How do you sync ongoing browser work between desktop and laptop?

Since you mentioned that you have FireFox installed, I would encourage you to sign in and use FF Sync. You can even send tabs across and all sorts of things.

As soon as you mentioned that you moved to FF, I was expecting you to say that the problem was solved. I've been using it for many years now, it is so smooth that I just take it for granted now.

I use [Firefox Sync][1] and it works seamlessly. Not sure if you have tried it.

  [1]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/features/sync/

I run a linux laptop, which I hook up to a USB dongle and hdmi cable each day. At work it's all sitting there ready.

At home I have a USB hub with all my peripherals which I simply unplug from my "fun personal" desktop and into my laptop. It's all on extension leads so it's at desk level, an easy swap.

I think working between two separate machines would be too much hassle, since I end up with multiple workspaces that persist over weeks in my i3/linux setup.

Use Firefox Sync

Since you mentioned workspaces, also have a look at Floorp. It's based on Firefox but makes the UI more customisable by having workspaces and allowing vertical tabs (without needing another extension).

Floorp is also compatible with Firefox Sync.

I use a a Linux desktop, a window and a Mac laptop, an android phone and an iPad. Firefox Sync works brilliantly across all.

If you don't trust Mozilla, you can also self host your own Firefox Sync server.

It is not what you're asking for, so this is almost off topic but: to send tabs to my Android phone or from there to my laptop I share them manually with KDEConnect. It's Android, Linux, Windows. GNOME too with GSConnect. The rationale is that it doesn't make sense to have on my phone all the tabs I have on my work laptop. It's often not possible too: web apps on customers LANs and VPNs.

Probably not going to be very useful to you, but since I use Windows I just use RDP to my desktop computer.

This way I don't care about the laptop. Specs don't matter much, it can get stolen or scanned by border control without issue etc.

I always pick up exactly where I left with zero hassle, don't have to install and configure tools twice etc, and it's virtually "native" feel unless I'm on some very dodgy cellular internet in the mountains or similar.

There's no good alternatives on Linux yet though, which is a bummer.

After years working with two computers, the best setup I came up with is making my main computer run Windows with Remote Desktop and connecting to it via VPN.

Then my portable computer is just an iPad running the Remote Desktop client. Excellent battery life.

As long as the internet connection is reliable, everything works perfectly.

On my home computer I just connect in the same way.

Not having to duplicate the dev environment saves me a lot of time, the only sad thing is I need Windows (and yes I’ve tried many other remote access solutions).

I use firefox sync as well, yet not with synced tabs but share singe tabs to a firefox account (PC, phone, work pc, etc.) The next time I open firefox on the target device the tabs are opened.

Try TabXpert extension. It has session tracking (the latest version is saved automatically, no duplicates), supports tab groups, and has real-time sync with the Cloud. You can even work in the same session on different profiles (PCs) simultaneously, it will sync your work bi-directionally. And it has import from Workona.

One of the best things I did for my productivity was ditching my desktop. Having to sync between my desktop and laptop slowed me down. Having to learn how to work on two different devices (different keyboards, monitor setups, etc) slowed me down.

Yes, a laptop is inferior to a desktop in many ways, but I've actually found myself much more productive now that I only work on my laptop. As an example, I used to get frustrated only having a single screen on my laptop instead of my desktop's dual screens. Now I've learned new workflows for a single screen and it's 90% as productive as having two screens and I make up for that by not being slower when I switch to my laptop like I used to be.

Just a thought for you.

Also, if I really need the power of a desktop, I try do it over the network from my laptop (CLI or remote desktop).

firefox sync and profile through .desktop files (or shortcuts in windows terms)

I have a personal which is named just Firefox a work named Firefox Work and a burner named Firefox NoWork lol

I use Firefox sync between all my devices including mobiles Android and iPhone, plus EndeavourOS, popOS and MacOs. In addition to that I use the tabs stash extension which also syncs all stashes between devices, though I only use that on the desktops/laptops

I have pc and macbook sitting next to each other, connected to the same ext monitor via active hdmi splitter. The pc I use mostly for debugging and testing the application I'm making. The mouse have a 2.4hz-dongle/bluetooth switch, as well as the keyboard, So I'm pretty much able to use the both systems at the same time, and when switching monitor to hdmi from pc, I don't even need to sync the browser since it's available on macbook to the right still. BTW switching mouse and keyboard can be bound to a single hotkey with their software, and switching takes ~1s, for me it makes working with 2 systems in parallel a seamless experience nowadays.

I use Vivaldi browser and this does it very cleanly for me. I can see the tabs that are open on my phone, my laptop, or my desktop from the other devices.

I can choose to open one tab from there or all of them.

Works very well for me.

(This is not advice, I certainly would assume there's a better way of doing this these days. There probably was at the time, too.)

I used do this every once and a while. I just maintained a reverse ssh tunnel back to my desktop, because I would set jobs up on it. Anyways, you could - and presumably still can - just query the firefox session store and pull out anything you needed. I don't recall it being painful, but then again - I haven't done it for a few years at least.

Both, Safari and Chrome offer tab sync. Safari through iCloud on device and Chrome through browser login.

Chrome works more reliably. Safari has some random reload issues from time to time.

I just don’t. I work on one of my laptops (Mac or Linux), and ssh into my desktop (Proxmox, mostly running Linux VMs/containers). Keeps my laptop battery happy, solves the browser sync issue, removes the need to git push/pull back and forth the machines, and allows me to do whatever with my laptop (including closing it) while, say, compiling.

I am not sure of the point of using both. A laptop is a desktop when sitting on a desk.

If OP need a faster machine for specific stuff like faster compilation times, I would suggest using it as a headless build machine. Browser sync wouldn't be needed.

Also what is that silly story about battery drain on ff?

I have the same problem. After much thinking, and figuring out I'm just lazy, I just don't bother with it. It turns out not to be particularly crippling.

I rarely need to sync to my laptop (only when I travel), so when I do I just copy my Mozilla appdata folder over. Works like a charm

I use [pushbullet][1]

  [1]: https://www.pushbullet.com/

Use https://raindrop.io/

It's a wonderful (free) cross-device bookmark manager but ... you can save all open tabs in two clicks (click save icon and click "+ tabs"). It even automatically tags tabs w/ the date or you can save them with any collection and/or tags you choose.

In addition, you can add notes, attach up to 100MB of files per month (on free plan).

It runs on and syncs between Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.

Edge isn't the only major browser with tab sync. For example, Brave has it.

This is what Firefox sync solves (especially with the tab stash extension). I don't know what to do about macos battery life though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯