Noob Question - Laptop as Second Screen?

[periphrastik]

I have three laptops of varying usefulness, but what I really need is a second screen. Is it possible for me to use one (or both!) of my alternate laptops as another monitor?

What other setups are possible for me to get the most out of this unused computing power? Is it possible to have a mouse and keyboard that work on both laptops while everything else stays separate?

Primary Laptop - Lenovo R61i
XP Pro Sp3
Intel Dual Core T2370 @ 1.73 GHz, 1.73 GHz
1.99 GB RAM
Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (Not sure about #, how do I check?)

Secondary Laptop - Inspiron 5150
XP Home Sp3
Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz
1.25 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200

Tertiary Laptop - Inspiron 4000
XP Pro Sp2 (hasn't been on the internet since 2001)
Pentium III 851 MHz
256 MB RAM
ATI Mobility 128 AGP 2x (Dell)


Alternately, I just discovered the third laptop gathering dust in my basement. Besides having a shot battery, it seems to work fine. Any suggestions on what to do with it?

Thanks guys. Throw any idea out there and see what sticks... I enjoy fooling around with this stuff and am looking to get more practice at it.

 

[carnageX]

Unless they have video inputs (not many if at all do), then no. The VGA connections on laptops are outputs to hook up a monitor to them, for a 2nd screen to it.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

There are programs that can make a second computer stream video from your main computer over the network, but you cannot use a laptop directly as a monitor. If you want to share a mouse and keyboard, you can try Synergy. I used it to share my desktop's keyboard/mouse with my two laptops (one on each side of my desktop monitor) and it works very well. That way you can use the laptops' CPUs for simple tasks and leave your desktop open for large tasks.

 

[periphrastik]

Thanks! I found Synergy on my own last night and it's working great. Appreciate the help.