4 screens with 2 laptops (Windows and OSX)

[logika]

Hello,

For my home office, I have two laptops that will be used as desktops and not move. (Macbook Pro 2015 and Samsung 7 Notebook). My goal is to have the PC on the bottom two screens and the top two screens running OSX. However, I also want to be able to switch between top and bottom screens as needed (for example when I am not doing my day job, I would like the bottom two displays to display OSX without having to replug cables).

What is the current best way of accomplishing this? Do I need an expensive KVM switch? All 4 monitors are HDMI only.

Thanks in advance!

 

[captaincharisma]

yea i think a KVM switch would be the best way to go for that since its two different computers with different operating system

 

[boosted1g]

So just to make sure I am understanding correctly you have 4 montiors, each monitor is dedicated to a specific screen of the PC/Mac and thus are you not toggling screens to each monitor, you just want a keyboard/mouse solution correct?

Since these systems do not move the best thing to do is run an applicaiton called synergy.
I use this at home and at work. With this software one sysem runs the software setup as a server, and the other system(s) run the client, once the applicaiton is started on both systems and synced you can roam your mouse over all 4 screens and use the keyboard for either system as well. No switches or moving cables required.

https://symless.com/synergy

 

[boosted1g]

I am not familiar with mac OS but with windows and linux you can set this up to run the software automatically at boot up. WIth windows you can choose to run it as a service or just drop synergys.exe in the startup folder, although I find running it as serviec to be more stable/reliable.

 

[logika]

Thanks for all the info and answers, let me clear some things up.

For me, the most important thing is to be able to toggle between mac and PC and switch the displays from top two to bottom two without having to unplug the cables.

Example: My main OS is Win10 on the Samsung laptop, connected and running on the bottom two displays, while the OSX is running on top 2 screen (and has its own KB/Mouse or can run synergy whatever). When the workday is over, since my OSX setup is the audio production workstation, I would like to be able to switch to the bottom two screen (MAIN) and not have to unplug the cables etc

I know I love to make things complicated...

 

[boosted1g]

I must be missing something, if the OSX is on the top screens and the PC is on the bottom screens that what is the conflict, why are you needing to switch the screens if each display has its own dedicated screen????

Using 1 keyboard/mouse can easily be done using a standard KVM switch (dont need to hookup to monitor) or with synergy.

 

[logika]

Both machines only have two video out (MBP has one mini display to HDMI and HDMI to HDMI). My problem is that throughout the day, I must switch between Win10 being on two bottom screens to OSX being on two bottom screen and vice versa. If the laptops would have 4 outs, I would have no problem doing so, but I can only run 2 cables out of laptop to two of the screens...

 

[boosted1g]

So the PC stays on the bottom but at times you need to switch the mac from being on the top to being on the bottom???

If all displays are HDMI/DVI then you can get a 4x4 matrix switch and that will allow you to switch that way.

 

[logika]

One question, I see most of these HDMI switching devices only having one output. So it combines 3-6 inputs and outputs as one, is there anything that supports more switching? 4in/4out?

 

[boosted1g]

These work reasonibly ok: https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011310&p_id=5704&seq=1&format=2
For a professional business I would look more at one of these: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-VS440HDMI-Matrix-Switch-Splitter/dp/B0058DN9WU/ref=sr_1_16?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491332550&sr=1-16&keywords=4+x+4+hdmi+matrix+switch

I can tell you that the last generaiton of black box switches are rather flakey, and the ATEN was downright unusable.

 

[logika]

Got it, so essentially no good/cheap solution under $200.