Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Rushabh Gonsales photo
1 Level
742 Review
62 Karma

Review on StarTech.com 2 Port Dual Monitor DisplayPort KVM Switch with USB 2.0 Hub, Audio, and Microphone - Black (SV231DPDDUA) by Rushabh Gonsales

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Color Me Unimpressed

I don't like leaving negative reviews, but here we are. I bought it to control switching between laptops and two external displays. First, this device does not support EDID emulation; Every time someone switches computers, the switched computer will determine that the monitor is "off" and reset the desktop to single-view mode. This will move all open windows and icons around the desktop. The only solution StarTech offers on this is their advice to "buy an EDID emulator and see if that helps" (about $70 each, four required). The cost of integrating such a feature into the device itself would be negligible for the company and certainly a feature that consumers will be willing to spend extra money on (as mentioned in other reviews similar to mine). Second, more than half of the time the device does not recognize or transmit EDID data when switching - so the computer being switched to does not recognize that the displays have been "swapped". This can affect one or both screens. Third, it doesn't even work well with USB channels. On several occasions my keyboard and mouse have completely stopped working after switching - the only option left is to reset everything and hope for the best. Completely let down by the lack of engineering that has gone into this device - much more could have been expected. It would be wise to consider an alternative manufacturer; I will switch to the Black Box SS2P-DH-DP-U and see how well this device performs.

Pros
  • Great Price
Cons
  • Unsure