[bagelred]

Currently, I own 2 systems:

- Desktop, 4 years old, Dell Dimension 3000, Windows XP SP3, Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, 1 GB Mem, 80 GB HD, Dual CD/DVD drive

- Laptop, 3 months old, Acer Aspire 6530, Windows 7 upgrade over Vista, AMD Athlon X2, 3 GB Mem, 250 GB HD, CD/DVD Drive

Bought the laptop to use other areas of house and occasional outside of house. I figured I'd start looking upgrading desktop..then figured, "Why don't I use laptop as my desktop?"

Already have Acer 22" Monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, printer, etc.

Is it as simple as getting, let's say, a 7 port USB hub, plugging all desktop peripherals in there, and simply plugging laptop in and out of the hub as needed? Any downside of using laptop as desktop? Is laptop powerful enough?

And is there a tutorial of settings I'd need to configure in Windows 7 to make this happen or is it much simpler than I'm making it? Will I have to adjust setting every time I take laptop out of hub, i.e. is it a real nuisance to set it up this way?

Thanks for help......

[aliasaid]

I think its easy enough. You shouldn't have any trouble with taking out the hub every time. I actually tried this for a while and it worked out pretty well, except i had to keep the laptop 'open' or else it'd go into sleep mode. If you can bypass that then you're good to go.

[farinha]

Closing the laptop isn't a good idea in my opinion, because of heat issues.

[bagelred]

Originally Posted by farinha

Closing the laptop isn't a good idea in my opinion, because of heat issues.

Heat of laptop generally might be an issue, I'm sure.

[bagelred]

Originally Posted by aliasaid

I think its easy enough. You shouldn't have any trouble with taking out the hub every time. I actually tried this for a while and it worked out pretty well, except i had to keep the laptop 'open' or else it'd go into sleep mode. If you can bypass that then you're good to go.

I think Windows 7 gives you an option not to shut off when laptop closes. So hopefully not an issue either.

[jordon]

yeah i think windows 7 has an option that doesnt shut down you lapot but till you find out i would try not to shut your laptop...

[patonb]

All os's have that option... It's in the power option to do nothing, sleep hibernate or shut off.

[bagelred]

Any other thoughts?

[patonb]

I have both, and have been using my laPTOP MOST often. its no different than my desktop... I print wirelessly though.

[Trotter]

If you could find a docking station for it it would solve your problems with the whole thing. I looked, but the only decent ones I saw were from the UK and they were not cheap. At least Dell makes docking stations for almost all of their models and offers them straight through their own site.