IOGEAR’s New Hub Let’s the Cursor Jump Between Two Computers

We’re not going to try to sugarcoat it: KVM hubs are among the least thrilling gadgets to come back out of CES, but additionally essential to these working in IT who depend on entry to a number of computer systems all through the day. They’ve been incrementally improved through the years, however IOGEAR’s new KVM brings with it a neat new trick: enabling two separate computer systems to share the identical on-screen cursor.

If you’re not conversant in a majority of these gadgets, KVM stands for keyboard, video, and mouse, they usually permit a number of computer systems to all share the identical peripherals so {that a} desk doesn’t turn into confusingly cluttered with a number of keyboards, mice, and screens all linked to completely different computer systems—whether or not they’re close to the desk, or hidden away in a far-off server room.

At the push of a button, a KVM will change which pc a single keyboard and mouse are controlling, whereas additionally switching a linked display over to that laptop’s desktop, though IOGEAR’s new 2-Port 4K Dual View ShowPort Matrix KVMP (about as boring a reputation as one may think about) is definitely designed for use with two side-by-side 4K displays, every exhibiting the desktop of a special laptop.

In reality, that’s one of the best ways to make the most of the KVM’s new “Crossover Switching” characteristic. Instead of getting to press a button to modify the keyboard and mouse between controlling one of many two linked computer systems, customers merely have to pull the on-screen cursor between the 2 side-by-side displays. Whichever display the cursor finally ends up on, that’s the pc the mouse and keyboard are robotically controlling. To the consumer, it feels the identical as utilizing a single laptop with a dual-screen setup—the cursor effortlessly jumps from one show to the opposite. But on this case, the KVM is robotically switching which pc is being managed because the cursor strikes between shows.

At an occasion the place firms are revealing large TVs, home equipment full of screens, and different devices that make for thrilling sales space demos, the IOGEAR 2-Port 4K Dual View ShowPort Matrix KVMP isn’t precisely a showstopper. But for these working in IT—or are simply cursed with a job requiring the usage of a couple of laptop—it’s a small improve that would make the ache of wrangling a number of machines slightly simpler to bear.