connect two latops with a monitor (docking station in between)

@100ra  The only single dock that would work with both systems would be a dock that used "indirect display" technology like DisplayLink (not to be confused with DisplayPort), since that technology allows the dock to carry video over a regular USB connection.  The Dell D6000 is one such dock, but DisplayLink "indirect display" technology has its share of drawbacks, so I don't really recommend that route.  It would also be unable to charge your E7440, though it would charge the 7400 just fine.

Other than that, if your displays support DisplayPort daisy chaining, then you could simply your setup somewhat by using other inputs for the dock (where both displays can be connected directly) and then just have a single display cable to the 7400 which could run both displays from that single connection.  You'd still have to switch inputs on both displays when you switched systems, but you'd at least reduce your cabling a bit.

As for the keyboard and mouse, if your displays have built-in USB ports, you could connect them there, then run a USB cable from that display to the dock, which you'd have to move back and forth between your systems.

But the only other option as you alluded to would be a KVM, and actually it's not uncommon to have both a dock and a KVM at all, so I don't see why you're ruling out the KVM just because you have a dock.  The benefit of a KVM is to switch displays and peripherals between multiple sources.  The benefit of a dock is so that you don't have to connect separate video, USB, and possibly audio cables to your laptop when you come and go.  Those serve separate purposes.  A friend of mine has a KVM fed on one side by his desktop PC and on the other side by a docking station so that he can switch between systems AND quickly attach and detach his laptops to the docking side.

@100ra  The ideal solution would be to get an E-Port Plus dock for the E7470, since that will give you a pair of DisplayPort outputs.  Then you'd get a KVM like the IOGear GCS1942, which supports two DisplayPort inputs per source system (i.e. 4 total) and two DisplayPort outputs for two displays.  Then you'd connect the two DisplayPort outputs from the WD19TB to the two DisplayPort inputs on one "bank" of the KVM, then the two DisplayPort outputs from the E-Port Plus dock to the two DisplayPort inputs on the other "bank" of the KVM, and your two displays to the two outputs of the KVM using your DP to HDMI cables.  Lastly, you'd connect a USB 3.0 from each "bank" of the dock to a USB 3.0 port on each of your docks to get a USB data path running there.  Connect your keyboard, mouse, and any other device you want to switch between your two PCs to the KVM's USB ports, and connect any USB devices that you want to remain permanently attached to a specific system to the USB ports of that system's dock.

If you want to try to avoid using an E-Port Plus dock, the GCS1942's documentation indicates that it supports DisplayPort MST, which can allow you to run multiple independent displays from a single DisplayPort output.  So it is possible that you could just connect the E7470's Mini-DisplayPort output to one of the DisplayPort inputs on the KVM and run both displays through that single connection.  The reason I say "possible" is because the documentation doesn't make it clear whether it supports DisplayPort MST only on its outputs (meaning you can connect multiple displays from a single KVM DisplayPort output) or also on its input.  If it doesn't support MST on its input, you would NOT be able to use a DisplayPort to HDMI cable to connect your E7470's HDMI output to one of the KVM's DisplayPort inputs, because DP to HDMI cables do not work in that direction.  They can only connect DP sources to HDMI inputs, not the other way around.  So the only option at that point would be to get an MST hub like the StarTech MSTMDP122DP.  That would plug into your E7470's Mini-DisplayPort output (plus a USB port for power) and split your system's DisplayPort signal into two DisplayPort outputs before it even got to the KVM, in which case you'd be fine.  But you might be able to find a used E-Port Plus dock for a similar amount of money, which would be more convenient because that way you'd avoid having to connect and disconnect power and USB cables separately, AND you'd have a power adapter dedicated to the docking station.  You'd need a 130W power adapter for the dock to run the E7470 properly through a dock, though.

Dear@jphughan ,

much appreciate your comprehensive response and info. I thought having docking station will not allow me to bring a KVM switch in (my lack of knowledge).

I have checked few KVM swiches on Amazon, but what I still don't understand is how shall I wire up all the cables between two laptops, monitors and dockingstation. Here are some technical details which migh be usefull:
Latitude 7400 (2 in 1) has Hdmi, 2x Thunderbolt connectors and E7470 has just an HDMI and a DisplayPort Connector. Currently my two Monitors (Dell 23" - S2319H), keyboard and mouse are connected with the docking station (WD 19) with a thunderbol connector. The monitors just support HDMI and the docking station supports DisplayPort. Therefore, I have connected them with an DisplPort to HDMI (or HDMI to Displayport ?) cable.
All said, I would much appreciate if you could give me a tip how to set up my two latops with the monitors.

Many thanks for your response in advance.
Greetings

@100ra  Ah ok, I didn't realize getting equipment would be a challenge.  But if you're thinking about buying different displays anyway, then here's an option that would be fairly simple and would not require a KVM or even a docking station for the E7470:

• Get displays that support DisplayPort daisy chaining by offering a DisplayPort MST output connection.  This way instead of connecting two displays to your system/dock, you would connect Display #1 to your system/dock, and then connect the output of Display #1 to the input of Display #2.
• For the connection to Display #1, if the display has two DisplayPort inputs, you could keep your E7470 connected (from its mDP output) and your WD19 connected (from one of its DP outputs) at the same time and then switch the input on that display as needed.  If the display only has one DP input, then you could just physically move the display cable between your dock and E7470 as needed.  Since the WD19 has regular DP and the E7470 has mDP, you'd need an adapter for one of them, but mDP to DP adapters are pretty easy to find.  And since your displays will be set up as a daisy chain, you'll only have to move one cable back and forth.
• To handle keyboard and mouse switching, you could get a small USB hub and move that back and forth between the dock and E7470, or if you get displays with built-in USB ports, you could connect a USB cable from that display down to the WD19 and move that cable back and forth between the dock and E7470 as well.  Then just connect your keyboard and mouse either to that small USB hub or the display's built-in USB ports.

So at that point, you only have to a USB cable back and forth, and then either move one display cable back and forth or switch a display input back and forth (if you can find a display with two DP inputs).  The catch of course is that you would need displays that supported DisplayPort daisy chaining, but again if you were thinking about getting newer displays anyway, then that cost wouldn't be purely to set up a KVM, since you would get the benefit of better displays.  Note that if you are going to set up a daisy chain, your displays would have to be 2560x1440 or below.  You would NOT be able to run a daisy chain of dual 4K 60 Hz displays, for example.

@jphughan

Thank you indeed very much for the super comprehensive infos, much appreciate it.

Well, due to work I am in Asia (Cambodia) and I do not have access to much of accesories that you ususally willn find in US, EU or other countries. My set of equipments took also about 3 months to arrive here, so you can imagine :-))
I thought there will be an esier way to connect my two latops with the monitors (+ dockins station). However, this sounds another several weeks of waiting plus additional charge fir the KVM switch (about 300USD based on  Amazon.com). I thought I could do it with much cheaper with other type of switsches. It seems buying an additional set of monitor, keyboard and mouse will end up to be paying less casch. Are there any cheaper solutions for that??

now with all the back and forth I came up with an another and easier solution. Software based solution actually. Using remote desktop or VNC instead of wiring everything. It does what I am seeking for at the end...

Depending on your needs to share files with both Laptops I run 2 Laptops on through my D3100 Dock and a USB3 switch Connect usb 3 switch to Laptops USM Out to D3100 Dock You can then witch between the 2 Laptops any peripherals connected to the Dock switch to the selected Laptop I have 2 monitors a keyboard Mouse external drive Ethernet & Printer connected to my dock It works for me

Hello!  this is exactly the thread I was seeking.  I have a 7390 2 in 1 that belongs to my employer (with Corporate lockdowns).   That laptop is connected by a single USB-C connector coming from a Dell Thunderbolt Dock WD19TB.   That Thunderbolt dock hosts two 24 inch Display Port monitors, wireless keyboard and mouse and printer.   You are right...when I go on travel, I simply unhook the USB-C cable and off I go.  The docking station allows me to keep the TB power cord in my computer travel bag since I only need it away from home.    

I just purchased a second 2019 7390 2 in 1 for personal use that has just two Thunderbolt ports.  

What I was hoping to do is find a simple A/B switch that takes the Thunderbolt WD19TB connector IN (since all KVM and peripherals already hosted there), and then has two OUT Thunderbolt feeds, one for each laptop, employer and personal.   Then it's simply a matter of flipping the A/B switch to swap all peripherals from one computer to the other.

I recognize there is a potential power supply issue...as the computer that is "OFF" the A/B selection would lose power in my setup, but perhaps this is alleviated by using the power cords.

Right now, it seems the least expensive and simple solution is to place the laptops atop each other and simply move the TB lead back and forth from the WD19TB between the two laptops.  Not optimum, but not expensive, either.  

Hi,

I have replied to you via a private message.

-Gautam.

@PappyFLA  This question has been asked a few times here, but currently there is no USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 “smart switch” on the market that I’m aware of. I’ve seen them for regular USB 3.0 ports to allow you to switch which device certain peripherals are attached to, but nothing equivalent for USB-C/TB3 — both of which are rather more complicated than typical USB, so that might be part of the reason why. Such a device would need to support passing through USB 3.x and video (and Thunderbolt for TB3 support), and it would have to pass through up to 100W of power. And on that aspect it might actually need intelligence to perform USB PD negotiation itself rather than just being a passthrough. And for Thunderbolt support, it would need to pass Intel’s certification, which would add to the cost of the device.

I use the stacked laptop and cable switching dance myself, with the addition of a USB-C wall charger to continue supplying power to whichever laptop is undocked at any given time.

I have the same issue as PappyFLA. Two Dell laptops, one Dell dock TB16, dual monitors (2560x1440), kbd/mouse/headset/USB drives. The system works when each laptop is plugged into the USBC cable, but now tiring of plugging cable in and out. How to have KVM functionality to switch from one laptop to another quickly? Please reply publicly here so all can benefit. I should add that I am happy to provide power to each laptop separately and not expect the dock or KVM to do that. Want to keep both laptops plugged in and powered up; just want to switch peripherals from one to another with a button instead of cable plug out/in dance.

@chhaprahiya  There is currently no USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 “switch” on the market that will allow you to connect both devices to the switch and connect the switch to the dock on the other end so that you can decide which laptop you want to be using the dock at any given time. There are USB switches for USB-A ports that allow you to connect multiple peripherals to the switch and then decide which host system “sees” those peripherals, which is a similar concept, but USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 are quite a bit more complicated than typical USB, so it’s possible that the cost of such a device just doesn’t make sense based on the size of the expected target market. And a Thunderbolt version would carry the additional cost and complication of needing to be certified by Intel. If you’ve ever noticed that there are no Thunderbolt 3 enclosures for NVMe SSDs unless you buy a product that includes an actual SSD inside it, that’s why. Intel just isn’t approving enclosure-only products right now, so you can either buy the SSD included or stick to just slower USB-C NVMe enclosures.

@anichin Since that dock only connects via USB 3.0, it wouldn’t provide power to either system and would also rely on “indirect display” technology to send video over regular USB (as opposed to video over USB-C, which is completely separate). That can come with significant drawbacks that I’ve written about in the post marked as the answer in this thread.

Will this work?

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Dual-Monitor-Docking-Station/dp/B011NLY5J6

I found a solution which while not ideal works for me.

My work laptop is plugged to the docking station. My personal laptop is plugged to its own power supply. Both laptops are stacked. On the work laptop I have 2 RDP files - both would connect me to my personal laptop. One uses both monitors, the other RDP file uses just one monitor. This allows me to "switch" to my personal laptop or have both together each using one monitor. I just came up with this minutes ago. The time will tell if there are any drawbacks.