Review on 🔁 Enhanced IOGEAR MiniView GCS634U: 4-Port VGA USB KVM Switch with Audio and Cables by Josh Tadder

All of my experiences with inexpensive KVM switches have been good or bad. I have different computers and devices. I wanted a switch for USB and VGA. This switch turned on the audio (speaker, not mic), so that was a bonus. I have a Sunray Thin Client that needs to communicate directly with the monitor. This KVM switch does a great job here as the display has a maximum resolution. Tye KVM comes with 4 x 6ft cables. However, two of these are hardwired to the box and the other two are proprietary. You can extend them with VGA and USB extenders, but you cannot replace the cable that came with the KVM. I didn't find any problem with it. The cables were long enough for my needs. I had a few issues that prevented a higher rating. I have 4 computers connected: an old desktop with a new NVIDIA graphics card at 1680x1050; Sunray, a newer laptop at 1680x1050 and an older laptop at 1024x768. The video from the new laptop was very blurry but the other 3 were crystal clear. A 1680 x 1050 desktop was sharp on all ports, but a laptop of the same resolution was blurry like static. When connecting the monitor directly to the laptop, the picture was crystal clear. Video was blurry over KVM on all ports. I even tried KVM with only one laptop connected (the other 3 ports are empty) and only one video cable connected to the laptop (no AC adapter, network cable, etc.) on battery power. This eliminates ground loops. Still blurry. This suggests that the laptop, display, and KVM are probably all fine on their own, but one or more are incompatible with each other. Such is life with KVM switches. I was about to bring KVM back when I decided to plug a very short extension cable into my laptop's VGA port. I was very surprised to see that it removed blurry static on laptop videos by almost 99%. There is a slight trace of hiss but I can deal with it. Another issue preventing me from giving it a higher rating is the instruction manual inside the box. It says that the audio can be switched separately from the video, keyboard and mouse. So you can probably listen to audio on one computer while viewing and typing on another. I couldn't get it to work. After going to the iogear website and downloading the user manual, I see the problem. The paper manual in the box is from 2006 and the online manual is from 2012. The online manual doesn't mention that audio can be switched separately. I think the last thought is that you have to try it to see if it suits your needs. . You have to keep in mind that this is a very economical KVM switch. If you want everything to be perfect you have to pay a lot more. I still think it's good value for money. Update: March 13, 2014 The blurry image only when connected to a laptop is a mystery. I ended up adding a 4 foot VGA extension cable between the KVM and the laptop. This completely erased the video from the laptop. You wouldn't think ADDING a cable would fix anything because the shorter the better. The only thing I can think of is that the extra length changed the reflections in the cable. There may have been a mismatch in the terminations at each end and the additional cable length changed the termination impedance. I still like KVM. As I mentioned, only the laptop's external video gave me a blurry picture until I added an extra VGA cable.