hardware remote desktop is it usefull to connect via remote desktop from a slower laptop to a faster desktop

Question

in a home-network does it make sense to connect via a slower laptop dell inspiron 9300 2 gb ram to a fast desktop say intel I7 with 8gb ram and very fast graphic card . this is mostly to surf faster on the net , because on my laptop surfing with firefox and different tap open it lacks punch so either I have the choice of buying a faster laptop or a fast desktop and connect via lan (remote desktop wireless) to get better result ? any suggestion is welcome

Answer 1

If you're looking for better multimedia function by using this setup, not necessarily.

Most remote desktop apps are not made to handle multimedia very well. Video (especially full screen) and interactive web systems do not generally work well over a remote connection.

A better thing to do, generally, would be to spend time and effort making sure your laptop is running as quickly as possible by removing extraneous software from startup, cleaning the system, etc. A good-running slow laptop will probably still be better than a remoted fast desktop.

Answer 2

It makes more sense to connect to the slow laptop with the fast laptop. Especially if the slow laptop is running an older OS. Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection tries to push as much of the graphics overhead to the client PC as it can.

I'm curious as to how a graphics card is going to speed up your surfing ability. . .

A far better investment is a second monitor IMO. In the classifieds, people are practically giving away old 17" monitors. I'd grab one and just plug that bad boy in to your desktop.

Answer 3

I only have 1 GB of RAM, but many tabs open, and still rarely use any swap.

First, check your swap, with

free

to see, whether you're low on RAM, or keep an eye on the HDD-led. In most cases, web access shouldn't outperform a graphics card, but I don't know how conventional your usage is. Can't you test and measure, how fast each usage is: pure laptop, pure desktop, indirect access? If you don't measure it, it is easy to be fooled by the own expectations - don't trust your feelings!