My work provides me with a Dell Latitude E6410 laptop, which at work, I hook up

[shochbrunn]

My work provides me with a Dell Latitude E6410 laptop, which at work, I hook up to a monitor using a docking station. In my home office, however, I've traditionally just used the computer as a laptop. However, I'm weary of crouching over it 10 hours a day, and wish to get a more ergonomic setup with a separate monitor and keyboard. Can I hook a monitor up to this laptop and a separate keyboard that I could place in a keyboard tray? I suppose I could invest in a docking station for my home setup, but I'm leery of doing that because I'll likely get a new laptop from work in a couple of years. Therefore, I'd like this new setup to be adaptable to a different laptop. Any ideas? I'd appreciate any help anyone can provide. Thank you!

 

[unksol]

you could oh, idk... plug a keyboard, monitor and mouse into it... like you just said...

anyway don't post your email in a forum. unless you want spam of course

 

[yoji]

even if you get a docking station - you still need monitor/mouse/keyboard.

I work from home - dont bother with a docking station - just plug the monitor in via the laptop output, USB keyboard and Mouse... and USB softphone... and im set.
Boot laptop with lid closed... and output goes to monitor and picks up its resolutions etc - so I get a nice 1600 x 1200 res to work with... better that the office

HTH
Cheers

 

[shochbrunn]

you could oh, idk... plug a keyboard, monitor and mouse into it... like you just said...

anyway don't post your email in a forum. unless you want spam of course

thanks... guess I'd better get prepared for spam. How dumb of me!

 

[shochbrunn]

even if you get a docking station - you still need monitor/mouse/keyboard.

I work from home - dont bother with a docking station - just plug the monitor in via the laptop output, USB keyboard and Mouse... and USB softphone... and im set.
Boot laptop with lid closed... and output goes to monitor and picks up its resolutions etc - so I get a nice 1600 x 1200 res to work with... better that the office

HTH
Cheers

That's good stuff.. thanks! Though I must admit that I have no idea of how to boot up a laptop with the lid closed.

 

[WR2]

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[WR2]

Though I must admit that I have no idea of how to boot up a laptop with the lid closed.

The lid need not be closed.
Just move the laptop off to the side.
Gives you the opportunity to use the laptop's monitor as a 2nd screen which can be very handy and can also increase productivity in certain situations.

 

[WR2]

 

[shochbrunn]

Thanks! I didn't know you could do that. I'm sure I sound really stupid to you experts out there, and well, I guess I am when it comes to this stuff. But I really appreciate the help. Most kind of you!

 

[yoji]

That's good stuff.. thanks! Though I must admit that I have no idea of how to boot up a laptop with the lid closed.

Some laptops have the boot button where you can press it with the lid closed... mine does not (HP6930) so you can open lid... press button to turn on and close lid quickly - so the laptop does not think it needs "go to sleep" or anything.

I did keep it simple... but as WR2 says - you can do much more... having both screens in use etc. I do that sometimes ... but the fact that you asking a very basic queston - I didnt want to overload you .. however, its good that you get an idea what can be done.. for when you feel ready.

Cheers

 

[shochbrunn]

Thank you, Yoji. Your comments are particularly helpful!

 

[danny2000]

Dell laptops use the Fn key and F4 or F8 to toggle through the display devices when the laptop is powered on.

 

[runswindows95]

I'm doing exactly what the photo WR2 posted. I have a 28" 1920X1200 monitor plus my laptop's 1366X768 screen running at the same time, and I use a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. It's great to run both screens when multi-tasking, and I prefer using a full-sized keyboard for I do heavy word processing (1,000+ words a day easily).

 

[daship]

Leave the laptop at work and buy a desktop for home. If you need to work @ home use remote software.

 

[yoji]

Leave the laptop at work and buy a desktop for home. If you need to work @ home use remote software.

TERRIBLE advice....you clearly dont practice your own advice in any meaningful way ... or you would not suggest it.

Cheers

 

[runswindows95]

Agreed. Why buy a computer when you get to use a work one for free?

 

[danny2000]

Leave the laptop at work and buy a desktop for home. If you need to work @ home use remote software.

This is actually excellent advice especially if you get the company to at least give you a computer to use at home.

Most of the computing can be done by the computer that is in the office building, and not the one that is at your home.

 

[yoji]

This is actually excellent advice especially if you get the company to at least give you a computer to use at home.

Most of the computing can be done by the computer that is in the office building, and not the one that is at your home.

Yes... GREAT plan... why not just get the company to pay for a pimped out gaming rig...and then do all the work on the other comp...
Wow... why didnt I think of that before... genius!!!!

FFS - be realistic.. and actually think about how you will be most productive!!

Cheers

 

[danny2000]

Yes... GREAT plan... why not just get the company to pay for a pimped out gaming rig...and then do all the work on the other comp...
Wow... why didnt I think of that before... genius!!!!

FFS - be realistic.. and actually think about how you will be most productive!!

Cheers

I was in desktop support for a large corporation, and that IS what we would do. You don't need a gaming rig; You just need a pc that is able to connect to the Internet and then VPN. The workhorse computer is needed in the office, not at the user's home. THINK!!!!!!

 

[yoji]

I was in desktop support for a large corporation, and that IS what we would do. You don't need a gaming rig; You just need a pc that is able to connect to the Internet and then VPN. The workhorse computer is needed in the office, not at the user's home. THINK!!!!!!

Yes - I can believe you were in desktop support... you are showing about as much appreciation of the real issues as I would expect.... which is prob why you on desktop support. And the sarcasm on the gaming rig... obviously a bit over your head....

I really cant be bothered to explain... so I will give some dots... and lets see if you have the nouce to join them..

Why people in big corps have laptops?...
Ahh - portability....
So they tend to keep stuff locally on laptop... never know when can be connected....
so when home or work... or hotel...or visiting family... or customers site.... or ..... want access to stuff on local machine..
hang on... you just got them working on 2 different machines...

Sure... we could give them chromebooks... but real world not like that atm.

I dont think its me thats not THINKing....

Cheers

 

[danny2000]

Most people who work at home do NOT need a laptop; This saves the company tons and tons of money by redeploying older computers instead of laptops. Yes, everyone WANTS a laptop, but they do not NEED one for home usage. You fail.

 

[yoji]

Most people who work at home do NOT need a laptop; This saves the company tons and tons of money by redeploying older computers instead of laptops. Yes, everyone WANTS a laptop, but they do not NEED one for home usage. You fail.

Jezz... you really are a muppet...

Your point was.... "The workhorse computer is needed in the office, not at the user's home."... so you advocating thay have 2? thats not cheaper that 1 laptop (esp when you consider licensing and support). And most people dont work at home 100% ... most are like me (and OP... lets not forget the original question!!) and spend some at home, some at office.. or travelling (e.g. sales people).

Anyway.. I a really done with you... you are a muppet and I have wasted more time on you than you deserve.

Cheers

 

[danny2000]

Jezz... you really are a muppet...

Your point was.... "The workhorse computer is needed in the office, not at the user's home."... so you advocating thay have 2? thats not cheaper that 1 laptop (esp when you consider licensing and support). And most people dont work at home 100% ... most are like me (and OP... lets not forget the original question!!) and spend some at home, some at office.. or travelling (e.g. sales people).

Anyway.. I a really done with you... you are a muppet and I have wasted more time on you than you deserve.

Cheers

You keep insulting people on here and this is NOT the place for that dude.

Redeploys, aka throw-aways or older computers; That is all that they need at home if they don't travel. Lots of people work at home, but never travel for business, thus, they don't need a laptop.

Anyhow, I would advise shochbrunn, to just get a KVM switch to hook-up his laptop to.
shochbrunn, if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse (if not, your job should be able to provide one for you to use at home) at home, then just get a KVM switch so that you you can just hook-up two computers or laptops.

 

[nocteratus]

I work as a desktop technician for a large company and we have about 40% of our users who have a laptop instead of a desktop. They need to have some mobility with their computer.
So at their desk we're using : http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/adet.to?poid=408593

It's a universal docking station. You plug everything in the docking station and then you plug the docking station to the laptop with only a USB.

 

[shochbrunn]

Well... I guess I stirred things up a bit! But debate is a good thing, and I sincerely appreciate all the comments. I tip my hat to all of you who spent time on this, trying to help out a complete stranger. I now have clear ideas about how to solve this problem, and that's due to this community. Thank you!