Customer Reviews

TRENDnet 4-Port USB KVM Switch Kit with Audio (Includes 4x KVM Cables) TK-409K (Blue)

5 star:		(178)
4 star:		(77)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

This switch simply works. No complicated setup, no software to install. Just turn off both computers. Plug the shared keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers and microphone into the switch, connect the included cables into the switch and the two computers. Then turn on the first computer, the one you want to designate as #1. After the first computer boots up and everything is okay, then push the #2 button and boot the second computer. That's it. From then on, you just push the button #1 or #2 to make the switch. It switches instantly, if both computers are not asleep. If one is asleep, it gives the signal, and then the PC takes only a few seconds to wake up.

I read a lot of reviews and I'm glad I did. Other switches seem to need software to work well, and rely on keystrokes to change. Because this switch has a button, it just truly switches over without any need to install software, making it the most generic. For PCs, you can use the scroll-lock+scroll-lock key combination to elicit the switchover. But it's simpler just to teach my kids to select button 1 or button 2.

I also own an expensive Belkin 4-computer model (USB w/audio), but this one actually works better. The Belkin one breaks my multi-function KB, as well as preventing my monitor from sleeping. The TrendNET one works perfectly on both counts, I can switch from my PC to my Mac using ScrollLock+ScrollLock, and it includes the cables. (The cabling weighs about 10X the actual KVM ;-)

One small warning - a Mac cannot use the ScrollLock+ScrollLock keystroke to switch between inputs, so you have to be able to reach the physical buttons.

My only complaints are minor. One is that the cables come off of all 4 sides (which I knew from the pictures), making it very difficult to look nice. You might need some cable ties.

The other complaint is that all of the cables in included are proprietary on the KVM-side - you cannot replace them with your own cables or longer ones. Even the audio cables use a mini-USB connector instead of miniplugs (why?), and the video AND USB ports come off of the VGA connectors! However, this doesn't prevent it from working, but may be a problem if your computers are very far apart, since you'll need 4 different extension cables.

Overall, I really like the product: it works well, doesn't require additional power, and includes all of the cabling.

This kvm has the advantage that it only needs one single usb port on each of your pc to work. I connected a set of usb mouse and usb keyboard (both microsoft) to the kvm, and all was recognized with no problems. The audio quality is very good. When you switch, there's no beep sound (for me this is good). Also this kit doesn't need ac power adapter, however, there are some disadvantages that can be a deal-breaker for some. It inclues:
-if you have one linux box, the hotkey doesn't work and you need to push the button on the kvm to switch between machines. No big deal.
-when you switch, there is a delay, ie. you can't use immediately the keyboard and mouse, I guess that is because they need to draw power from usb port. This delay is about 5 secs long. I'm used to it now.
-on my windows vista box, I have installed a winxp virtual machine, and when I'm starting this virtual machine, the kvm switch automatically to the next pc connected. The same happens if I'm on Vista and focus back to the vmware window with xp. This is very annoying and the reason I give it 4 stars, because I use virtualisation all the time.
To sum up, this is a good solid and reliable unit, and supports usb devices, very popular nowadays. The price can't be beaten, so if you don't mind the little cons, this may be for you.

This little switch works almost perfectly with our Macintosh G4 Digital Audio tower and Intel Mac mini. Keyboard is the Apple USB keyboard provided with the G4; mouse is the wireless Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, using the USB Overdrive X driver on both Macs. Monitor is an old Radius 15" LCD with VGA connector, which is connected to the Mac mini using the latter's included DVI-to-VGA adapter.

Once, after using the switch to go from the G4 to the mini, the mouse buttons weren't recognized correctly. The left button acted like a control-click, and the right button was non-responsive. The problem went away after I simply used the KVM's buttons to switch to the G4 and then back again to the mini. This was an isolated occurrence.

The only down side is that the wires sticking out of the KVM are a bit messy. Since the KVM itself is quite small and light, the stiffness of the video cables and their weight make it difficult to keep it sitting straight in our preferred location atop the G4 tower's case. This can make it tricky to remember where the buttons are when reaching under our desk, and to find them by feel. Given how well the switch works, it's a very minor inconvenience.

After reading about the difficulties of finding a good KVM switch, especially one that works with a wireless mouse, I was a little nervous about trying this inexpensive product. I bought it based on my father-in-law's good experience with a Trendnet wireless router, and reading the recommendations here and on Apple's discussion forums. This has left me with a good impression of Trendnet, and I'd readily consider their other products in the future.

KVM itself works great, but if ur using a usb 2.0(powered) device, such as a lighted keyboard, or super fancy mouse, it delays when switching from one pc to another sometimes.

it also sometimes stops responding altogether, leaving u helpless aside from manually forcing your computer off, and repowering it, to attempt to repower the KVM.

All in all, it works pretty good, and since there are situations when u really don't have many other options, I would still reccommend it.

I've had mine for about a week now, and it's working great. Does exactly what it says... switches smoothly between computers. With Windows, switching is a bit slow because it takes a couple of seconds for Windows to recognize the usb devices each time. It's a lot faster with my Mac... switching is almost instant.

My only complaint is the physical design. When connected to 4 computers, the cables are sticking out all four sides. This makes this huge glob of cables, and makes it almost impossible to set on my desk. It would have been nice if all the cables plugged into one side. For this reason, it gets 4 of 5 stars.

I bought this in February 09 and the USB ports burned out/stopped working while switching between computers in May 09. I noticed another vendor site with user ratings has a rash of negative reviews starting earlier in 2009 on a product that had been favorably reviewed during 2008.

The video still works, but no matter what I tried to do with the USB mouse and USB keyboard (tried different USB ports, different mice and keyboards, multiple re-starts of computers), I could not get them to register with the connected computers. I am waiting to see what TrendNet's return policy is.

First off, this is probably one of the cheapest 4-Port USB KVM switches out there so you cannot expect the same performance of one that is 4 times the price. It comes with all the cables you need. In general, it works - I have 3 Windows XP PCs attached to this with a USB Keyboard and USB Mouse. The hotkey works quickly and for the most part it switches within 3 seconds without any problems. Rarely, the switch stops working and I have to unplug all the connections and reattatch which is annoying. I do not use speakers on my PCs so I cannot speak to the audio switcing. I agree with other reviews that the design is stupid because all the cables come out of the 4 sides making it a spider mess of cables. Other than that, it's a good budget KVM.

I found the switch very easy to set up, and overall is good value for money. The major issue I found with the switch is that it take 15 to 20 seconds to switch from one system to another.

I have two laptops in my home office and only wanted to share a common keyboard and mouse between them. The switch is OK, but if you want to frequently switch between machines it can slow you down.

I found the device worked well - as easy to set up as 2 computers and 8 cables was ever going to be. But I rate it 1 because it uses USB 1.0 instead of 2.0, and it doesn't say so in the blurb. Nor has any review I have yet found made this explicit. So here is the skinny:

If you just want to switch a keyboard and mouse on USB, this may work fine, though I have seen some complaints about how it doesn't work well with USB 2.0 keyboards. But if like me you figure you'll put the keyboard USB through a hub so that you can switch external drive, printer etc. all at the same time, this device will be a bottleneck. It does indeed switch everything if set up this way - I've had it a day and it switches fine. But transferring files to and from a camera, external drive etc. via USB is dead slow because this is the only USB 1.0 in the pathway. USB 1.0 is about 1/40th the speed of USB 2.0.

There's not even a technical spec comes with it that tells you it's USB 1.0, but as soon as I had it installed, Vista was telling me my devices would work faster if I connected them to a USB 2.0 hub, which I how I knew this deveice is USB 1.0. Confirmed when a 3 minute file transfer took 20 mins.