Win11 Laptop and iMac and MacBook = Confusion
Discussion
I've just been given a new Windows 11 Laptop from work - for free. I'm not sure what to do with it.
I generally use a 2011 iMac at home with 27 inch screen which is very nice and fast enough for the tinkering I do. I added some more RAM but it still has a spinny disk.
I also have a 2nd 27 inch monitor but the resolution is nowhere near as good as the iMac.
So I WFH 85% of the time and only occasionally go to an office. When I do go to an Office I take my old MacBook from 2010 which is dog slow. I also upgraded its RAM but it still has a spinny disk. Generally it's performance is tolerable at best but last week at the office on a Teams call I tried to Share my desktop using the MacBook and it ground to a halt. So my colleagues decided I needed a better laptop and thats why I now have this brand new Dell i7 with Windows 11.
The Dell laptop feels nice and responsive and works fine. I could ge used to a Windows environment if I have to thats not a problem. They also gave me a fancy Dell wireless mouse and keyboard combo that allows me to flick between different devices. So I have the laptop sat on my desk doing nothing.
I asked one of my friends for advice and he suggested I Remote Desktop into the Windows Laptop but I cant get it to work. I have enabled it logged in as a local admin and managed to install an older desktop client on my iMac - as it has an older Mac OS that is not compatible with the latest Remote Desktop client. So I can flick between devices using my fancy keyboard and mouse combo but why bother as the iMac does everything I need it to.
So what should I do?
I could just use the Windows 11 laptop when I am travelling. I should manage fine with all my documents in the cloud.
Perhaps I should ask the IT Bods at work if they can get my Remote Desktop working. There is a Team Viewer client running on the laptop - I presume for them to use to access it remotely - so maybe I could try to connect to this from the iMac.
Or I could but some more monitors to connect to the Windows laptop - maybe I could use the iMac as a Monitor or flick between the 2 with my hot swap keyboard and mouse combo.
I could try upgrading the disc drive in the MacBook to make it more usable and give them back this Windows laptop if I am not going to use it. Not sure what this gains me.
AAAARRRGGGHHHHH - too many choices!!!!
I generally use a 2011 iMac at home with 27 inch screen which is very nice and fast enough for the tinkering I do. I added some more RAM but it still has a spinny disk.
I also have a 2nd 27 inch monitor but the resolution is nowhere near as good as the iMac.
So I WFH 85% of the time and only occasionally go to an office. When I do go to an Office I take my old MacBook from 2010 which is dog slow. I also upgraded its RAM but it still has a spinny disk. Generally it's performance is tolerable at best but last week at the office on a Teams call I tried to Share my desktop using the MacBook and it ground to a halt. So my colleagues decided I needed a better laptop and thats why I now have this brand new Dell i7 with Windows 11.
The Dell laptop feels nice and responsive and works fine. I could ge used to a Windows environment if I have to thats not a problem. They also gave me a fancy Dell wireless mouse and keyboard combo that allows me to flick between different devices. So I have the laptop sat on my desk doing nothing.
I asked one of my friends for advice and he suggested I Remote Desktop into the Windows Laptop but I cant get it to work. I have enabled it logged in as a local admin and managed to install an older desktop client on my iMac - as it has an older Mac OS that is not compatible with the latest Remote Desktop client. So I can flick between devices using my fancy keyboard and mouse combo but why bother as the iMac does everything I need it to.
So what should I do?
I could just use the Windows 11 laptop when I am travelling. I should manage fine with all my documents in the cloud.
Perhaps I should ask the IT Bods at work if they can get my Remote Desktop working. There is a Team Viewer client running on the laptop - I presume for them to use to access it remotely - so maybe I could try to connect to this from the iMac.
Or I could but some more monitors to connect to the Windows laptop - maybe I could use the iMac as a Monitor or flick between the 2 with my hot swap keyboard and mouse combo.
I could try upgrading the disc drive in the MacBook to make it more usable and give them back this Windows laptop if I am not going to use it. Not sure what this gains me.
AAAARRRGGGHHHHH - too many choices!!!!
Ooops I forgot to Add
I do get one benefit form using the Windows Laptop - Office is all in English.
On the iMac I can only access the web based Office via web based Outlook and because the company I work for is not in England all the menus are foreign I can not get them in English - I have tried.
Outlook Web gives me the option to install office onto the iMac but because it has an older version of Mc OS it will not install.
My old MacBook does have Office installed locally - in English.
I do get one benefit form using the Windows Laptop - Office is all in English.
On the iMac I can only access the web based Office via web based Outlook and because the company I work for is not in England all the menus are foreign I can not get them in English - I have tried.
Outlook Web gives me the option to install office onto the iMac but because it has an older version of Mc OS it will not install.
My old MacBook does have Office installed locally - in English.
xeny said:
Is there any chance the company might prefer you to do work on machines that are new enough they are receiving security updates?
I suspect so.I'm a Linux user but the company I work for insist on us using MS Windows (currently between 7 & 10). 10 seems to "work" for me anyway.
AJB88 said:
xeny said:
Is there any chance the company might prefer you to do work on machines that are new enough they are receiving security updates?
I suspect so.I'm a Linux user but the company I work for insist on us using MS Windows (currently between 7 & 10). 10 seems to "work" for me anyway.
Does that make me Cloud only?
Mini Update
The IT bods have now got Remote Desktop working. So I can have 1 window open on one screen of the iMac with my Windows laptop desktop. I think I can live with this for now.
If I was to just buy separate monitor/s for the windows laptop how do I know what it can support or do we just assume it can support anything?
And is there a limit to the amount of screens I can connect to a Widows laptop. It has two of those new fancy USB monitor sockets on the side - are they called thunderbolt?
Can I daisy chain monitors?
Thanks
The IT bods have now got Remote Desktop working. So I can have 1 window open on one screen of the iMac with my Windows laptop desktop. I think I can live with this for now.
If I was to just buy separate monitor/s for the windows laptop how do I know what it can support or do we just assume it can support anything?
And is there a limit to the amount of screens I can connect to a Widows laptop. It has two of those new fancy USB monitor sockets on the side - are they called thunderbolt?
Can I daisy chain monitors?
Thanks
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