How to turn your laptop into a desktop workstation?
The big difference between laptops and desktops is that desktops are, well, big: conveniently placed on a nice, comfy desk and adorned with accessories. But if you already have a laptop, you have all the components of a desktop computer, and then some. If you're not going anywhere for a while, why not relax and fully enjoy the office experience?
Here's why: you probably don't have everything you need for a complete desktop setup. But getting this hardware is relatively easy, as is assembling it so that getting in and out of your laptop is a breeze. That way you get the best of both worlds: a full, comfortable desktop setup when you want it, and a laptop on the go when you need it. This guide explains everything you need to know to turn your laptop into a desktop workstation.
Contents
The Good Stuff: Desktop Components
The big advantage of building this setup is that you can use your laptop with awesome, easy-to-use desktop components. (Oh, and you'll also need a desk or a table and chair, obviously.) You can use as many or as few as you want, but here are the big ones:
Monitor: A larger external screen to rest your eyes and make movies and games really pop. You can use your laptop screen and an external monitor at the same time, or if your hardware supports it, multiple monitors for a complete “battle station”.
Mouse: Most laptop users are trackpad whiz, but even the best of them will agree that a mouse is the way to go. Get a USB model if you want speed, or Bluetooth if you want a connection that won't take up a USB port.
Keyboard: Many users stick to their laptop keyboard while using it at a desktop. But if you find yours particularly uncomfortable, or want to enter the growing mechanical keyboard scene, consider adding a wired or wireless keyboard.
Speakers: Again, your laptop speakers will remain functional while you work at a desk, but for bigger, bolder sound, get a set of dedicated speakers. (Or if you prefer, a nice pair of headphones or a pair of true wireless earbuds.)
Other Devices: Here's where everything else goes. Maybe you want to add a high-quality external webcam and microphone for meetings, or connect a game controller or external hard drive. Perhaps you want a wired network connection, a DVD player or a card reader for your digital camera. You can use almost any external accessory designed for a desktop computer with a laptop, as long as you find a way to connect it.
Keep your laptop awake with the lid closed
Note that it is possible to close the lid of your laptop, leave it running and connect it to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. You'll want to adjust your power settings so that the laptop "does nothing" when the lid closes to allow for this. In Windows 10, it's in the power options in the Settings menu, under the "Choose what closing the lid does" link on the side. (Start button > Settings > System > Power & Sleep.)
Basic connectivity needs
How easy or difficult it is to expand your base configuration without additional hardware will depend on the type of ports your laptop has and how many there are. If you have a ten-pound Dell with every port under the sun, chances are you don't need anything to connect all those components. If you're using a 2018 MacBook with a single USB-C port after plugging it in, well, it's going to get pretty quick.
Let's break this down into connection types, shall we?
Video connections
Most laptops have at most one video connection. HDMI is the most popular right now, as just about every monitor (and TV) made in the last ten years will have this port. All you need is an HDMI cable, and you're good to go.
A direct HDMI cable is the fastest and easiest way to connect a monitor to a laptop.
If your laptop is rocking something a little more esoteric, like the Mini-DisplayPort on older Surface models or the still-visible VGA port on some workstations, things might get a little trickier. But you're still only looking for an adapter cable: check what you have on your laptop, what you have on your monitor, and get a cable that works with both, like this number VGA to HDMI.
If you want to connect your laptop to multiple monitors, things get complicated. USB-C has made this much easier: see the sections below for more technical information. If your laptop doesn't have USB-C, you'll need to rely on a special adapter capable of sending video over a USB cable, like this one. These aren't ideal, as they take up one of your USB ports and perform poorly compared to a standard video cable.
Audio connections
This one's simple: Most laptops, even those that can fit in a document envelope, include a headphone jack. If you're keeping it simple and not using a docking station, plug your speakers or headphones into the jack and you're good to go. You can also connect headphones, earphones or wireless speakers through your laptop's Bluetooth connection.
If for some reason your laptop doesn't have a headphone jack (or yours is broken), you can again rely on a USB adapter to get by.
Network connections
If you're setting up your desktop somewhere that uses Wi-Fi, that's fine, just log on to your laptop the same way you always do. If you want faster or more reliable networking, you can plug an Ethernet cable from the router or wall outlet directly into your laptop's Ethernet port.
But many thinner and lighter models omit the Ethernet cable these days. Again, assuming you don't want to upgrade to a docking station, you can get a USB adapter for your Ethernet connections.
USB devices
Boy, we're connecting a lot of stuff up to USB, huh? If your laptop has just three, or two, or (perish the thought) one USB port, you might find yourself running out pretty quickly.
For a cheap solution, a basic USB hub can handle quite a lot of data and connections at once. So long as you're using it for more basic peripherals—mice, keyboards, storage drives, etc.—you shouldn't see any kind of slowdown. Try to make sure you get a USB hub with at least USB 3.0 speeds, and connect it to a compatible USB port on your laptop; some are still using the older 2.0 ports in some places.
Power
Well this one's easy: to keep your laptop powered up and running, just use whatever adapter it came with and plug it in near your desk. That is, unless you have a newer laptop with a USB-C connection. This is where things start to get really interesting!
USB-C is the future
Most newer laptops come with at least one USB-C port. That's the one that's shaped like an oval, and doesn't need trial and error to see if you're plugging it in upside down or not. On most of these newer designs, the USB-C port also doubles as the power jack.
See, USB-C is designed to be truly universal: on that one cable, it's possible to transfer not just data, but power for your laptop (and anything it's connected to), video to an external monitor (or monitors), sound to speakers, and even hardwired network data. In short: a USB-C port can, in the right circumstances, be your power input and your USB ports and your HDMI port and your Ethernet port, all in one.
This makes it possible, with the right laptop and equipment, to connect up to a dozen or so desktop components by plugging in a single cable. It's the Holy Grail of combining laptop portability with desktop comfort.
To get the basic benefits of a USB-C port, you can use an inexpensive dongle to add a bunch of ports in one, with power pass-through for your laptop charger. But if you're ready to step it up, it's time to look at USB-C docks.
Prepare for docking
USB-C docks mirror the functions of older “desktop docks” supplied for workstation laptops, often seen on Lenovo's ThinkPad and Dell's Latitude lines. But with the prevalence of USB-C, this kind of plug-it-in-and-go functionality is available to everyone.
Take my USB-C docking station, for example, a fairly typical station I found on Amazon. When I plug in a USB-C laptop with a single USB-C cable, I have access to up to three monitors via DisplayPort and HDMI, three USB 3.0 ports, two additional USB 2.0 ports, an additional USB-C port, Wired Ethernet, separate speaker and microphone jacks, and camera card readers. It is, in technical terms, drugs as hell.
In addition to all of these ports, and unlike previous years' USB docking stations, the docking station provides my laptop with up to 60 watts of charging power via the USB-C cable. So not only do I have access to an assortment of monitors, speakers, and USB gadgets, but I don't have to search for an open wall outlet. It's fantastic!
Most laptops with a USB-C port can take advantage of this. There are a few exceptions: some cheaper models will only use USB-C for power and data, and won't have the dedicated bandwidth lanes for video. (The Microsoft Surface series is a notable and frustrating example.) Make sure your laptop's USB-C port is compatible with video output and that the docking station you buy can supply enough power via USB -C to keep it loaded. Ideally, the docking station should deliver the same amount of watts (or more) as the charging cable that came with your laptop.
There's also an interesting alternative: since USB-C can handle video, some newer monitors integrate a USB-C hub directly into the screen. Dell's latest UltraSharp monitors can connect to a laptop directly via USB-C, power it up to 90 watts, and expand it with multiple USB, USB-C, and Ethernet connections, all on a single cable. Some can even daisy-chain to other monitors, creating a true multi-monitor setup over a single cable without even needing a dedicated docking station.
Living the Dream: USB-C eGPU Docking Stations
But what about games, I hear you cry? Can I still use my gaming laptop with a USB-C docking station? Well, yes and no. USB-C docks are amazing, but they're not miraculous. Many gaming laptops can't be powered via USB-C because their charging requirements are just too high, and many docking stations aren't compatible with the kind of high-speed, high-resolution performance monitors that own the players.
In these cases, it's always best to plug your gaming laptop directly into the wall and then plug in your monitor via HDMI. A little dated for 2021, but needs must.
But what if there was another way? Any way to keep a svelte laptop on the road, but a gaming or workstation beast at home, all running on the same hardware and all connected with a single cable? Gamers, let me introduce you to a little-known gadget called an external GPU.
An eGPU enclosure, or "external graphics docking station" as it is also known, is essentially a small box that contains a complete desktop-class graphics card. You connect one or more monitors directly to the GPU, then plug your laptop into the case via USB-C. Not only does this dramatically increase the gaming power of a thin and light laptop, but it means you can use huge, high-resolution, refreshed monitors with a laptop without sacrificing speed by going through a hub.
Some of these enclosures include extra USB ports for connecting even more peripherals, and they deliver plenty of power over USB-C to keep your laptop juiced up. Plug your laptop in and you have a massively powerful gaming PC, unplug it and you're ready to take all your files and programs with you on the go. The best of both worlds!
But there is a downside. External graphics docks are still very niche, so they're a little hard to find. They're also very expensive—much more so than a standard USB-C dock. We're talking multiple hundreds of dollars just for the enclosure, not counting the graphics card that actually goes into it. (Some are sold with the GPU already installed, for the commensurate increase in price.) And of course, none of that includes the cost of your laptop, monitor, and other add-ons.
An external GPU configuration is therefore expensive. It's also complex: while it can do some truly amazing things, it will never beat the performance of a desktop PC with the same GPU installed. You'll also need a powerful laptop to take advantage of it: high-end processor, fast storage, lots of RAM.
But if your budget knows no bounds and you want to do absolutely everything possible with one machine and one cable, this could be the way to go.
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