Recently, I found a question when I make a decision on buying kvm switches and kvm extenders for my business. The extenders have the same funtions but are made with different designs.
For example, what I want to choose is a kinan product “HDMI Dual View KVM Extender over Fiber/Cat5” and another product is called " 100m USB 3.2&3.0 Extender". The former is designed with USB2.0 port, and the latter is designed with USB3.0 port.
I searched on the Internet and found that the key difference between them is that the transmitting rate of the USB3.0 is quicker than the USB2.0. The USB3.0 is 4.8Gbps, and the USB2.0 is 480Mbps. And it saids that many devices don’t need such quick transmitting rate.
Then in what kind of situation, USB3.0 is preferred to use?
Here I need to transmit signals of videos and audios, and the second one can only transmit data, so I can only choose the Kinan HDMI extender with USB2.0 port.
But how about a kvm extender with a USB3.0 port can not only transmit data?
From the name I’d say that is just a USB extender, no KVM in the name so no Video. I suspect there is not enough bandwidth to push video and USB3.
USB 2.0 will be fine for printers, scanners, smart cards, and even USB drives if you just need to transfer occasional Word or Excel file. For large files, I’d go with network transfers directly - no need for USB extenders.
Full disclaimer, I’ve never used any of those so I’m not sure how good or stable they are. There may be latency involved, so depending on your use case that may be an issue.
Thanks for your reply. By the way, when do we need to use USB3.0 extender? I am curious about that. Because you said the large files can be transfered through the network- no need for USB extenders.
Right, most of the time computer to computer transfers can run via network.
Depends on your setup, what exactly are you doing? Just need a remote monitor and keyboard, far away from PC?
OK, still a bit unclear on your exact use case, but if you need to control computers remotely you have several options. Describing what you want to do and the type of computers (enterprise grade servers, basic desktops, workstation grade) will help us point you to the most effective solution.
When you say “extend more than 20 computer signals” do you mean manage 20 computers remotely from a central location or extend 5 USB ports, two video outputs, audio in/out on several PCs?
What do your computers do? Run latency sensitive CAD software, run manufacturing machinery, something else? What kind of video do you need, is 1080p fine or you need 4K on two monitors?
I don’t really see that extender will work if you need to extend 20 computers to central location, would you just have a pile of 20 units on your desk, one for each remote machine paired with 20 TX/RX cable lines?
Remote desktop software or even IP KVM might be a much better option, but again - we need to know what is your use case.