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Author: Mac MacLaren
Rating: 5
Review: My desktop consists of a laptop PC running Vista, and an Apple MacBook running OS X Snow Leopard. Using this box, I use one keyboard, one monitor, and one mouse to use each computer, one at a time. Each computer has its lid closed, which is sometimes called "clamshell" mode. Because the software that ships with the box is only compatible with Windows, this only means that you have to use the switches on the top of the box to switch from Mac to PC. If you wanted to connect 2 PCs instead, you could use the hotkey on your keyboard to switch between the two, without using the physical switches. The only problem I found was that the picture from the MacBook would always appear about an inch offset to the right on my monitor, each time I switched the box to the Mac. I corrected this initially by pressing the "AUTO" button on my monitor, so that the picture moved to the correct place on the screen. However, I found that the resolution wasn't as good as on the MacBook itself. To solve these 2 problems, I bought another cable that connects the Mac monitor output (DVI mini connector) directly to my monitor's DVI input (my monitor has both VGA and DVI inputs, luckily), so I'm not routing the Mac's video through the box at all. Using this cable, the picture always appears in the correct place on the screen, and the resolution is much better - in fact, it's a perfect picture. As the KVM box is now only being used for one monitor input, I could have then connected the monitor's VGA input directly to the PC, but this would have meant manually switching the monitor every time when going from Mac to PC or from PC to Mac. As I have it set up, the monitor automatically switches to the Mac when I press the "Mac" switch on the box, because the box is switching through nothing to the monitor's VGA input, and in these circumstances, the monitor is clever enough to switch to its DVI input. When I press the "PC" button, the mouse and keyboard are switched, but I need to press the "INPUT" button on my monitor to select the VGA input from the PC. This setup is not ideal, but it works well. The box itself is compact and easy to set up. There is a decent 2-page PDF manual on the disk that explains how to use it. I don't think the manufacturer's spec mentions this, but each switch contains a green LED that flashes while switching is going on (about a few seconds) and then lights solidly to show you which computer is selected. This is the best setup for running a Mac and a PC with minimum desk clutter. One final note for people who are hoping to use an existing USB keyboard with a Mac: you may find some of the keys don't work as expected (or do nothing at all). You may be able to find a software solution to this on your Mac, or you may end up (like I did) buying an external Mac keyboard instead.
