"This solution (often called the server/thin client model) has several advantages. The obvious one is, of course, that you can give your old laptop a new lease of life without spending money on memory or hard disk upgrades. Moreover, since all your documents and files are stored on your desktop computer, you don’t have to worry about keeping your data on different machines in sync.
"To accomplish the magical transformation of your laptop into a powerful workhorse, you need to do two things: you have to install and configure a VNC server on your desktop computer, and set up a VNC client on your laptop. VNC is a system that allows you to control a remote computer as if you were sitting in front of it. And if you run the VNC client in full screen on your laptop, it’s almost impossible to tell that you are controlling a remote machine. VNC is not the fastest system of its kind, but it is very easy to configure and straightforward in use. And if you run it on your home network, it is fast enough for most tasks."
