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Overall, a great purchase. I am going to order a cable and will report back on that once I try it out. I am curious if this will support dual monitors.
It is so nice to use only one keyboard/mouse for all four. The cables are heavy and feel well built. I have four different PC's that I use in the office.
Switching between PC's is fast and the resolution is not bad at all. The packaging was thick, but the plastic was pre-cut around the box, so it made it easier to pull apart to get the KVM out. The KVM was easy to set up and instructions were thorough.
I like having the USB ports on the front for the keyboard/mouse console connection.
I am using a Dynex multimedia keyboard and when you click the and feature other than my computer it bring up a context window. I put it away and then about a 9 months later tried it again and updated the firmware and it still does not work. AVOID THIS DEVICE IT IS JUNK AND IOGEAR WILL NOT SUPPORT IT. I have owned this product for about a year. I hooked it up and the hot keys do not work.
But if any of your machines need only a subset of these, the hydra cables are a mess (unless you take a scissors to them and cut off the unneeded parts, but then you're in trouble in the future, as this KVM won't work with conventional cables, so you'll have to buy new ones from IOGEAR if you ever need to expand in the future. I don't care for the oddball cables either -- if you are hooking up keyboard, mouse, video, audio, and microphone, it saves space. The device doesn't work with my tablet -- it feeds bad screen dimensions and produces incorrect absolute positioning. It's unusable.
It's all about the power consumption it takes to run them & since the IOGear Mouse Docking Station has its on AC Power that's what makes it work with the designated front port. I think this same issue applies to this KVM Switch for a Mouse or Keyboard that draw too much power using the designated Mouse & Keyboard ports. The Keyboard & Mouse started freaking out - it was like something took over the keyboard & started typing continuously for no reason. It started drawing Power from the KVM instead of my PC's and everything worked properly. The IOGEAR Wireless Mouse that comes with this combo contains a wireless charging station which runs on its own power source. This is much less expensive than buying the Belkin equivalent model since you've got the four cablings. I have been able to successfully connect a HP Scanner to the peripherals port, keep my MS Wireless Multimedia Keyboard, hook-up my Dell Dimension 4300 XP Home PC, my Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4 XP Multimedia Center PC, an HP Pavillion dv9000z Windows Vista Notebook, & a HP Pavillion tx1320us Windows Vista Tablet PC Notebook all at the same time with no issues. All four can be connected & discconnected, they are not built-in/integrated into the KVM Switch.I hope this info is helpful.note: After initially writing this review I have discovered that my existing MS Wireless Mouse is able to function properly using the connected IO Gear Docking Station's wireless connection (& at times that of the MS Keyboard).
At this point, I have the scroll wheel but no browser back button default functionality. For instance, I couldn't use my existing mouse (but I did get to keep my keyboard). I chose to buy this same KVM Switch model on Amazon with an included/combo Keyboard & Mouse. Buying this combo, guarantees you'll have a Mouse & Keyboard compatible & functional with the power being drawn from the front USB KVM ports so that if one or both of your existing ones don't work you'll have a back-up plan in using the IOGEAR ones. I also found that you DO NOT WANT TO put two different Computers into a Sleep State (I don't know about one Yet).
It does have some limitations just as the other customer reviews stated and instances where you need to do workarounds & reset it which can be a nuisance. I tried to load the mouse software at some point but never got it to function properly - I need to try again. However, I didn't really like the IOGEAR keyboard because the keys are very scrunched together making it difficult to type. So far I am very happy with the product with some caveats - it is an excellent price for so much functionality.
I followed the Instructions in the booklet to unplug the KVM Power Source, then Unplug Each Desktop PC from their Power Source, then Plug the KVM Power Source back in and then Connect the Power Plug into each PC and then the boot process worked perfectly. After shutting down both PC's eventually and booting up one, the second one would let out a Screach that I've heard before for power issues & would not bootup. The key is to remember that you must literally unplug the power to the back of your PC's; simply unplugging the KVM Switch is not going to reset your system.One last note, while the four KVM Cables are klunky - I was able to get mine to stand up in the stand with no issues.Even with the workarounds, I would recommend this product. While it appeared to function perfectly (while my old Belkin KVM Switch would not allow), it actually freaked both my PC's out. I would shut both down & start the opposite one first, it would repeat the screach on the second PC booted.
Again, knowing power consumption problems, I made sure that my Laptops were plugged into a power source. I haven't wanted to go thru the hassle of resetting the KVM Switch again since getting to the back of the PC's is no easy feat. I have not tried any of the hotkey functionality still or tried to hook-up a second peripheral to the other back USB port. I won't make that mistake again - I'll just have to live with not using Sleep Mode - again, one PC in Sleep Mode might work - I don't know yet. The desktops have ATI Video Cards with Intel Processors and the last two have AMD Processors with integrated nVidia GeForce Go 6150 video cards.
I believe it started drawing Power from the PC's. I never tried them without being plugged in. I've found in the past that USB ports in the front of computers do not have enough power sourced to them to run such things as keyboards & mouses or heavier powered hardware while the USB ports on the back of a computer do. I'm glad my keyboard worked without issues.Unlike some of the reviews that mentioned the KVM Switch was not compatible with AMD, I was able to successfully function & run AMD Processors & the integrated nVidia video cards with no issues.
I highly recommend it. It's very easy to use and setup, hotkeys work great and the USB hub switching works seamlessly.Also, unlike some here say, it works just fine with my nVidia Motherboard.The fact that this unit also comes with all the cables you need, makes it a great product. I purchased this KVM after owing, fighting with and hating various Belkin products for several years. I can honestly say this is the best KVM I've used.
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