Tired of going back and forth between control room, iso booth; suggestions?

As a solo "artist" in my studio, I'm tired of going back and forth between my control room and iso booth when tracking. I usually have to bring my mic into the control room to get the levels right and then take it back in. And then there's hitting the record button and running in there.

I've tried ProTransport from Far Out Labs as a device to control my rig from inside my iso booth. It's choppy and doesn't always work, so I'm not a fan (at least not yet). I know there's "ProRemote" from them that lets me see levels too but if ProTransport ($8) isn't smooth/easy, I don't want to lay out $40 or so for ProRemote.

I tried just having my laptop in the iso booth with all else (preamp, A/D interface, hard drive) on the other side of the wall (cords running through a small hole). This is ok my the laptop still has some noise (and I want to record quiet/acoustic material).

I've thought about buying an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse and just having those in the iso booth (connected via the hole in the wall), but that would cost money, of course.

I was just wondering what others in the same situation do.

Thanks.