Customer Reviews

IOGEAR USB 2.0 Laptop KVM with File Transfer GCS661U (Black)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The product works pretty well, but it is not quite the whiz described by David Pogue. Setup was easy. The software is in the product. I use it to display the laptop on the large desktop monitor, but the laptop does not display full screen on the monitor. Since I do my email on the laptop, I can also do it on the desktop, but there is a tiny image delay that makes typing email using the desktop monitor and keyboard a bit awkward. I can cut and paste from the laptop (remote) to the desktop (local), but not from desktop to the laptop. There is a USB port in the device that allows a printer connection, but that just provides another USB port for the desktop because it can't be used to print from the laptop. The connection between the computers stops from time to time, but can be reestablished easily.

The file sharing feature works easily in both directions although it uses a file manager that is a bit clunky.

This cable is essentially a way to link two computers in order to do file transfer. Its intent is to allow you to boot up old desktop pc's which you've long ago ditched the monitor and keyboard, and retrieve the files using your laptop's keyboard, monitor and mouse. For that purpose, it works well.

As a KVM alternative, it's not exactly stellar. As you may read on reviews at other sites, there is a bit of lag. Over USB2, you can't view video or things with fast refresh rate, but you can essentially use the other computer as you would expect. One disappointing thing was, that while the packaging says that it "automatically adjusts for resolution," I didn't care for this feature. I would have expected, that as possible on other VNC software solutions, when you resize the window, the remote desktop resizes so you can see the entire desktop at one time. With the VNC software that comes built into this KVM switch, when the remote desktop is larger than your laptop screen realestate, the software gives you scroll bars for vertical and horizontal. This makes navigating another computer a little cumbersome and can make certain applications nearly unusable.

Lastly, over a USB1 connection, this product isn't even worth trying. The lag was over a minute. If you opened an application, it would be a minute before you'd get the feedback that it had started. I had a monitor running on the remote desktop so I was able to track the lag, which was significant. If typing on one screen, it would take a minute for the text to appear. DO NOT RECOMMEND it for USB1 connection.

Just got this to add to my IT tech kit. I do some side IT work. Needed something to help me do data transfer from PC to my laptop. I also have a nice 32gig thumb drive but I needed something just in case.

Overall quality seems great. The cables are a great length and the ability to link into a thumb drive or another USB add on is cool. This is really cool if you want to do a data backup from a PC that only has a power cable hooked up and saves you time from having to plug in stuff. There is some lag, but I think its more from slower computers. My newer laptops I plug it into have a half second delay. I've also tested it on my tower and there is about a 1 second delay. not too noticeable if your not looking at the other screen.

Overall i really like the product and it should help me do some work. I wish I could upgrade the software. I also wish I could do a virus scan to another PC via the cable, but I haven't figured a way out. This is convenient in that I don't have to remove an HDD or plug in a monitor, or do a transfer between my laptop, a thumb drive, then back to a PC.

The software is SUPER basic. More of a techy style interface, but I don't expect any main stream users to buy this product.

Besides the lag, its a good product.

This device basically does local RDP (remote desktop protocol) over a USB cable, it's not switching anything. You are seeing the desktop of the remote computer inside a window on your local system. With a real KVM your keyboard, video and mouse are physically switched by the device. I'm not sure why this is labeled a KVM. Useful if you want to RDP to a box that's less than a few feet away from you, but depending on your network speed it's probably about the same performance as just using remote desktop...What this does it take the permissions issues out of the loop as long as you have access to install the software. You get the same input and display lag that you do using any other kind of RDP. Also, I can't get the file copy to work as anything I try to transfer crashes the software after a few MBs. Could be specific to my setup (Win7 -> Xp) but worth mentioning. Either way I bought this for $9.99 from another retailer and it was worth playing around with. Don't confuse this with a decent KVM though.

Ok! It works like it is supposed to! I am a 'computer guy' and use it almost daily for one-shots when changing out computers and the user has not managed to save all their data to the server (like Favorites, Desktop, etc). Just not having to have a second monitor or be swapping the monitor cable back and forth is worth the price of admission.

I got one of these to allow me to use my headless "personal" PC while using VPN which disables most desktop sharing utilities like RDP and VNC. It works. It has 2 annoyances, one is it is sluggish (as noted by many others) the other is that is crashes whenever I do a "cut/paste" operation on the main PC. So I end up restarting it 10 times a day. Certainly worth the "discounted" price (I got it for $10). I would say it is not worth the "list" price though. It saves me the trouble of exiting and relaunching VPN a few times a day.

So, I'm a big fan of KVM switches...mostly because I enjoy using one keyboard/mouse and monitor for my systems. So when I saw an easier way to get this accomplished (without the excess cables of other KVM switches) I jumped on it.

It was a challenge to get running. The connection was jumpy (A real surprise, considering it was using USB 2.0 ports) It seems to hog system resources (both computers would take forever to boot or shutdown if they were connected). When I was really trying to address the issues (installing/reinstalling) I ended up having to reboot every time I wanted to get them to work...and then it was iffy. I would not buy this again. Nor would I recommend this to a friend.

I have VNC and I would recommend downloading and buying that instead. It runs smoother and has more features.

From recent reviews and IOGear's website, this device is supposed to work with Windows 7 and provide KVM between a desktop and laptop or vice versa.

The device I received says it works with only 2000/XP/Vista and "Control another computer via the laptop."

My guess is this is an old model/inventory dump.

Regardless, I immediately contacted IOGear support via phone. After 25 minutes on hold during their stated business hours, I hung up with no answer. I submitted their tech support request form approx. 3pm on Wednesday, 6pm Saturday I still have received no response, not even an auto-response.

Returning product unopened to get refund.

Easy to use. Has a little lag when using it to connect to another PC but this is a minor pain. I would recommend this device and would buy this product for my clients.

Connectivity can be a little flaky when the laptop and PC come out of sleep mode but other than that this product works really great when I need to access files on my PC or remotely control the PC for other reasons.