Advice on imac/mac mini purchase for work

Hi all,

Currently working for a tech support company with little Mac use.

However, for the front of house team, they want to have macs as they look smart.

The only problem is they need to be able to access another PC underneath the desk. This cannot be run as a VM on the machine as it would bridge two networks.

I would like to use a KVM to sort this, however I'm not too certain how to go about this.

How will the Mac Keyboard and Mouse connect to the windows machine? Is there a Bluetooth reciever I can connect to the KVM for it or would I need to use a different keyboard?

Can I have a KVM/something similar running from the imac?

What KVM would I need if I was to be connecting to VGA on one end and then a Thunderbolt screen on the other?

Would I be better off with a mac Mini?

The hardware spec isn't important as will only be accessing Citrix, they just want it to look pretty.

Thanks!!

Welcome to Mac-Forums..

You've thrown out of lot of sentences which don't tie together to explain what the current configuration is and how you'd like to integrate either the Apple keyboard/mouse or a Mac Mini or iMac or KVM into this configuration..

Using Apple products because they are pretty and nothing else is a a little silly IMHO, but its your money..

Please describe what you are trying to pull off and we can help.

Okay - so currently there are two PCs connected to a KVM to one screen in reception.

One PC has access to the internet; the other does not. The PC which is not connected to the internet is hooked into a LAN.

They want to swap the PC which is connected to the internet for an Apple device, but they still want to be able to switch between the two easily via one screen.

What I wanted to understand - is this function possible with an imac?

If I was to not use an imac, but I was to use a mac mini with a thunderbolt screen + KVM + LAN PC, how would I configure the Apple wireless keyboard and mouse to work? As they only want to have one keyboard and mouse, rather than two sets.

From what I've currently done, I plug the bluetooth dongle for the keyboard and mouse into the KVM and this allows for both PCs to use one set. How would this work with the apple keyboard and mouse? As I thought that there is no dongle for the mac mini/imac, rather it has a built in bluetooth connection.Is there a bluetooth dongle option for the Mac keyboard and mouse?

Am i still been unclear?

OK, so you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse that's right now visible. I assume that the two PC's aren't visible. Replacing one of those PC's with an equally invisible Mac Mini wouldn't help in the "cool factor" would it?

If you were to replace the current monitor, keyboard and mouse with an iMac, then you would get the "cool factor" and to access the PC, you could use Remote Desktop. You could send up two desktop (spaces), one is the OS X running whatever it wants and the second is the Remote Desktop to the PC.

If the cool factor pays my wages, I'm a happy boy!

How would I RDP between the PC/imac? What connection?

Thanks for your help so far

Sorry if that sounds daft but one of the PCs is connected to the internet andthe other is not?

TomMcAuley said:

If the cool factor pays my wages, I'm a happy boy!

How would I RDP between the PC/imac? What connection?

Thanks for your help so far

Click to expand...

Within Windows, enable access to it. Then grab the MS Remote Desktop app from the Mac App Store and you should be able to connect to the PC with the right credentials.

TomMcAuley said:

Sorry if that sounds daft but one of the PCs is connected to the internet and the other is not?

Click to expand...

Since you are doing all of this locally, as log as both the machines are on the same LAN, you will be fine.

Apologies for not making it clear, they are on Two separate LANs

If you have two separate LANs, then the remote desktop option is not going to work. I can't think of an alternate with using iMac since you cannot plug the PC into the iMac just as a monitor..

Weeeell my current train of thought is to get two USB NICs and connect the two together Using RDP - not perfect but its the best option for the client if they want it.