Iogear KVM Taps into Laptop Controls

The company's USB Laptop KVM Switch allows notebooks to control other computers, transfer files and share devices with a single USB connection.

Keyboard-video-mouse switches make it easy to control two or more computers with only one set of controls – but up until now, hooking up a laptop to one always meant replacing its compact built-in interface with the clunky desktop version, never the other way around. Iogear has reversed that equation with the USB Laptop KVM Switch, the first KVM to allow a notebook’s controls to work on another computer.

The compact switch – a tiny rectangular box with USB cables coming out of either end – connects to a notebook computer and any other computer, allowing the notebook keyboard and touchpad to be used on the connected host computer, or vice versa.

As an added feature, it also serves as a direct link between the computers for transferring files. To make it even more versatile, the switch has a single female USB 2.0 connector onboard which is shared between both computers, allowing users to share devices like printers, scanners, external hard drives, digital cameras, speakers, MP3 players and webcams.

The switch retails for $129.95 and is available immediately.