03-07-2007, 09:35 PM

This topic has been posted before, many times, and I've read all the threads. I'm posting again to see if anyone has had any recent new insights into the topic. Briefly, I want to share a VGA monitor and USB keyboard/mouse between a Macbook and a PC. I want to make sure I get the right KVM the first time, because whenever I buy the cheapest of anything, and it doesn't work right and I have to buy a better model, I end up feeling like a big ***. So I'm looking for replies from folks who have used a specific KVM model with both a Mac and PC and can attest that their KVM has been ROCK SOLID. No plugging/unplugging, rebooting, swearing, etc., it just has to work the way it should without excuses or compromises. Not to ramble on too much but my whole reason for beginning the switch from PC to Mac is because, even though I have spent countless enjoyable hours learning about, tweaking, fiddling with, and optimizing Windows systems over the past 10 years, I am at a point in my life (and the computer industry should be with me on this) that fiddling is OK from time to time but most of the time I want everything to JUST WORK so that for a change I myself can get some work done. Struggling to get my wife's brand-new-out-of-the-box C2D Macbook to work reliably with my D-Link wireless router, when I had been lead to believe that everything would immediately JUST WORK, was very disillusioning

An impossible dream? I hope not! Please help if you can!

And yes I am aware that I'll have to buy the little $20 video adapter cable from Apple.

03-12-2007, 01:11 AM

IOGEAR makes a very high quality KVM. It is the only brand that I know of that says specifically it is compatible with Macs. They have a wide range, so you would have to find what's god for you, but anything you get from them should work with no problems.

03-12-2007, 02:16 AM

belikn also makes mac compatible ones

http://www.belkin.com/flip/

03-12-2007, 11:26 PM

I've had the Belkin Flip for almost a year (well, as long as I've had my MacBook). In fact, I'm using it right now. It connects both my MacBook and XP machine to my monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Is it "ROCK SOLID?" That might be overstating it-- I will say that it worked from the time I plugged it in and has worked perfectly the entire time I've owned it. I just prefer not to SHOUT about it. :-)

Hope this helps.

03-13-2007, 02:51 AM

I've been using an IOGear Micro USB KVM at the office to switch between my Mac Mini and Dell Laptop for two years, and it's been trouble-free (of course I rarely use the Dell, so it doesn't get a lot of switching activity).

The Belkin looks fine, but I prefer the fact that the IOGear uses the scroll-lock key (which can be remapped to an alternate key if you've got a Mac-centric keyboard) for switching between machines, while the Belkin has a dedicated remote. I prefer not having to take my hands off the keyboard very often.

The link above shows a $70US price, although I think I paid closer to $50 at Fry's (and you can probably find it for about that price at a place like newegg).

03-13-2007, 09:32 AM

I've got essentially the same setup as djames42 (mini & Dell using an IoGear MiniView Micro. Works well with one notable exception: if I leave both machines on overnight, the KVM tends to lose the keyboard, forcing me to hard-reboot both machines (the switch requires both machines to reboot to "rediscover" the keyboard). I think it has to do with the fact that the KVM is not self-powered; it draws power through the USB connection. If one of the machines reverts to a "no-or-low power" mode, I think the switch reads it as a disconnection. I've tried every conceivable power setting on both machines (including always-on, no screensaver) and I still get this intermittently. Have had 2 of these KVM's and get the same result.

If you turn your machines off overnight, this switch works like a charm though.

03-13-2007, 11:13 AM

I leave both of my machines on continuously (as I said, I rarely use the Dell, otherwise [as with all Windows machines], it would be rebooted several times per day...) and rarely experience this behaviour. It does happen however; a few times per year, I will lose either the keyboard or the mouse (nearly always it happens to the Dell, but that may be a symptom of the port it's connected to rather than the hardware itself), but since it is a laptop, I can open it and use the built-in keyboard to reboot.