Utilizing a desktop remotely over the network

[Bladactania]

I couldn't find an appropriate sub-forum for this post, so hopefully this one will suffice.

My mother is currently using a laptop that's around 5 years old and is starting to think about a new PC.  I've been trying to convince her to purchase a small form-factor desktop to put in her arts & craft studio.  She uses the computer mainly for simple/general computing tasks with a heavy emphasis on web browsing and video streaming (YouTube, Netflix, Ustream etc... she likes to have about a thousand tabs open at once!) I think this will free up some space on her work area that's currently taken up by her laptop all the time.  The issue, however, is during the summer months, she likes to spend the daytime outside on the back porch where she takes the laptop (she's still doing the same kind of stuff on the machine).

So, I was thinking it might be possible for her to get herself a nice desktop PC with a decent monitor that would free up her desk space but still take her older laptop outside during the summer and remotely access the desktop PC from the laptop over the network and kind of get the best of both worlds.  I have some limited experience with remotely accessing my own PC over the internet with TeamViewer, but I'm not sure if that software or any other is capable of the same thing over the  local network to increase the response time.

My questions, then, are 1) is this kind of setup possible/plausible? 2) would utilizing this setup provide a sufficient usability that no major headaches would result? 3) would simply getting her a new laptop be better?

I'm also open to any other suggestions that could provide a solution to the two-fold solution.

Thank you, as always.

[RedWulf]

I think I might have missed something here but yes, if its windows you can use RDP thats built in. it requires a certain speed to run smoothly but i doubt that will be an issue. 

 

I have a laptop with a busted screen so I use rdp from my desktop to use the laptop as a lacky. 

[Mark77]

Sounds like a single laptop would do the trick.  If the laptop is being taken to/from places a lot, get a business quality one, like a Dell/HP/Lenovo refurb, and a docking station for where she has her "desktop".  That will save the connectors and facilitates easy plugging/unplugging of peripherals. 

 

The 5-year-old laptop itself might not be all that bad.  Have you done the basics like swapping it over to a SSD?  Nearly everyone I encounter who complains of poor performance on their 5-year-old hardware is easily satiated with a simple SSD upgrade, rather than full machine replacement. 

[Bladactania]

Mark: I haven't done any upgrading to the laptop, though I had considered looking into an SSD and maybe a RAM upgrade.  But the internal wireless has already failed.  It was upper low range when she bought it, so it wasn't exactly blistering when it was new.

She's fairly partial to the 17 inch screen on her current machine which makes choosing a replacement laptop somewhat more difficult.  And with there being a somewhat limited budget, I thought getting a desktop might give more bang for the buck if remote usage was plausible.

I have set up a wired access point on the back porch since wireless signal outside was almost completely useless.  This makes network access optimal for my suggested setup... at least as optimal as possible.

[VinsinityKT]

I have used team viewer for my "servers". It seems pretty responsive and quick enough for my need to type in random command and mouse movements. Just screen size is a little wonky for me.