How to Share Your Monitors Between a PC and a Mac
Sept 3, 2022 · 3 min read
A guide on how to easily share your monitors between two computers, along with the hardware needed to do so.
I have a Windows PC at home, along with an Apple Macbook for my day job. With my work being primarily from home, I needed to find a way to easily switch my office monitors between these two computers, along with other external devices (i.e., Speakers, keyboard, etc.). At first, I settled for manually switching my monitor cables between these two computers, but that was just annoying and awkward. I decided to change this with the addition of an AB switch and a docking station!
Using an AB switch, commonly known as a "KVM switch," allows you to switch your monitors between two computers by the press of a button. In my case, I switch between my PC (e.g., The "A" connection) and my Macbook (e.g., The "B" connection). However, I also needed to connect all of my other external devices to these computers. This was done by connecting my AB switch and external devices (i.e., Monitors, speakers, etc.) to a single docking station, allowing the AB switch to then serve as the intersection between my devices and two computers. For more information on my office setup, check out my article on Setting Up a Home Office.
Setup Instructions
I chose to go with Plugable's USB 2.0 AB Switch because I wanted something that was simple. I can honestly say that I'm very pleased with the results so far! Its compact and simple design provides easy switching between two computers (Or any two USB devices) with a press of a button. It also comes with two 4.9ft USB 2.0 cables for your A and B connections, along with a two year limited parts and labor warranty.
I then chose Dell's USB 3.0 Triple Display Docking Station to pair with my AB switch. This was a very intentional choice. I knew that I wanted a docking station that had at least two HDMI ports for my monitors to plug into (Which was surprisingly hard to find!). Not only that, but it was a nice touch to have one that also matched the aesthetic of my AB switch. This docking station provided me with all of the ports needed to connect my monitors, speakers, wireless keyboard & mouse, camera, microphone, and headphones to my two computers through my AB switch.
The setup of these devices is very straight forward. The hardest part for me was doing the hardware research and creating a system that would work for my desired setup. Hopefully you can skip all of that work! To get started, follow these steps:
1) Get a switch.
2) Get a docking station.
3) Ensure that you have all of the necessary cables/adapters you will need for connecting your switch/docking station to your devices. For example, I needed a USB-C to USB adapter to connect one of my AB switch cables to my Macbook.
4) Install any software/drivers necessary for your new hardware to work with your computers. For example, to allow my docking station to display on my monitors, I first needed to install the DisplayLink Manager and adjust each of my computers' settings to always have the software running.
5) Plug everything together and you're done!
If you found any of my content helpful, please consider donating
using one of the following options — Anything is appreciated!
