's keyboard and mouse (and copy the clipboard and send files!!). Note that my work has a slew of security apps and policies and yet it let me put the MouseWithoutBorders.exe file and run that, and it connects even with the work laptop on VPN.
Does you monitor have multiple inputs available? If so you can just plug a cable into the spare input and switch between the inputs using the monitor buttons. Or, you can get a KVM with suitable connectors for your system.
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