StarTech.com 4-Port Professional VGA USB KVM Switch with Hub (SV431USB)

by StarTech

Product Details

Product Manual [329kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 3.7 x 7.5 inches ; 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006B8DA
• Item model number: SV431USB
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 29, 2004

Product Description

The SV431USB 4 Port rack mountable VGA USB KVM Switch with Hub offers simple control of up to four computers from a single monitor/display and USB peripheral set (keyboard, mouse).The USB KVM switch features an integrated 4 port USB hub, allowing you to share connected USB peripherals between the four controlled PC/Mac computers as though the devices were connected directly. Offering convenient placement and installation options, the KVM switch features a 1U rack-mountable form factor and rear port connection to master and slave computers, allowing you to make the necessary device connections without disrupting your workspace. A cross-platform solution, the KVM switch supports high resolution applications at up to 1920x1440 and provides a smooth operating experience when controlling mixed (Windows/Mac OS/Linux) environments. Backed by a StarTech.com 3 year warranty and free lifetime technical support.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't work out of the box, April 8, 2004

By 

Bruce Slawson (Palmdale, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StarTech.com 4-Port Professional VGA USB KVM Switch with Hub (SV431USB) (Personal Computers)

This KVM is advertised to work without a power supply under Mac and PC (as specified on the startech.com website) but doesn't. It has a 5v recepticle but doesn't even include a cheapo wall wart. The 5v voltage is not even common enough for Radio Shack to carry them so they are expecting a lot from the end user.

The specific problem is I get a warning from my Macs about too much power being drawn and then the keyboad and/or mouse gets disabled.

I have 2 differnt setups where it fails to work. One consists of a PowerMac G4 and a PowerBook G4 with a ViewSonic 20" monitor, Apple Pro keyboard, and Microsoft Optical Mouse.

The other setup consists of a PowerBook G4, Old Micron Linux box, Sony 17" LCD, Apple Pro keyboard, and a Logitech Optical mouse.

These seem like common configurations so I am wondering if it is defective or unrealistic about its power requirements. I have written startech.com about this issue. I will update this review once I get a response.

============
UPDATE

Startech sent me the power adapter needed when connecting to Macs. BTW, its not included. Seems to work as advertised but I have noticed that if I don't switch to a Mac for an extended period it wont wakeup.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mac Users Beware, June 26, 2006

By 

Tony G - See all my reviews

If you're planning on using this switch with a Mac keyboard: Beware. Although is says "For PCs and Macs" on the box, this switch will NOT work out-of-the-box with a keyboard that has extra USB ports (which all modern Mac keyboards have). It needs the AC adapter, which is not included.

Forget about finding a generic adapter at Radio Shack. The SV431USB requires an output of 5V DC at 2 Amps, which is next to impossible to find (except on the StarView website of course).

This switch looked impressive, but I'm going to have to give it 1 star since I wasn't even able to get the keyboard going. If you have a regular keyboard and don't plan on connecting a USB hub or laptop to it, it might be worth a try.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent quality, easy to set up, then it broke, October 4, 2002

By 

David C. Askov (Maui, HI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: StarTech.com 4-Port Professional VGA USB KVM Switch with Hub (SV431USB) (Personal Computers)

This product is great. The picture quality on the monitor is excellent, even without a power adapter. This is the only switch I could find for under $100 that supports USB. Most switches in this price range only support PS/2 mouse/keyboard, but my printer is USB-only, so I needed a switch that supports USB. Startech also makes some cables ...that have monitor and USB bound together which I also bought.

I use this switch for a desktop & a laptop. When I connect my laptop, I just need to plug in the monitor & USB, and I'm ready to go! It's so easy. I just wish it could control audio as well, though there's probably some USB device out there that you could plug into this switch.

The cable setup was a snap and there were no drivers to install. My system recognized the devices automatically.

On the down-side, my laptop (WinXP) is a little slow to recognize the mouse & keyboard when I switch to it. It usually takes about 3 seconds, but can be up to 20 seconds on occasion. Generally it's not long enough to bother me.

On my desktop (Win2000), it recognizes the devices much more quickly, but occasionally crashes the system when I switch to it. I think this only happens when I try to move the mouse or type on the keyboard before it has recognized those devices. Now, I just switch to it, wait a second until I see the mouse's cursor appear on the screen, and I haven't crashed it since. A little annoying, but now that I know how to use it, it's no problem.

Dec 7, 2005: Not sure how long ago I wrote the review above. I *was* really happy with this product. Then, it broke, so I got another one, since it was under warranty. When the replacement broke, I gave up and bought a similar model from IOGEAR (model G-CSIO4U), which has worked flawlessly ever since. I wish amazon would let me reduce the number of stars I gave this thing...