Home "master" work station?

[justyn890]

Ok, here is what I am trying to do.
My current setup:
We have a big hd TV/monitor in our living room. We want to use this TV for a family Center, but every individual wants to access their personal pc(or save individual accounts on the master station and run individual pcs from the master)

Individual computers:

My home work computer (used minimally a day, but for high resource tasks)
- quad core pm with a tb hard drive and 8 gb ram...
- I run three (could tone it down to 2) monitors at this station
- uses PhotoShop, and other graphic software, Outlook, and multiple office programs... Very high ram and hard drive usage

Husband's call center
- running a business grade desktop with two monitors
- used all day to dial from
- uses a lot of ram with chrome sometimes
- hulu, netflix

Daughters pc
- basic desktop runs great
- used weekends and after school for Skype, chrome, minecraft
- hulu, netflix

Son's pc
- laptop hooked to TV used as desktop
- runs chrome and minecraft sparingly
- you tube and Netflix constantly.

Personal laptop...
- would like to access files on my work computer
- use occasionally mainly for Chrome, Netflix, hulu

Multiple other devices connected to wifi network but not needed to connect into the computer network.

Again, what I want to be able to do is have any user log into the living room TV station and have everything they do and use or save on their personal pc.

It would be an added bonus, but not crucial if I could log onto any computer from any station.

I am pretty certain this is going to involve a server or updating some equipment. I am prepared to invest into this. I have just never set up a server or anything to this dynamic. I am not sure which path to start down.... Any suggestions on where to go for more information or research?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Yeah you'll have to get a server running something like Windows Server 2012. This is exactly what schools have to do so everyone can log on on any computer.

 

[justyn890]

I kind of figured that, but considering I'm pushing some of my computers to their limits as is, I'm concerned a home system won't be sufficient... Any recommendations on a server that can handle my load? I'm not sure what factors play into resources on a server.

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

We want to use this TV for a family Center, but every individual wants to access their personal pc(or save individual accounts on the master station and run individual pcs from the master)

Again, what I want to be able to do is have any user log into the living room TV station and have everything they do and use or save on their personal pc.

It would be an added bonus, but not crucial if I could log onto any computer from any station.

Have you considered a remote control application (like Teamviewer).

 

[justyn890]

I currently use team viewer to link my home computer and work computer, but it just isn't as convenient. With the various monitor combinations and wanting to constantly access files from various locations. I'm looking to step up the integration. Or make it more streamlined and flawless. I would like to access my children's computers from anywhere. As well as my own.

 

[Alabalcho]

You can build a "master" PC, set it up with various accounts for every family member, and either access the files stored on their existing PCs (and having all the applications one more time on the master), or use remote desktop for that. How do you imagine squeezing your husband' two monitors onto one?

Apart from Teamviewer, Professional versions of Windows can be accessed with Windows' own Remote Desktop.

No kind of server is going to help you unless you want to "standartize" on simillar computers for everyone.