How Can I Use an Old Laptop as a Terminal for My Desktop?

If you're feeling adventurous, you could install a lightweight Linux distribution on your laptop since it can handle older hardware better than Windows XP. This would allow you to SSH into your desktop easily. Just make sure your desktop has SSH installed and running.

Using VNC or RDP can also do the trick, but you might need to set it up so your desktop mirrors or runs a separate instance for the old laptop. It won't act as a true second monitor, but it will give you remote access without a server. Just be careful with security, especially on older systems.

You could definitely use SSH, but it might not give you the full monitor experience you want. If you're looking for something more integrated with a GUI, consider setting up a VNC connection. This would let you access the desktop environment on your main machine from the laptop. Just remember, with the laptop being a bit outdated, some new SSH clients might not work well with Windows XP, so keep that in mind.