KVM switch recommendations

Mike Danger

I have:
- a PC with HDMI and DVI out
- a MacBook Pro with HDMI out (and also Mini DisplayPort out or whatever the hell)
- a monitor with HDMI, DVI, and I think VGA in
- a USB mouse
- a USB keyboard
- a USB headset
- potentially other USB devices

Is there a quality KVM switch that someone can recommend so I can use the same mouse/keyboard/headset for both the laptop and the PC and switch between them as I desire? (My understanding is a KVM switch is what I'm looking for, if there's something else, just let me know.)

BlindZenDriver

First thought is yes a KVM swith is the way to go, but I must admit I haven't seen one since back when video was analog ie. VGA. But maybe others have more recent experience and can help.

However it may be that all you need is a USB switch to share mouse, keyboard and so on since your monitor takes both HDMI and DVI so you can switch video on that. This is of course provided the HDMI connection is sufficient to drive the desired monitor resolution. USB switches are cheap and I can't imagine real KVM switches with DVI being so.

Also depending on your specific needs maybe you can simply run a remote session rather than switch around. Like say if you only occasionally need to use the Mac you could have the PC hooked up to all the hardware and simply use the Mac via a remote session from the PC.

hsu

Use a multi-platform software program like Synergy to share your mouse and keyboard across both computers. This will solve your problem 99% of the time as it lets you pretend both computers are a single computer with multiple screens, in order to share a single keyboard and mouse.
https://symless.com/synergy/

Radiation

Might be able to do something like an HDMI to DVI for the Macbook and try something like this
Maybe a USB hub for all your USB devices as this one only supports two.

I recall looking at a HDMI selector for a bit, but this was a while back and imagine the selection has expanded but at the time everything was pretty high on price range ($200+)

Foomy

I looked around a bit and combined hdmi/usb kvm switches don't exist, but:

Hdmi switches are super cheap now, easily get one for under $10, but if your monitor has multiple inputs you could just use that to select.

for usb a switch and then a couple of hubs would work, so something like this: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=2995

Inquisitor77

For the past 5+ years I've been using a "Wormhole" switch from: http://www.j5create.com/ and it has worked almost flawlessly.

I have my mouse and keyboard plugged into my PC, my work laptop is sitting on my desk, and the Wormhole is plugged between the PC and the laptop. When I want to control the laptop (or vice versa), I just hit Alt+S and it swaps the controls over. Super simple and easy.

The one I have is pretty old, but I haven't had any major issues and I only care about my keyboard/mouse controls getting swapped. I'm guessing they have updated their products since then and might have something that fits your needs if you need stuff like a headset to also port over.

Daenris

Foomy wrote: »

I looked around a bit and combined hdmi/usb kvm switches don't exist, but:

Hdmi switches are super cheap now, easily get one for under $10, but if your monitor has multiple inputs you could just use that to select.

for usb a switch and then a couple of hubs would work, so something like this: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=2995

HDMI/USB KVM switches definitely exist. Here's an example:
https://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16817270041
Newegg has an HDMI,USB filter in their search in their KVM section that should list some others as well. I don't have any experience with them unfortunately so can't really speak to quality/etc.

Edit: Though if price is more of a concern than the ease of having one button instead of two, then you'll likely be able to get a HDMI switch and a separate USB switch cheaper than an HDMI/USB KVM since they're a more niche product.

Inquisitor77

Mike Danger wrote: »

I have:
- a PC with HDMI and DVI out
- a MacBook Pro with HDMI out (and also Mini DisplayPort out or whatever the hell)
- a monitor with HDMI, DVI, and I think VGA in
- a USB mouse
- a USB keyboard
- a USB headset
- potentially other USB devices

Is there a quality KVM switch that someone can recommend so I can use the same mouse/keyboard/headset for both the laptop and the PC and switch between them as I desire? (My understanding is a KVM switch is what I'm looking for, if there's something else, just let me know.)

So, I think the site I listed has a few product options for you.

JUC500 USB 3.0 Wormhole Switch
PC to monitor via DVI
MacBook to monitor via HDMI
USB Devices on either PC or Macbook
JUC500 USB 3.0 Wormhole Switch between the two computers.

This should let you control both the PC and the Mac with the same devices (among other things, like transfer files). With regards to the display, you could just use the monitor's display controls to swap between inputs.

JUD500 USB 3.0 Ultra Station
This is a full-fledged docking station that has the same technology and also lets you play around with different display options, such as display extending and mirroring across both devices.