Home office peripheral sharing setup

Question

In my current situation I have a set of peripherals that I would like to share between my home PC and my work laptop:

• 2 screens (HDMI/DVI)
• Keyboard
• Mouse

The following configurations would be the most common:

1. All peripherals to laptop (work on double screens + laptop screen)
2. All peripherals to laptop (work on only double screens)
3. All peripherals to PC (use everything for PC)
4. (Optional) Use both at the same time

When researching this I mostly stumble upon KVM switches but I can't seem to find a conclusive answer that these configurations are common or easy to use. The idea is that I can connect my laptop easily and start work without having to connect multiple wires and then after work switch to my leisure PC without a real hassle.

Would this be possible with a single KVM switch like this?

Answer 1

If the machines are close enough (1 or 2 meters), you can use a KVM Switch (Belkin or others) that allows inputs for mouse, keyboard and screen.

The KVM switch will use USB inputs for mouse and keyboard, and HDMI or other (depending on your gear) for the screen.

I have used KVM switches for rack mounted servers and the concept works just fine.

(Optional) Use both at the same time

No, that is not practical.

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If the machines are well separated (work and play machines should not be close together) then the KVM concept gets more difficult.

Look at your setup, distances and look at KVM Switches that might fit your situation.

If the machines are in very different areas (mine are), sharing screen, mouse and keyboard is impractical and you would need these items for both machines.