Alternatives to L1T's DisplayPort KVM

[YamiYukiSenpai]

Out of curiosity, how would L1T’s DisplayPort KVM would compare to alternatives on the market?

Such as this:

• TESmart DisplayPort KVM Switch 4 Computers 2 Monitors
• TESmart 4 Port DisplayPort KVM Switch, Support UHD 4K 60Hz

I made a mistake recently with a cheap DP KVM where the DisplayPort output on my ThinkPad X1 and Steam Deck would have a noisy-like effect, like there’s a signal issue. The Deck would be more sporadic, while ThinkPad X1 was like that the whole time. Strangely, the gaming PC with 6900 XT was perfectly fine. Also strange, I tried on the DP-HDMI from KVM to my DualUp’s HDMI port and it was, fine. This was on 2560x1440 PbP mode.

Only reason why i’m asking is cuz I didn’t wanna deal with import taxes and extra charges, and I got Prime.

[Dynamic_Gravity]

From what I remember the reason for the L1 KVM’s existence is because of the absolute mixed bag of results with other KVM’s on the market.

The need for something guaranteed to work with this niche use-case.

@wendell would you mind sharing your thoughts? We’re there any other more budget friendly options available that you know of? Thanks in advance.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

Would definitely love to hear @wendell’s thoughts on the matter

[Den-Fi]

In my case, it wasn’t even about picking up a cheap KVM by mistake. I came from a Blackbox Dual DP Quad PC and an Aten of similar specs. They were similar in price, but just had more bugs. If I was switching between Windows machines, things were fine, but add Linux and MacOS into the mix and they were unusable.

This isn’t to say the L1 KVM has been perfect, but it is predictable. For instance, my Mac doesn’t do well waking up both screens, so I just hotkey to another machine and back (this takes no time) and it’s fine. That has more to do with the way Apple implemented things than the KVM, but it works where two other “proper” KVMs failed entirely. The advantage to the L1 stuff is Wendell chased a lot of the gremlins away. Most other companies aren’t going to allocate the resources to squash em.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

@Den-Fi

In my case, it wasn’t even about picking up a cheap KVM by mistake. I came from a Blackbox Dual DP Quad PC and an Aten of similar specs. They were similar in price, but just had more bugs. If I was switching between Windows machines, things were fine, but add Linux and MacOS into the mix and they were unusable.

woah!!

and (not including taxes and shipping and imports), looks like L1 KVM is the least expensive one compared to the ones you mentioned.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

Welp, I decided to give this Tesmart DP KVM a shot, and I think my DualUp’s DisplayPort just doesn’t like being used by a KVM.

While it was noticeably more stable, I can still see some signal degradation on a much less consistent basis.

So I was gonna use it with a DP to HDMI cable, but decided to return it for couple of reasons:

• the KVM had to be restarted from time to time in order for the image to be outputted if my DualUp goes to sleep.
• I couldn’t daisy chain it with my other HDMI KVM

There goes my plan for now. I wonder if it’s possible to daisy chain it.

Only reason why I wanted to do that is because I want to easily plug in a Pi to my DualUp if I need to output something.

I wonder if anyone tried to use a DisplayPort KVM on the DualUp?

[Den-Fi]

@YamiYukiSenpai

I wonder if anyone tried to use a DisplayPort KVM on the DualUp?

Not sure if you still need the answer, but yes, I have the DualUp. It’s no longer daisy chained, but it was before I introduced a 144hz Ultrawide into the equation. That required me to directly connect because of the sheer bandwidth.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

@Den-Fi

That required me to directly connect because of the sheer bandwidth.

aah. Guess that explains why my PC was fine, but not my laptops or Steam Deck.