eKL USB 3.0 Switch 4 Computers Share 4 USB 3.0 Por

4 computer & 4 device+sound powered USB switch
Edit/Addition:The more I use this device, the more I like it. While this device lacks the video switching of a true KVM (my solution to that is a separate HDMI switch for sharing the video), this hub does appear to handle all my USB switching needs. And to get around the limit of 4 “device” ports, I was able to put a 7 port USB hub (with individual port on/off switches) on one of the device ports of this hub/switch. By using the hubs this way I now have 10 device ports vs the 4 that came with the hub. This is more than enough device ports to make a very useful “docking station” for 4 different “computers” in my home office.FWIW: I am currently using 3 of the “computer” slots on this hub (to a Chromebook, an XBox, and a USB docking cable for my cell phones) and plan to hook up the 4th computer slot to the Raspberry Pi I am in the process of building/configuring. As to devices this hub switches, I currently have hooked up: a keyboard, a mouse, the 7 port hub, a headset, a webcam, a game controller, a USB flash drive, and a USB printer. With all these devices hooked up to any “computer” on this hub, I see this hub as a very useful “docking station” for my devices (with additional free USB ports available for future expansion).————————————————————-I got this because I’m about to add a 3rd “computer” to my home office (I’ve got a raspberry pi on order), and therefore my 2 computer USB switch will no longer do the job. I like this model, because it is rated for USB 3 speeds (whereas a lot of these USB switches are slower USB 2 only), is powered (i.e. has an option to add additional power to the USB hub), and lets you switch 4 USB devices among up to 4 “computers” (whereas a lot of these USB switches only allow for 2 computers). And as an added bonus, any of those “computers” will see an extra USB sound device, that you can send the sound to (i.e. this “hub” even has a built in USB “sound card”).I just got this hub today and hooked it up a USB keyboard, a mouse, a web cam, and a USB headset on the device side of this hub. I then had the “computer” side hooked up to my chromebook and my XBox. When I tested on the chromebook (with the hub switched to the chromebook) all 4 devices were seen and function (and I even got a new sound output device on the chromebook, which correctly sent the sound to this hub’s sound support). And when I tested it on the XBox, both the keyboard and mouse were seen and functioning (I didn’t expect the sound devices to work on the XBox, because the XBox doesn’t have drivers for USB sound). So all the tests I could do with my currently equipment were fully functional!Since I have no reason to believe the other two “computer” connections on this hub won’t work (it is after all rated for up to 4 computers), I plan to hook this hub up to the raspberry pi I’m getting soon (so the pi will be the 3rd “computer” on this hub). By using the switch this way, I can avoid having redundant USB devices use up the limited space in my home office while still having access to these devices when needed.NOTE: I did run a brief test of plugging a 2nd (unpowered) hub into the device side of this hub, and it seemed to work. Specifically my chromebook still saw and used all 4 of my devices, even though they were now plugged in via a 2nd hub. So it looks like I’ll be able to use that option (of daisy chaining USB hubs), should (in the future) I get more USB devices I wish to share between my various “computers”.

I’m Happy
This particular switch is pretty good. It does everything I needed to do. The only possible complaint that I might have is that, at times, it takes a little longer than instantly to switch between computers, but I have no way of proving that the switch is the problem. Overall, I’m happy!

Plenty of features
As there is no onboard emulation for a keyboard and mouse, this switch doesn’t play well if the computer needs user input before booting fully. Many computers are like that. I have one; it needs a second keyboard attached directly to it in order to select an operating system to boot from. Other than that, the product page covers the features quite well. When a system that boots directly to the operating system is connected, it works fine. I watched systems cold-boot with the error message keyboard not found, and once it got to the operating system, everything was fine.I was able to use a thumb drive as a NAS device, with read speeds of around 116 MB/sec on an old 64 GB thumb drive. Not bad. It had no trouble using USB bars with multiple thumb drives connected simultaneously. A factory-enclosed USB mechanical drive with its own power supply was over 250 MB/sec, around the device’s maximum.Using the side USB C power port, almost anything can be connected, so long as one has the right gear. An alleged USB 3 to SATA converter with a max read/write speed of 33 MB/sec was fast enough for streaming from any mechanical HDD I connected to it. The device itself maxes out at that speed; the KM switch is capable of far more, as mentioned in the last paragraph. Even at that slow rate, it transferred over 100 GB of data in under an hour to a computer not typically on the network. That’s about 264 MBit/s, and the speed was fairly consistent.It would have been thoughtful of the seller to mention the user input dilemma in an otherwise well-written product description. I noticed no mention of cable length; mine are about 5′ long or 1.5 meters.There are so many possibilities with this device. It took a while to write this review just because the possibilities are so extensive. Even if one or even two computers need a keyboard, I’d still say it’s worth it. If you’re still reading and looking for a solid KM switch, go for it.

you will need to reboot
I had trouble with the computers not recognizing the wireless keyboard and mouse. Then thought I might need to reboot because the system might think the keyboard and mouse were on the old KVM with some sort of fixed parameter. Rebooting all the computers seemed to fix the problem.Not sure what to make of the headphone jack. Nothing in the manual says what it does, just that it exists.I like that I can easily switch directly to a computer and the indicator light is easy to see. My last KVM had a pin point of an indication.

I did not expect it to work this well for the price, but it works really well. It comes with all the cables, and even a USB-C cable for power, but it doesn’t really need it. I do suggest using another one simply because it’s a bit short, but the cable is really good quality. The USB cables to connect to the device though are plenty long and are also great quality.The one issue I’ve noticed on occasion is that switching to another computer sometimes doesn’t get recognized. It’s rare, and can always be fixed by just going back and forth once, so I think that’s more of a windows glitch.

Switches 4 usb devices between 4 different computers. Works even if it’s through hubs, docking stations, and other extensions. Sturdy metal case, comes with 4 usb cables and a power cord. Very happy.

As described, it works properly. I had a 2 port switcher before that always disconnected and gave me a lot of problems. After 1 month of use, I absolutely recommend this 4 port 4 PC USB hub.