I attached 3 photos of 3 KVMs that would roughly fit my use case (3 computer, 3 monitor ideal). One from Amazon, one from TestSmart and one from LevelOne Techs. Prices from low to high.
The general question is what the increased prices get you? Stability? Flexibility? Longevity? Better QC? It’s hard to tell just by looking at the specs. I’d love any insight into what differentiates these products.
Its says KVM but the “electrical piping lines” arent as good. Wendell himself bought and a lot of these and nothing worked correctly.
He has put a lot of thought in these and that, for example, you do not need a separate remote (in the last 3rd choice) to switch the KVM in the L1T KVM, just press Ctrl → Ctrl → 2 to switch to the 2nd computer and Ctrl → Ctrl → 1 to go back. No need to remove your hands from the keyboard where you are typing and working.
HDMI is a finnicky standard, from dare I say it, a malicious standards company. If you plan to watch protected content on these (Netflix, original DVDs and BluRays), the whole pipeline better be up to snuff or your video will not play because your COULD be pirating and the display output will just stop just in case you are.
Also HID is a standard that most manufacturers do not respect, not that manufacturers respect the USB standard as well. Sure you can plug a keyboard here and there but detection isn’t guaranteed, especially at that “Press Del to enter BIOS moment”. Wendell promises to follow both standard so that stupid quirks like that dont happen. My KVM works perfectly. My only gripe is that I wish there was an off button. Thats all.
Good to know. I’d be happy to go with a L1 Tech KVM, but I feel like it’s a little tough to find one that’s EXACTLY what I need. 2 Desktops and a laptop, all connected to 3 monitors
@Level1_Amber does Wendel have 3 computers 3 laptop KVMs? I know its not standard and not in-store, but maybe he has one lying around?
What’s awesome about this is sometimes you can just ask nicely. The caveat is that this could be an engineering sample of sorts but if it works, it works and the pipelines should be just about the same goodness as the rest of the lineup.
Edit: Nvm I read the thread lol
Ooh. Yeahh the closest we have to that is 3 PC 2 Monitor DisplayPort unfortunately. The Quad PC Single/Dual Monitor is the only we have of that type of KVM.
I can explain the differences here.
L1Techs
TESmart
Both
I have one of those cheap 3 monitor Amazon ones (similar model name but same chassis) as well as a L1 kvm.
The cheap one:
The L1 kvm (display port 1.4 version)
Hopefully useful for your decision making!
Awesome! Thank you so much for the run-down Amber!
How often do you guys restock? I was a little bummed by how many products were out of stock
Nice! That’s good to know. I’m glad that it at least does it’s job. If I could go with a LV1 Tech solution, I’d love to… it just the number of supported computers and screen and product availability that might hold me back. Thanks for letting me know how it’s worked for you!
We try to keep items in stock, but they usually sell very quickly and getting the KVMs ready has a multi-month lead time. We’re working on better predicting sales in the future to preemptively place orders.
Big bonus in the L1T one is the direct support from Wendell on edge case issues. You wont get that from any other company
