2 monitors, 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, 2 PCs: Can I use dual monitors on two different machines?

[xoxfxjx]

I've got a personal PC I use for gaming, etc. and I just finished building a work PC provided by my employer. Both machines will be on my desk in my office and I'm looking for a way I can switch my peripherals (mouse, keyboard, and both monitors) between the two machines without having to switch a bunch of cables between the two machines twice a day. I'm aware of KVM switches but they are pricey and seem like they would make a nightmare of cables on my desk. I'm also aware of Remote Desktop with Windows 10, but I'm not sure exactly how it works and I'm worried about losing performance on the machine I would be remoting in to. Just looking for advice from anyone who has had the same issue and solved it successfully.

 

Thanks!

[LukeLinusFanFic]

Synergy or Mouse without borders should do the trick

[xoxfxjx]

23 minutes ago, LukeLinusFanFic said:

Synergy or Mouse without borders should do the trick

will those allow me to switch what my monitors are displaying between the machines?

[fuzz0r]

12 minutes ago, xoxfxjx said:

will those allow me to switch what my monitors are displaying between the machines?

If you don't want to shell out money for Synergy try out Barrier first.

It'll allow you to use 1 set of mouse+kb for several pc's.

 

It does NOT however switch what your monitors are displaying. If you don't have an extra monitor for the extra pc you'll probably need another solution.

[Mephi00]

For mouse and keyboard there are the before mentioned options, for the screens you could try to plug in one pc via hdmi and the other via dp and switch between them as the source for each monitor

the logitech mx master 3 has the option to use it on 3 different pcs, through pushibg a button on the bottom, not sure about keyboards tho

[xoxfxjx]

excuse my ignorance but i'm pretty new to this and i appreciate everyone's help. sounds like i can hook up both my monitors via hdmi to one pc and via dp to the other and switch between them through the settings on the monitors themselves. thanks @Mephi00! i'll switch the mouse and keyboard via something like this, i think: https://www.amazon.com/Switcher-Computers-Sharing-Keyboard-Selector/dp/B07TR2TVB8/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=keyboard+and+mouse+switch&qid=1580974395&s=electronics&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVzNSM1JUTUtDVkNIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjcwMTA2M1RaUTE0WDFIV0RONCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDk3MTAyN1ZCWlNDQTJMNlExJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Mephi00]

3 minutes ago, xoxfxjx said:

excuse my ignorance but i'm pretty new to this and i appreciate everyone's help. sounds like i can hook up both my monitors via hdmi to one pc and via dp to the other and switch between them through the settings on the monitors themselves. thanks @Mephi00! i'll switch the mouse and keyboard via something like this, i think: https://www.amazon.com/Switcher-Computers-Sharing-Keyboard-Selector/dp/B07TR2TVB8/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=keyboard+and+mouse+switch&qid=1580974395&s=electronics&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVzNSM1JUTUtDVkNIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjcwMTA2M1RaUTE0WDFIV0RONCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDk3MTAyN1ZCWlNDQTJMNlExJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

that works perfectly fine, glad I could help