What hardware do I need to achieve the following?

[skinnyman]

I have a single 34" monitor. It has 1 DP connection, and 1 HDMI connection. I have 2 desktop PCs I need to attach to it, 1 via the DP and the other the HDMI, that works fine. However, I also have a laptop from work with a HDMI port that I need to connect to the monitor when working from home.

So. Single monitor, 1 device via DP, 2 devices via HDMI.

[megaphone]

HDMI switch.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/vivanco-47157-du...

[FMOB]

An HDMI switch still leaves multiple keyboards and mice to manage, a KVM switch that supports hdmi/usb would be a cleaner solution.

[annodomini2]

Either a monitor with KVM support

Or a Kvm switch

[GuyW]

I suspect if you didn't list it, not an option! However, a good chunk of monitors these days have USB-C, allowing you to charge the device and display the monitor. Worth checking.

[skinnyman]

It's an Acer Predator X34P, I believe they came out in 2018, so unfortunately no USB-C.

So it's looking like I'll need a KVM switch. I've heard about them, but never used one, but I'm guessing this would allow me to switch the keyboard & mouse over to each device as well?

[Rustybanger]

My bluetooth keyboard & mouse allow up to 3 different connections. So I just press a button and switch to the other PC

[David_M]

GuyW said:

I suspect if you didn't list it, not an option! However, a good chunk of monitors these days have USB-C, allowing you to charge the device and display the monitor. Worth checking.

Also worth saying that it might work the other way around - ie if you have USB-C outputs on at least two of the PCs (laptop and one desktop) you could use a USB-C dock and then there is a single cable to connect to them and the dock can be connected to monitors, keyboard, mouse, camera etc.

[skinnyman]

Whilst the laptop does have USB-C output, the 2 desktops don't. One is an old server/multimedia PC, the other has a USB-C enabled motherboard, but I never connected it to the case, and might infact be USB-C input only.

The Bluetooth keyboard/mouse isn't an option, I use a USB wired mechanical keyboard.

I guess another option I could explore would be having the main PC and laptop connected to the monitor, then accessing the server via a Teamviewer-esque solution, I have a dummy HDMI plug for the motherboard.

[clockworks]

I had an iMac, a Mac Mini running Windows 10, and an HP Microserver running Windows Home Server. The Mini and Microserver were both "headless" (no monitor or keyboard).

I used the iMac to access the other two machines using Microsoft Remote Desktop.

[skinnyman]

clockworks said:

I had an iMac, a Mac Mini running Windows 10, and an HP Microserver running Windows Home Server. The Mini and Microserver were both "headless" (no monitor or keyboard).

I used the iMac to access the other two machines using Microsoft Remote Desktop.

I think I'm going to explore this option. I can access the main PC and works laptop via the DP & HDMI, then just access the server from the main desktop, less cables needed. It also means I can view the main PC and server side by side on the monitor (ultrawide), whereas the switch option would just be one output or the other.