[SOLVED] How would one use a laptop as a monitor for another laptop?

[xalendare]

Recently I cycled out my old gaming laptop from 2016 and got a new one, there were problems with the hardware, but the screen works perfectly fine. Seems a shame to just do away with it. When I got my new one, I decided I wanted to see if I could hook up this new laptop to the older one, and use the processing power on the new one to play directly onto my old laptop's screen. I'm fairly certain people do this kinda stuff all the time on dedicated monitors. Any suggestions? Is it possible?

 

[Darkbreeze]

How would one use a laptop as a monitor for another laptop?

One wouldn't. Short of some kind of special adapter, that doesn't exist to the best of my knowledge, you can't use the panel from one laptop with another laptop. Using external ACTUAL monitors is a different story altogether as those have standardized video connections that will plug into the secondary video outputs on the side of the laptop. No way to do that really with a panel from another laptop. Sell it for parts, fix it, or throw it away.

 

[xalendare]

Thank you. It's a shame I can't harvest the screen with just basic knowledge of hardware.

 

[InvalidError]

If your old laptop is still in a workable state, then you can use something like spacedesk to turn it into an extra keyboard-mouse-monitor for your new laptop. Works with other devices too, I sometimes use one of my tablets as a temporary extra monitor when I need some extra desktop space and don't want to turn on my 4k TV.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Doesn't sound to me like it's in a workable state though.

there were problems with the hardware, but the screen works perfectly fine.

 

[InvalidError]

Doesn't sound to me like it's in a workable state though.

Well, he didn't specify the nature of those 'problems'. I have a laptop with dead keyboard and trackpad, still usable with external keyboard and mouse. Unless the thing is completely bricked, it should be usable as a spacedesk extension.

 

[xalendare]

If your old laptop is still in a workable state, then you can use something like spacedesk to turn it into an extra keyboard-mouse-monitor for your new laptop. Works with other devices too, I sometimes use one of my tablets as a temporary extra monitor when I need some extra desktop space and don't want to turn on my 4k TV.

They're different framerates and resolutions, would that make a difference? What kind of output/input cable would that require?

 

[xalendare]

Doesn't sound to me like it's in a workable state though.

It's usable, just really poor with video games now.

 

[InvalidError]

They're different framerates and resolutions, would that make a difference? What kind of output/input cable would that require?

Spacedesk creates a virtual monitor device on your PC and pipes it over LAN (wired or WiFi) to the device(s) running the virtual monitor client.

 

[xalendare]

Ahhh, thank you for the info. Very neat, I will check it out

 

[Darkbreeze]

Seems like the lag for that over the network would make it unusable as a gaming screen. It's a neat program, and I wasn't aware of it, but I don't think that display over LAN to another machine, is really going to work for gaming.

 

[InvalidError]

Seems like the lag for that over the network would make it unusable as a gaming screen.

Well, spacedesk is free so it doesn't cost anything but a few minutes to try it. Haven't tried running games on it, I mostly use it when I want a miniature full-screen Process Explorer window somewhere convenient that isn't on my main monitor.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, I agree. Free is good and it hurts nothing to experiment and try it out.

 

[GullibleCraig]

Check out this video;

View: https://youtu.be/CfirQC99xPc

I believe it should help you out with what you're after.

 

[xalendare]

Check out this video;

View: https://youtu.be/CfirQC99xPc

I believe it should help you out with what you're after.

Absolutely fantastic. Thank you very much.

 

[xalendare]

Check out this video;

View: https://youtu.be/CfirQC99xPc

I believe it should help you out with what you're after.

I don't suppose you'd know of any DYI keyboards obtained from laptops? Lol