Multiple Laptops Two Displays

[jenn158]

I work from home and have company issued Dell Latitude (running Widows 7). For personal use, I have a Macbook Pro (early 2015). I want to be able to dock both laptops to a dual monitor set up (would like two monitors to work off of one laptop). Would I need to purchase one docking station that supports both windows and mac or two docking stations (one for the windows PC and one for the Mac)?

 

[kohlson]

There may be other reasons you would want a dock, but an early 2015 MBP can easily support 2 monitors without a dock. Two TB/mini-displayport and an HDMI. If you want to have a single cable to unplug/replug between the 2 systems, I'm not aware of any.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

What display-capable port(s) does that Latitude have?
How many displays can the Latitude support simultaneously?
What input(s) does each monitor have?
If one or both monitors have multiple inputs, can you manually switch between the inputs?

The answers to these questions will determine the possible solutions.

 

[jenn158]

What display-capable port(s) does that Latitude have?
How many displays can the Latitude support simultaneously?
What input(s) does each monitor have?
If one or both monitors have multiple inputs, can you manually switch between the inputs?

The answers to these questions will determine the possible solutions.

1. 3 (I'm assuming the 3rd is the laptop display itself).
2. HDMI & VGA
3. I'm getting new monitors for this set up. I want something decent, but not crazy expensive. I do mostly productivity work with a bit of video editing.
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There may be other reasons you would want a dock, but an early 2015 MBP can easily support 2 monitors without a dock. Two TB/mini-displayport and an HDMI. If you want to have a single cable to unplug/replug between the 2 systems, I'm not aware of any.

I was hoping to have one wire that I could plug and unplug between both laptops.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

The simplest way to do this is to buy displays that can switch between a minimum of two inputs. All you would then need would be the appropriate cables and/or adapters to connect the computers.

Example:

computer A: HDMI output into HDMI input of monitor A, VGA output into VGA input of monitor B
computer B: HDMI output into HDMI input of monitor B, VGA output into VGA input of monitor A

This gives you the added flexibility of having one computer drive both monitors, or having a single display for each computer.

If switchable displays are not practical, there are external A/B switches available for various types of display connectors.

Whatever you do in this regard, the "solution" will likely require modification the next time you get a new computer - different cables/adapters.

You cannot avoid having two display cables for each computer. The only question is whether there's a docking station available that lets you connect the entire computer to the docking station in a single act, with the two display cables running from the docking station to the displays (or display switches). The answer for the MacBook Pro is simple - there is none. If there is one for the Latitude, I wouldn't know.