IOGEAR 4-Port USB VGA KVM

I bought the 4-port version and have it connected to my main (rarely goes anywhere) HP laptop, a Dell desktop, and an old IBM thinkpad, all running Win7. I liked the included cables, and the biggest challenge was figuring which USB slot on the switch corresponded with which cable if I only were to use one (i.e. not a problem at all). My mouse/keyboard are on one shared transmitter, and it works fine. Some have asked about the switching time, and it is only the time it takes your computer to jump from single to double monitor mode -- usually under a second or so. Note if your computer goes to sleep mode, there can be a significant delay in getting things to wake up and recognize the added display. If the machines are "awake," the switch toggles through them just fine. Since I have 3 brands of PCs ranging in age from 2014 to as far back as 2007 (the thinkpad) this seems to vary by PC/video card. Oddly, the new 2014 Dell seems the most twitchy. I often have to remind the PC when waking up that the added KVM display is more than XGA -- and this isn't an issue with the HP laptop nor the Thinkpad, so there's something internal to the Dell's controller (or a setting I'll look into). I also like the fact that this supports "Max resolution 2048x1536" and my shared monitor is >HD resolution -- 1900x1200, and the switch handles it fine. Last thing: because I only am using one USB on the switch for the shared mouse and keyboard, I'd hoped to use the second plug for an external USB drive. The spare USB on the KVM *will* support an external, *powered* USB hard drive (I tried a portable, and there's not enough juice to run the non-powered drive), BUT, two of my older laptops couldn't recognize this connection. Even though they both can work with the tested drives, it "failed to install drivers" when going through the KVM switch. It worked with my newer PC, but not the older laptops. I don't blame the Iogear KVM for this, of course, and this was a "nice to have" but not a necessary feature for my setup, so I am quite pleased overall.

So far, this device is working very nicely. I've been building a streaming studio, and this is coming in very handy for eliminating keyboard clutter in the studio. With this device, I'm able to switch between multiple computers, with just one keyboard, mouse, and monitor. However, I don't use the VGA component, since all my systems are independent, yet must be visible at all times. So, I just use the USB portion of the device. My only gripes are that the cable for the remote is so thin, I'm afraid it might get damaged under constant wear, and tear, and that it would've been even better had the device indicator LEDs been on the remote, rather than on the very part of the cable system which is now tucked away, behind monitors, where it belongs. My only concern is that by adding cable length to USB devices, signal strength could degrade a bit, but I've not noticed any problems with just a keyboard, and mouse. I've not tried using the device for data transferring devices like USB drives, SD cards, or removable drives. Frankly, I'd seriously stick to directly connecting those types of devices just to be safe. Other than that, the rest of the cabling seems fairly durable, and tough enough to do what needs to be done in a studio. I wish I'd gotten one of these a long time ago. Now, it's easy to switch between the streaming PC, chat monitoring PC, and gaming PC with but a press of a button.

I just got this unit and, for the most part, I am very happy with it. However, I wanted to put out a warning, and a workaround, that are not documented. I have this switch connected to two XP machines, one desktop and one laptop. The laptop is used in a docking station and I connected the KVM cables to the docking station, not directly to the laptop. After all, that's the point of having a docking station. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that the KVM works fine when I boot up, but if I switched away and back again, only the monitor became active. the mouse and keyboard did not. I tried connecting directly to the laptop and the problem went away. Not a good solution, in my opinion, so I went to the IOGEAR website and opened a live chat. When I explained the issue I was having, the rep told me that their KVM's are not guaranteed to work with docking stations and I was welcomed to return the unit if not happy with it. When I pressed her about it, and asked if there were any config settings that could be modified, she finally (and reluctantly) said that I could try to disable the mouse and keyboard emulation mode, but it probably wouldn't help. I asked her to explain how to do that, and when I tried it, everything worked just fine! the key sequence is [scroll lock] [scroll lock] M [enter]. this must be done from a wired keyboard and the first two key strokes should be in rapid succession. so the bottom line here is that the product is pretty darn good, but the communication is a bit lacking... hope this is helpful to some of you...

tres bon produit , de bonne qualité , ravis de mon achat . . . . . . . .

This is just what I needed. I'd have preferred one with a software switch, but for the price, this was excellent! Works great for switching between a few servers in the rack.

Keine Installation nötig, einfach zusammenstecken und das Switchen zur Nutzung eines Bildschirms bzw. einer Tastatur und Maus für mehrere Rechner funktioniert auf Anhieb. Nach dem Umschalten muss zwar ein bisschen mit der Maus gewackelt werden, damit der jeweilige Bildschirm übertragen wird, aber das sehe ich nicht als Einschränkung. Ebenso sind die Zuleitungskabel aus meiner Sicht mit ca. 1 m ausreichend lang bemessen. Preis-Leistung stimmt hier.

En mi trabajo tengo 5 a 7 computadoras en constantes pruebas y es complicado estarles cambiando los perifericos (monitor, teclado y mouse), Por lo que me ha servido mucho desde que llegó. Llegó todo muy bien y muy rapido.

This is an inexpensive KVM that does the job done. The initial cable management is going to be busy, as you are dealing with cabling to go to four different computers. I like that the remote switch is small, as it does not take up a lot of space on my desk. The remote switch is delicate, so you want to have it positioned where it won't get damaged. As others have noted, if a PC falls asleep, the KVM won't wake that PC back up, but this is quickly resolved by tapping the power button on the computer that is sleeping. One of my computers recently started causing USB issues when it is connected to this KVM, but for the moment I am blaming the computer for this, as this is a re-occurring issue that was happening before I bought this KVM. Very satisfied with the product.