Rosewill RKV-17001 2-Port USB Cable KVM Switch with Audio

Because the port for it is a placebo, it does not actually power the device. Second, if you are reading this then you have landed on an accurate review; if you take a look at some of the other reviews, they are for completely different products, regardless of the rating.Here is my real headline: Looks can be deceivingRosewill Exposed:While this handsomely shelled device may seem like the best on the market, it falls short of decent in so many important categories. It is not a powered usb hub. It is strictly 2.0, and will not read 3.0 devices of any kind. While it seems like it is a super advanced hub with a hand side button it is really just an old product re-shelled and expanded usb ports, most of which will not be powered due to the lack of power distribution. This is not a true Amazon product and once they are exposed they will re-shell their product and re-release it again under another name with more fake reviews. Not only that, but it also has all your basic chinese tech device flaws:-Does not power on computer start (need to click switcher twice for it to even work)-The button cord is very thin, can be ripped off very easily (mine ripped after the first month of use)-It is very clunky, yet light (will not hold a position, I suggest a paperweight if you have already fallen for their trap)-will not power sometimes if too many devices plugged-computer will not recognize the devices through the switcher-will not power a usb hub (even if it is the only thing plugged into the switcher)-does not work well with peripheral devices (constant disconnect/reconnect issues)They think their product is decent enough that they can get away with all of its faults, but it does not even come close to decent. Save your money and buy one of the other sh***y usb switchers for $15 because you are wasting your time with this one. So all in all, you are paying for a hefty 2 port usb switcher with a button that, if you lose, will deem it useless, and they will not send you a replacement. Their tech support is slow and effortless as any chinese brand is. I'm sure you can imagine.

I REALLY wanted to give this 5 stars. The darn button lost it 2 stars, but the price got it one back.Overall works very well. No artifacts or blur in the image, fast switching, no issues in general functionality. The price is amazing. I love it.It's a major improvement over the old beige switches.I did run into a snag with my Linux machine. It seems to be detected as a 1024x768 display. Some xrandr tweaking got that fixed. No issues with Windows 10, works great right out of the box.The real weak link here is the button. It's a typical cheap micro momentary button, in a very cheap plastic housing connected with very cheap wire to the box. It's really a shame to have such a crap button on an otherwise very nice piece of kit.After less than a day of use it stopped working. Luckily it's so cheap it comes apart with very little persuasion, where I found that the wire had come loose from the button. It was fixed in under a minute with the soldering iron. Not a huge deal, but not everyone has a soldering iron handy to fix such nonsense. I'd like to see Rosewill beef up the button a little bit and this would be a 5 star product.I'd still recommend it heartily to my friends [with soldering irons].

While it functions well for the purpose I need. I still reiterate my initial comments and give it only 4 stars.Just opened the box...The power connection requires the very rare Mini B, 5 pin connector (not the common Micro). I have 8 chargers, power supplies, etc. and NONE of them use that Mini 5 connector! AND, why wasn't it spelled out in the product description that a power supply wasn't included?However, I called Rosewill tech support (and plugged the unit into a USB port on one of my PCs) and confirmed that for my use--sharing two printers with two computers--that the computers will supply adequate power. A dedicated power supply is only needed if the hub is being used for charging other devices, or with external drives that don't have their own power supply.As for ease of use: The instructions (nor the tech support agent I spoke to) explain how to best determine which outgoing ports to use and how to determine which printer and which computer are selected. With only a 2x2 matrix I can figure that out by trial and error, but a diagram spelling out all that would have been useful.

If you have more than one computer, a KVM switch can be a wonderful thing. I struggled to decide whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I finally settled on 2.On the plus side, this unit was probably the cheapest one out there. I have used Rosewill products before so I did not hesitate to purchase this. This comes with a cute little switch, and at the press of a button you are sent from one PC to the other.On the unit that houses the cables, there are clear markings of PC1 and PC2. A green LED shows you which computer you are running.This seems to be a well made piece of equipment.So why only 2 stars? The annoying issue is that every time I switched back and forth between PC's, my screen resolution was set to a lower resolution. I kept needing to go into the display menu, ask to detect the resolution, and then apply that resolution. Of course, also, my icons were all moved around after I did that. I don't know if this problem is inherent in KVM's, but I suspect it is not supposed to work this way.If I needed to use this device constantly, on a daily basis, it would be unacceptable. But for my purposes price trumped efficacy, and I have put up with it.If you have a short term project like I did, then consider buying this. But if you work with two computers on an ongoing basis, I would look elsewhere.

This item is very compact and easy to install. However, after trying it with multiple computers, I found that it would not recognize any mouse. I could switch computers and the monitor and keyboard would switch but there was no mouse icon or any way to control the mouse. Fortunately the seller admitted it was defective and quickly gave me a refund but it would have been much better to have received a working unit. Because it was originally part of a large order which qualified for free shipping, I could not simply reorder a replacement without paying shipping charges. Amazon should have a better way of handling a defective item.