Multi-Computer Setup for Gaming and Music

[Kanthos]

I'm going to google around for this too, but any recommendations from someone who's tried something similar would be great.

I own a laptop, and usually use it sitting on the couch, as there's no good place for a desk in our living room and my wife and I hang out and watch TV most evenings. Being a laptop, it's not the best machine for gaming, and it gets pretty hot running Guild Wars 2 at the lowest settings, even with a usb-powered fan sitting underneath the computer.

What I'd like to do is get a decent gaming desktop, stash it somewhere out of sight, and use the keyboard, mouse or touchpad, and screen on my laptop to game using the desktop. I would also have the potential to use the desktop for additional audio sample processing.

Has anyone here done this before? If so, what would you suggest? I'd imagine it's possible to do either via a network connection or via a KVM switch or something similar.

Ideally, I want as few cables as possible; using the network cable I keep plugged into my laptop already would be great. Since it'll be used for gaming, performance does matter somewhat; I don't care about a really high frame rate, but I want to play without really noticeable lag.

Suggestions?

[Dhsu]

I think if this were an easy or cheap thing to do, there would be no market for gaming laptops. And OnLive wouldn't have laid off all its employees.

Technology's getting better all the time though, I wouldn't be surprised if this were a common setup in a few years when video through Ethernet and wireless displays become more widespread.

[Kanthos]

I found a service called StreamMyGame that basically charges a small monthly fee (or uses ads, in the free version) to stream the video and audio from one machine to another. I haven't seen much positive stuff about it though, and I'm certainly hesitant to save up for a desktop without knowing it will work well.

I wasn't expecting great results or a simple solution for this, but figured it was worth a shot.

[Moseph]

This might be what you're looking for, but it's expensive.

http://www.epiphan.com/products/frame-grabbers/kvm2usb/?gclid=CLPWlej7u4oCFQImUAodVUsXPg

[Rockos]

Or buying a laptop with amd A8 or A10.

Example: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3468681&CatId=4938

I have sold two of similar product. They were A6 And A8. The guys played skyrim on it and went perfect. No big lag issue. Smooth as ever.

So the A10 should be enough for any game at medium or low graphic. Or even making music.

[Kanthos]

My current laptop is great for music, and as far as CPU goes, good for the types of games I play too. I played Skyrim on mine, which is two years old now, without issue (with some of the graphics settings turned down, of course). The reason to go to a desktop would be for a better graphics card and more opportunity to upgrade.

Also, yes, Moseph, that would work, but that price is crazy!

[Garpocalypse]

When i first got started with my digital studio i kept everything on one computer. After losing my stuff a couple of times to college hackers and other programs, that were necessary for an online pc, robbing me of system resources I decided to get an offline studio pc.

It's the more expensive route if you are also looking to do pc gaming also but the huge decrease in frusteration is worth it.

With so many games multi platform now you might want to just get a console for your gaming needs. Staying on the top of both worlds though is going to take a massive amount of cash.

[prophetik music]

why couldn't he just use an extended KVM to handle it? USB has huge ranges when you put a repeater in there. and HDMI cabling can go over a hundred feet without requiring repeaters if it's shielded and installation-grade.

kanthos and i chatted about this over PM and we both think that this is easily solvable by the occam's razor option.

[Kanthos]

The reason why a standard KVM wouldn't work with my initial suggestion was that I was hoping to use my laptop instead of a separate keyboard and monitor. When I was talking to you today, I'd given up on that idea and was just going to keep the monitor and a keyboard close by.

[Dhsu]

why couldn't he just use an extended KVM to handle it? USB has huge ranges when you put a repeater in there. and HDMI cabling can go over a hundred feet without requiring repeaters if it's shielded and installation-grade.

kanthos and i chatted about this over PM and we both think that this is easily solvable by the occam's razor option.

Wouldn't that require you to have a monitor-in on the laptop? I've never seen one with that capability.

[Kanthos]

With a standard KVM, yes. With some other device, like the one Moseph linked, no. I mean, there's VNC and other similar technologies that let you use a remote machine graphically over a network, so I figured someone might've made a device that did the same thing but perhaps faster.