Described is a technology by which the operation of an auxiliary computing device, comprising a display and/or actuator set, may be automatically modified based on detected state data. For example, user input may be routed from the actuator set to the host computer system when the host computer system is in an online state, or to the auxiliary computing device when the host computer system is offline. State may be determined based on one or more various criteria, such as online or offline, laptop lid position, display orientation, current communication and/or other criteria. The auxiliary display and/or actuator set may be embedded in the host computer system, or each may be separable from it or standalone, such as a remote control or cellular phone.