Feb 09 2012
IOGEAR 2-Port USB KVM Switch with Cables and Remote GCS22U (Black)
- 2-Port USB Cable KVM allows users to share a VGA monitor, a USB mouse, and a USB keyboard between two computers
- Supports multiple operating systems including Windows, Sun, and Mac
- Entry level KVM that will allow them to multitask with two computers at their disposal
- Computer selection via 6 ft remote controller cable that can be placed on your desk for easy reach, full Mac keyboard support
- No power adapter required
IOGear GCS22U 2-Port USB KVM Switch, 2-Port USB Cable KVM allows users to share a VGA monitor, a USB mouse, and a USB keyboard between two computers. Users can switch between computers using a manual switch located on a wired remote controller that can be placed on your desk for ease of reach. It offers an out-of-box solution with no additional cables needed. It supports multiple operating systems including Windows, Sun, and Mac. It is entirely plug-n-play and requires no software to run. It is
Cheapest Price: $ 2.99
February 9th, 2012 at 11:14 am
a decent kvm, but lacking a few features that a slight step up offers,
This KVM is fine, IOGear makes pretty good products. I am writing this just to provide a few comparison notes on the few but important differences between this and it’s slightly more mature sibling the GCS632U.
1) This KVM does not offer any keyboard shortcut. There is a little wired “remote” connected to the KVM, and you must click the button when you want to change from one machine to the next. This does not seem ideal to me, because your hands must leave the keyboard and I would worry about the clicky switch failing over time. The GCS632U offers a typical “double scroll-lock tap” to change over, and this can be changed to another keypress as desired. I find this works much better than this unit’s remote button setup.
2) This KVM has cables that connect to the monitor port and TWO USB ports on each target computer. The GCS632U one-ups this in a neat trick; it combines the keyboard and mouse inputs into ONE USB cable, so it only takes up ONE USB port on each target computer. Very nice, and fewer cables to plug in. This feature alone is actually enough for me to return the GCS22U for the upgraded GCS632U.
3) Last, but not least, the GCS632U adds 1/8″ plugs for audio. I personally don’t use this, but for those who want to connect a single pc speaker system (or other audio output) to the two target computers, this is a nice feature.
Hope that’s helpful. To me, an extra $10 is worth having an extra USB port free on my laptop and other computer! And I much prefer the keyboard shortcut vs the remote button!
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|February 9th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Plug and Go (read more below), out of the way, easy to switch,
In a nutshell: Compact, less wires to get in the way, great remote switch to change computers, and works out of the box.
Longer story
Here were my needs:
- I purchased this to be able to hook up my work laptop to my monitor and keyboard when I work from home.
- I needed a USB KVM switch (versus older PS/2 connectors)
- I prefer for the audio not to switch over so I can play music on my home computer while I work on the company laptop.
- I hate wires, so the fewer the better.
- Needed the switch to work with my wireless mouse and keyboard (you guessed that by now, didn’t you?)
This unit was perfect as the unit has the wires molded in and they are just long enough to reach both computers comfortably with no excess wiring to deal with.
The remote button is nice and does not get in the way.
My mouse and keyboard (Logitech) use one shared USB cable and the switch provides for two ports and plugs. This caused a little confusion and initially did not work when I plugged everything up. I figured this was more of my computer’s USB recognizing the keyboard had moved ports problem rather than a switch problem. I was right.
To solve this, I had previously plugged the monitor to the switch and the cable from the switch to the computer, this did not change. I did not hook the USB mouse/keyboard to the switch, but left it plugged into the computer where it was working originally. All was well so far. I then started the computer, made sure the mouse and keyboard were still working and moved the keyboard/mouse to the one of the switch’s USB ports. I had tried both USB plugs in (this is important) the same USB port on my computer that the keyboard/mouse were plugged into. I found the right plug and everything was working. I could switch back and forth and/or restart the computer without issue.
Other hints that might help.
From a cold start (remember the switch is powered by your USB port) the switch will start on computer 1 (green lights show which is which, one dot or two). The cables were not labeled, so I guessed, and guessed wrong. I switched the plugs and all was well.
Once I found the proper keyboard/mice USB cord coming out of that switch I was able to unplug the other one (remember, my Logitech uses one USB for both keyboard and mouse) to save a USB port on the back of my computer. I figure that I would not remember that later, so now was the best time to do this. Can you have enough USB ports directly on the computer?
I expect this switch to work well for you if you have similar needs to what I outlined earlier.
If your computers are far apart from each other, or you want to switch audio, or you need to switch between more than two computers, this is not the switch for you. You will need to invest in a more expensive solution.
Great product, I would buy this again and recommend it for anyone with a home office.
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|February 9th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
IOGear 2-Port USB,
I bought this switch because I just purchased a new computer, I have a lot of software and files on my old computer that I can’t get rid of (yet) so this was/is the ideal solution. This product works OK, it was easy to set up (about 20 minutes). It works as far as switching between two computers, be aware that there is a slight lag between switching but not a big deal. A couple of problems though:
1) When I put both computers into sleep mode I wasn’t able to swtich to the first computer that went into sleep mode when I fired both computers back up, the only way for the keyboard, mouse and monitor to work on the second computer was to do a “hard” shutdown, rebooting the computer. I called IOGear’s support and they had me go into device manager and turn of the power saving functions for the USB ports on both computers and this solved the issue.
2) The resolution on my 20″ flat panel monitor was terrible after installing this switch, font and images were blurry and jagged, to the point it was messing up my eyes. I tried everything I could do to fix the resolution but nothing worked. I also mentioned the resolution problem to IOGear’s support but I never got an answer as to how to fix the issue (I suspect there probably is no fix).
For $20 you really can’t expect much, the old saying is true, you get what you pay for…With that said, I purchased a $60 Starview KVM switch (which is powered by a 5v transformer) that is made by Startech, its the difference between night and day. I’ll keep the IOGear switch for a back-up in case the other switch goes bad.
All in all, IOGear’s support was OK and the switch would probably be OK for someone that doesn’t spent countless hours on a computer…Unfortuantely, for me I work on a computer day and night so I need a switch that transfers the screen resolution better than this switch is apparently capable of doing.
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