Kensington Painlessly Shares USB Devices

The new ShareCentral represents an easy fix for splitting USB devices between two nearby computers, with no networking needed.

We’ve seen products for sharing USB peripherals over a network before, but for small home offices that share the same room, all the hassle of putting a device on a networks seems a little frivolous when you just need a simple switch. Kensington answered the need for simplified USB sharing on Monday with its ShareCentral line of network-less USB switches.

The ShareCentral units connect to two computers and up to five USB devices, then allow users to switch which computer controls which peripheral with hardware buttons right on the box. LEDs light up to indicate who has what. When sharing a printer, the switch is even smart enough to detect which computer is trying to print, and automatically switch to it without any user input.

Kensington offers the ShareCentral in three configurations for controlling one, two or five devices. They’re priced at $39.99, $59.99, and $79.99 respectively, although Amazon, the first retailer to carry them, has already dropped prices by over 20 percent.