I have a client who has asked me for a solution to something and I can't quite figure out a good solution.

He has one large desktop computer that's his main personal system. Then he has 4 additional laptops, each one from a different commercial or governmental entity that he does freelance work for. As you may imagine, this is a little unwieldy. He currently has two monitors but uses each laptop one (or two) at a time, using their built-in screen only, set up to one side or another on his desk. He's tasked me to come up with a solution that simplifies his setup, preferably using his monitors, keyboard, and mouse in some unified way.

Naturally, the tried and true way is to use a KVM. But that usually only allows for one device to be used at a time. I think he's looking to use at least two at a time, and would be ok with a third being used in the same way he does now.

The only solution I've come up with is to get something like this big ol Dell monitor, connect the desktop with HDMI (the desktop will always be connected), plug the keyboard and mouse into the monitor, and then have a USB C cable that can be plugged into whichever laptop he needs to work on. He could just stack up the laptops and use one at a time.

Does this sound like a decent solution? It seems...ok. First of all, I'm not certain whether the power/sleep state of the connected USB device can be altered without opening the laptop up, which kind of defeats the purpose.

I don't know, I'm just hoping someone has an idea I haven't thought of yet