Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Vista Mini KVM Switch
Cut down the desk clutter with a KVM switch
| Product | Vista Mini KVM Switch |
|---|---|
| Company | Rose Electronics |
| Web | www.rosel.co.uk |
| Price | £105 |
| We like | Price, build quality, audio |
| We don't like | Socket Layout could be a problem |
| Rating | 10/10 |
| Requirements |
KVM switches allow you to use one keyboard, monitor and mouse to control two or more PCs. KVM stands for Keyboard, Video, Mouse but in this case it also includes audio which is unusual, doubly so at this price.
Wiring It All Up
The Vista is at the bottom of the range of Rose Electronics' KVM switch range but despite this has a solid metal case and an excellent build quality. To use it, you plug in your keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers (stereo only) at the rear then plug each PC in to the matching sets of connectors on the left and right.
The result looks like an octopus having a bad hair day and leaves your desk covered in looping cables. That said, Rose do try hard to mitigate this by supplying a pair of special cables that combine the monitor, keyboard and mouse cables in to a single length with the ends breaking out in to the constituent parts. Each cable comes complete with an adapter for the older AT style keyboard sockets as well as a serial mouse adapter. It would have been neater to have had all the socketry at the back with just the switch at the front but this would need a much bigger case. At the price, it's hard to get overly critical at this design decision especially given that their more expensive models work that way anyway. A pair of stereo minijack-ended audio cables are supplied to handle the speakers.
Another feature which is unusual at this price is the video bandwidth. Budget switches often limit you to a resolution of 1280x1024 or perhaps 1600x1200. The Vista Mini manages resolutions up to 2400x2000 although it is unlikely your PC can manage that right now. Good for future proofing though.
Switching
The front of the Vista has a plethora of LEDs to show what is going on including status, select 1 & 2 (PCs)and power 1 & 2 (PCs). There is also a reset button and the all important select button which toggles between each PC.
With it all set up you can sit in front of your monitor, keyboard and mouse and at the press of a button switch from PC to PC. This can be a major boon and is far more useful that it sounds. It saves space, power (only one monitor) and allows you to jump between machines without moving from your seat.
Keyboard Control
As well as the manual switch on the unit itself, you can switch machines using a keyboard short cut. This means you could actually hide the whole thing away thus avoiding wires all over the desktop as mentioned above. You can also request it to work in scan mode where it switches from one machine to the other at regular selectable intervals. Most people will find this rather useless but in a small office where you might be monitoring two servers, it can be a life saver when error messages pop up that you might otherwise miss.
Other keyboard shortcuts include the ability to reset the mouse should one of the PCs get confused by the switching, control over the keyboard repeat rate, toggling between PS/2 and serial mouse mode and so on. You should find that anything you are likely to need to do is catered for here.
Finally, whichever set up you have selected for each PC type can be saved to the Vista's memory to save reconfiguring every time the PCs are booted.
Conclusion
The Rose Electronics Vista Mini KVM is a sparkling little product. It's well built, comes with a generous bundle of high quality and ingenious cabling and even includes a natty little instruction booklet that covers all the functions clearly. With competing products costing around £135 including cables, the Vista Mini is a clear winner.
