My company enacted a strict “no personal use” policy for company hardware. I have my boss’s blessing to use a personal machine but at the same time I don’t want to make it obvious to everyone when I’m doing personal tasks, so the plan is to get a USB-C switch connected to the docking station and a micro-PC tucked under my desk I can quickly switch to.
Any suggestions for mini hardware that only needs a USB-C connection? It does not need to be powerful, since I’m really going to be using it as a web browser.
Instead of swapping the entire dock, I have a USB switch for mouse and keyboard and then an HDMI switch for the monitors. Also let’s you mix and match monitors easily
Why not a tablet and keyboard?
Why not just use your phone then. Many android phones can launch into a desktop environment
Mine can actually, but it’s not quite ready for prime time yet and I’d still prefer a mini PC.
Do you also need to have power for the PC from USB-C, or can you live with wall power for that?
I went looking for PSUs that used USB-C a while back, and that’s kind of limited.
If that isn’t an issue, then I think all you need to look for is USB-C DisplayPort Alt mode for video. Everything else should just work if you have a USB-C connection, assuming that you’ve got the monitor side of things handled.
EDIT: If you have to have power via that USB-C connection, this is two years old, but:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1f9m7lv/mini_pc_with_usbc_power_and_display/
The only ones that I know that have both power delivery and display out using the same C cable are Minisforum EM680 and EM780.
I could run power separately without an issue but I was hoping to spend less than $200. Maybe I’ll look into an older used laptop.
