Assuming your laptop is Windows, create a file C:\users\<your Windows username>\.ssh\config

Host server1
  HostName server1.example.com
  User <your username on the remote server> 

In VSCode, install the Remote - SSH extension.

C:\users\<your username>\vscode\<your Windows username>.code-workspace

{ 
  "folders": [ 
    { 
    "uri": "vscode-remote://ssh-remote+<the name of the Host in your C:\users\<your Windows username>\.ssh\config file>/home/<your username on the remote server> " 
    } 
  ], 
    "remoteAuthority": "ssh-remote+<remote server DNS hostname or IP address>", 
    "settings": {} 
} 

In Windows Explorer, double click on the <your Windows username>.code-workspace file you created. This will open another instance of VS Code.  Follow the prompts in VSCode to establish the connection to the remote Linux server.