Mirrored computers?

Bill48 on 29/06/2014 - 13:37

I like my desktop - it's a Dell XPS 8500 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 loaded with Office Professional 2010. I use Outlook v14, Bitdefender and normal other programs, nothing "out there". I don't do games or use high end video. It could do with some housekeeping.

But I also want to be able to work these cool days in the sunroom, or on the train, at a library, in front of the tele, in the kitchen, etc.

With laptops seeming to be on good offers at the moment, I want to explore getting one that is set up exactly as my desktop is.

Is it possible to set both computers up so that they are interchangeable? How might this be done - by mirrored backups or some form of tethering? My most constantly changed program is Outlook. I'd prefer each computer to reflect the same inbox and sent items. I have a dropbox account but scarcely use it. In short, is it feasible to use either computer as if it is the other and how to do that?

I do not want to confuse this question with another but the follow-on question is, which laptop? My eyesight could be better so I would want a large FHD screen, preferably touch and as non reflecting as possible, backlit keyboard with good battery performance.

Computing

Comments

  • No on 29/06/2014 - 16:10
    +1

    The easiest way would be to get a laptop that can connect to a docking station. Then it will be the same computer and you don't have to worry about mirroring (which wouldn't work too well anyway).

    You can get USB docking stations or ones specifically for the laptop which it sits in. I think the later is better, they look like this:

    https://www.google.com.au/shopping/product/11562170028677124…

  • toristo on 29/06/2014 - 16:26

    If the desktop is your primary machine and the laptop a lesser "toy", what about just using remote desktop?
    That way, it's like sitting in front of the desktop, but no sync issues to worry about.

    Downside is you need to have the desktop turned on to do this (and to be fair, you'd need the laptop on at the same time as the desktop at some stage to sync unless you go via the cloud which can be slow/expensive depending on the amount of data we're talking).

    I've got a Surface Pro 2 and know what you mean. It feels like a 2nd machine because it is. My main machine is dual monitors and is far more convenient to use than a smaller machine, but I use Dropbox and OneDrive (Skydrive) for when I'm out and about. Otherwise at home I RDP. It's an OK experience but not 1:1.

    • kristo on 30/06/2014 - 22:18

      remote desktop \ logmein \ teamviewer \ GoToMyPC are great ways to access your other computer for many tasks, but no good for watching video\high graphics applications (eg. photoshop\autocad\3ds\maya\etc).
      they are also amazingly bandwidth hungry — you need a fast broadband connection, and you need plenty of data allowance — when I use it, it chews up gigabytes per hour, so… don't even think about tethering your mobile for it (with an Aussie mobile network)!

  • Woodyg22 on 29/06/2014 - 17:16
    +1

    If you install all the same programs, save everything in dropbox and login to outlook on both computers that should keep everything in sync.

  • scrimshaw on 29/06/2014 - 18:10
    +1

    I have two computers at home which I either use in the loungeroom or bedroom.

    I basically use:

    Dropbox for documents syncing. Dropbox uses LAN syncing, so all syncing happens on the local area network, not over the internet.
    For files that are too big to fit on Dropbox (e.g my movie collection) I will usually put this as on the Shared Folder in Windows. A NAS would be better for this job, but I can't really justify spending a hundred just for movies, a portable USB drive is good enough.

    Firefox (with Firefox Sync turned on) to sync my extensions, settings, bookmarks and other data

    LastPass (to sync passwords obviously)

    Xmarks (to keep bookmarks stored online)

    Email sync — all my mails are online. For outlook users, if you have setup your email with IMAP or Exchange Activesync, then syncing isn't a problem. There are also 3rd party addins you can buy to sync outlook.

    • Noblejoker on 30/06/2014 - 14:44

      Well done Scrimshaw on noting that Outlook needs to be using IMAP not Pop3 so it is the same on both
      Otherwise email on one wont be on the other
      Otherwsie similar (almost the same) set up on both should be very possible

  • Bill48 on 29/06/2014 - 20:36

    Hmm. Thanks everyone. Please keep any further thoughts coming. I know my son uses RDP on his tablet to sync to his computer. I'll have to ask him more about this. So, essentially, you are at the laptop but using the main computer? Nothing that you execute on the laptop, with RDP, actually affects the laptop? And, the laptop would not need to have expensive Office or similar installed on it?

    • toristo on 29/06/2014 - 20:41

      You really are just using your desktop. The laptop just provides a 'window' to see the desktop (which means you don't have to have office etc installed).

      If you want to take the laptop out of the house (i.e. off your wireless network and use it over the internet, there is a bit more setup required with your router so you can access it. Google will be your friend, but start off trialling it at home first to make sure it does what you want)

  • Bill48 on 29/06/2014 - 20:58

    Son uses Teamviewer. Is this the type of thing we are talking about? I agree with your trialling suggestion. But eventually, how would remote access, as in away from my wireless LAN, work? Obviously over the internet, but how?

    • scrimshaw on 29/06/2014 - 21:03

      You must run a server on the computer you wish to remote control. Go download Teamviewer from http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows.aspx

      Said computer will have an open port for a remote client to connect to. You typically must enter the IP Address of the host computer (or a Hostname) and a password that you define to connect to the host. Everything is pretty straightforward.

      Take note if you want to connect to a computer over the internet, you'll want to make sure you have an adequate upload speed. This is not a problem if your home is currently on Cable or the NBN (lucky if you are) but if you are on ADSL which has slower uplink speeds, you may to configure the host to send reduced image quality due to limited bandwidth.

  • Bill48 on 29/06/2014 - 21:35

    Toristo writes: Downside is you need to have the desktop turned on to do this (and to be fair, you'd need the laptop on at the same time as the desktop at some stage to sync

    Teamviewer seems to say that its current version has "wake-on-LAN to wake up a sleeping computer and put it back to sleep when you’re finished". Does this answer Toristo's downside or is that something else?

  • Bill48 on 29/06/2014 - 21:51

    Thanks everyone. I am downloading Teamviewer. Perhaps more urgent now is to get a better laptop. My current is HP running Windows 7 and is a piece of cr*p and battery life is woeful. My basic requirements are at the end of my original question. What is best for battery life? I see mentions of Haswell for efficient battery use. Is this the best and how do you identify the good chips? Suggestions for suitable laptops under the current band of offers welcome.
    Should I make this a fresh topic?

    • toristo on 29/06/2014 - 22:40

      Best to make it a new topic.
      Just give us a bit of an idea on what you will do with it beside the remote desktop - will you take it away from the house? Does it just live in the lounge? Will anyone want to use it as a media centre/games machine/work use etc.
      What's your budget?
      Screen size or weight considerations?

      If you're not worried about size or weight, I'd wander in to JB Hifi to see what was on special - a slightly older model will often only be $500-600 when the next nearest thing that is new will be closer to $1000. All depends what is important to you.

  • Woodyg22 on 30/06/2014 - 08:14
    +1

    What about a chromebook using Google's remote desktop?

  • backpaqer on 30/06/2014 - 09:03
    +1

    Use Team Viewer to remote to your desktop - it's as good as being there…and works from anywhere in the world.

  • daveozsydney on 30/06/2014 - 10:47
    +2

    As an IT Consultant for 18 years, I have to say there are some good proposals there.

    Picking from the best of them:

    Teamviewer and other remote desktop programs (like the built in RDP) can allow access, but the downside is you need a working network or internet connection - they work better in controlled environments - you mention use on the train - this may get costly in terms of bandwidth and if the connection drops out you won't be able to do anything useful on the remote (home) computer. There will also be a slight lag as keypresses, mouse moves and screen updates etc. are mirrored on the laptop. It is fairly easy to set up and if the connection does drop out, when you reconnect, nothing will have been lost which can be useful. You couldn't use it effectively on a plan though - even on the new flights with internet as it would be woefully slow.
    We use remote desktop in a similar way for a client to access live software in Europe which is too slow from Australia. However the remote server is hosted in a professional server farm which has high uplink speeds. Your home connection if ADSL or cable rather than DSL will have a lower upload speed so it won't be as quick.

    Dropbox and other file synchronising software programs (jungledisk etc) - great concept. This works well for files. But I would hesitate to use the outlook files on there as you could get corruption if the two machines access the file at once. For email I would consider using IMAP instead of POP3 so when you read a mail message on home desktop PC, then next time you log on to laptop it is also marked as read. Automatically stays in sync. You can set up gmail to go and check your POP3 mailboxes and then use IMAP to connect to gmail if you don't have native IMAP on your email accounts. I would generally avoid software like outlook that store data locally unless you use it with IMAP.

    Your HP Windows 7 speed - consider a RAM upgrade and checking which programs (services) start on startup. By changing some to manual startup you can speed things up considerably. Many third party programs add themselves as a service on startup but aren't needed. Also defragment your hard drive if you haven't already. You can also consider replacing the hard drive with an SSD (solid state disk). A bit like storing data on ram chips, the speed to access is way quicker so can result in quicker boot times and combined with extra ram can be a quick fix to give you an extra couple of years life out of a laptop and prolonging a $1K spend for a couple more years

    scrimshaw had some good comments - Lastpass is great. Also try Evernote (combined with the Fujitsu Scansnap this has been my best find in the last two years and enabled businesses to go totally paperless and archive all info like bills searchable by text from the scans). This is my main 'go to' tool, and it auto sync's across devices - laptop, phone, tablet etc.

    As toristo said, I would recommend JB Hifi for laptops - they can often give a better price as well if you ask. Usually $1000 for a really good machine. I have tried Dells in the past and find they break fairly easily. We used to buy about 30 a year and about three would fail each year. We then switched to HP which we had no problems with. I'm now using a Samsung QX412 which I bought at JB Hifi for about $1000. Managed to upgrade the RAM and recently the OS to Win 8 which has made it quicker, but it was OK with Win 7. I understand the whole business of choosing a laptop has probably been designed to be as confusing as possible with all the chip variants. Just make sure you are comparing apples with apples if you do buy.

    I hope that helps. Generally my approach would be to keep it simple. Less to go wrong and if there is less stored locally on a machine, it doesn't take as long to start again if the machine fails. You ideally just login to the next machine.

  • Bill48 on 30/06/2014 - 12:03

    LOL, you live and learn. I had a great response going but lost the lot. Here goes again.
    Daveoz, sincerely appreciate your detailed suggestions. I'll respond to a few.

    I've just replaced free Avast with paid Bitdefender. It includes components that I have not yet activated, including Wallet. Is this an "acceptable" alternative to Lastpass? It also has Safepay but don't know where these overlap or much about it. Bitdefender is multi-computer so it will also be installed on the new laptop.

    I'll be replacing the old HP anyway. It's main frustration was not performance but its woeful battery life. My new machine must excel in this respect - any suggestions? I wish to be able to do a day's use away from home without lugging a battery charger. (Question: can a laptop be connected to power other than via its battery charger?)

    My computing is purely personal, not for a company or for business. I will be trialling Teamviewer for use over my home network or away from home in ways I have yet to explore. Most research facilities I visit have free wifi but ususally fairly slow, so Teamviewer may be doubly slow. And I am impatient! So any suggestions very welcome. I will definitely be looking into Scansnap and Evernote (again).

    My principal email in Outlook is my Internode account, which is set up as IMAP/SMTP. Is that useful?

    I'm in my late 60s, need reading glasses for computing and I often deal in large, detailed database pages or detailed webpages. So, I want a large screen and the clearest images and text with minimal reflection that I can achieve. I am thinking FHD, but does this result in small print? Anyway, suggestions including these requirements plus super battery life are what I need. I will then know which ones to look up at JB.

    • cuteseal on 30/06/2014 - 15:46
      +1

      As suggested by the others, just install the same programs on both computers and sign into the same Outlook account. Store all your emails online, so both desktop and laptop will sync with the server and will automatically be up to date. You are using IMAP protocol which is the correct one to use.

      Also, store all your documents in dropbox and they will get synced to both desktop and laptop.
      You can also setup your desktop and documents folder to sync with dropbox so you see the same icons and files straight away.
      http://lifehacker.com/5744929/sync-your-desktop-between-comp…
      http://lifehacker.com/5678172/create-a-highly-organized-sync…

      Seriously, stuffing around with remote desktop and teamviewer will just be extremely clunky. The display quality will be terrible (think pixelly, jagged edges) and your mouse cursor will lag if your network connection between computers is not good. And if you are on the train without internet, you'll be out of luck.

    • scrimshaw on 30/06/2014 - 17:49

      The eBay sale is still on, it would be wise to go to eBay and look at the DELL ebay store page and see what fits your budget.

      See here for Dick Smith laptops or here for Dell or the Good Guys

      I only skimmed, but I think Dell is the only eBay store to offer a 1080p Dell Inspiron.

      If you don't like any of those, perhaps you could try this
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/148245

      How much are you gonna spend? That's the main question.

    • GriffinTx on 02/07/2014 - 13:10

      "I'm in my late 60s, need reading glasses for computing and I often deal in large, detailed database pages or detailed webpages. So, I want a large screen and the clearest images and text with minimal reflection that I can achieve. I am thinking FHD, but does this result in small print?"

      You can always scale the web print (Ctrl + mouse scroll), not sure on database though.

    • daveozsydney on 03/07/2014 - 11:17

      cuteseal wraps it all up in a nutshell. Some good points there. We use join.me which is similar to teamviewer and works ok to see what someone else is doing for support or training but I wouldn't use it everyday for working. It's probably not going to be any quicker on your home network as I would think both computers would still send some traffic via a third party server. Windows Remote desktop would be more effective as there would be a direct link between the two and it's designed for that use. The technology can work but it a controlled environment - I wouldn't advise to use it outside the home or office.

      Responding to the specifics - my mother used to use Avast.
      It seemed to be slowing her computer down so we uninstalled it. She now uses AVG Free which is the antivirus program I use too.
      (she's in her 70s and running Windows 8 now - bargain mispriced (in my opinion) touchscreen desktop computer bought on Amazon.co.uk and using as much default software as possible to keep it simple - so internet explorer, and all the built in windows 8 mail programs and contact software. This also has a built in backup tool called Onedrive where she saves documents to and then if the compter dies it's auto backed up - it works similar to dropbox).

      I don't know much about Bitdefender. (I tend to stick with what works for me unless I need to change for a reason or benefit)
      Lastpass is just a password manager tool. It happens to be free and doesn't appear to be malicious (I would rather pay for the software than someone dodgy have access to all my passwords!) There are other tools out there though. I just use the free edition at the moment.

      Before you replace the old HP, it may be worth trying a new battery. Batteries gradually degrade over time and don't last as long. You also may be able to get a higher capacity one for your model of HP.

      Here are a couple of links for getting more grunt out of your existing machine.
      http://blog.laptopmag.com/top-windows-7-battery-savers
      http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-adjust-visual-se…

      You're using IMAP for your internode acct.- there should be a setting to keep the mail on the server rather than download. Try setting up a new mail client (e.g. outlook) on a different machine and add the imap settings. You should see all the mail exactly as you see on the other machine. This means anywhere you go, you will see the same information.

      Most ISPs have webmail. Here is the link I found for internode's https://webmail.internode.on.net/
      Try logging in and and you should also see all your email there from any browser you use and nothing to install! Also the https in the address means the connection is secure so it would be ok to use from a free wifi spot without anyone eavesdropping.

      For a screen, get the biggest one you can afford to buy. You can always tweak the settings to make icons larger as GriffinTx pointed out.

      Here's how to do it on Windows 7:
      http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Make-the-text-on…

  • Bill48 on 03/07/2014 - 15:06

    I've got two posts going and a couple of you have been good enough to respond to both. I'd prefer, almost in conclusion, to round it all out here. Once again, thanks so much for taking the trouble ….. I'll be trying to follow almost all suggestions.

    I want to try to go with Daveoz's dictum of going with the biggest screen I can afford. Tomorrow I am going to Macarthur/Campbelltown to look at laptops in JB, HN, DSE and anywhere else recommended. I'll be taking some printouts of offers from a couple of online stores.

    I'll be trying to combine 17.3" FHD low reflecting touchscreen, SSD, Haswell or similar (are there any comparable?) chip, backlit keyboard.

    And, can I just ask one of my questions again? Is it possible to connect a laptop to power other than via its heavy charger?

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