Posted 21 January 2024

Looking for a new laptop/mini pc

Hi guys I'm outdated nowadays with the current tech on the market and looking for some advise or deal suggestions,

My wife works from home via a remote connection to her works server and requires dual screens, this was achieved up until recently.with a Microsoft surface pro on a dock and then a HDMI monitor plugged into the dock... However for whatever reason this has decided it doesn't want to play anymore albeit hardware fault with the dock or software fault with drivers Its about time she upgraded as it's a pretty old surface pro now anyways...I have considered an actual PC setup however due to space and lack of an actual office (she works from the bedroom) I believe the best solution to be either a new laptop with dual screen capabilities or a mini pc that can display over two outputs.

Any ideas or suggests?

All help greatly appreciated
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  1. Uridium's avatar
    Always loads of ex corporate Optiplex usff (micro) on ebay.

    Depending on age / spec they range from £50-£300

    I'd say a 3060 is the sweet as it will give you an eighth gen CPU for win11 compatibility. They have dual video output.

    Not a lot of point buying new for your usage requirements. So many good ex Corp machines around. (edited)
    Mark_Flanagan's avatar
    Author
    Any links please...?
  2. 001Cisco's avatar
    What is your budget?

    I assume you want new?
    Mark_Flanagan's avatar
    Author
    I'm open to the option of used but that usually means older tech. Budget is tight as literally only gonna be used for work so don't wanna spend silly money on a tool that's to earn money not spend it. Why what you thinking?
  3. tardytortoise's avatar
    On the assumption your wife is an employee I suggest her employer should provide the technical solution and funding to resolve the problem.
    Mark_Flanagan's avatar
    Author
    As her employer provides equipment at her office they allow her to work from home but not prepared to buy her a second machine as she chooses to work from home (mainly finishes early to pick kids up from school then does a bit extra to make up her hours) can't expect an employer to provide equipment for home use when that's her choice, they're already being flexible allowing her to work from home.
  4. morgie's avatar
    What does she use to remote onto the work system, is it just through her browser or does she need to install any software?
  5. Mark_Flanagan's avatar
    Author
    Software.
    morgie's avatar
    Thanks, I was wondering if a Chromebook may do the job if you only need something light (as the work is being done on the remote machine). What software is it (potential there's an Android app that would work on ChromeOS)?
  6. Deleted041071960810's avatar
    OP seems to suggest the set up is the laptop screen plus one external monitor. However, in my experience, if you have a dock it's pretty standard for most Windows machines to be able to drive 2 or more screens from a dock. I have a yr olde HP Elitebook (i5-8000 era) which certainly managed to drive at least 3 external screens plus the laptop screen using a linux.
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