switches

I was hesitant to get a cheap KVM switch since there were reviews with video problems. Unfortunately, I encountered a video problem myself. I use WinXP on both of my systems. I had to switch the KVM stuff manually so it was not fun. However, things were working fine before I installed the KVM. I noticed that the first PC that is power up with the KVM switch would be fine. The second one to power up will have problems with the video. The display will show that a generic monitor is used instead of my NEC monitor. So I had to reinstall my ATI drivers. Ok.. so everything went fine for a while, then I decided to turn on my "secondary" PC first. The display for both PC went nuts. I had to turn off both PCs and turn on my "primary" PC first. So now I have to turn them on in the same sequence or I would get some weirdness with the graphics. This is not a good solution to me at all, but it's a workaround. I also noted that the mouse had to relearn the configuration since Windows detected a "new" mouse. Well, I guess you get what you paid for....

I bought this switch over a year ago after significant research.
My main criteria were video quality and the mouse response rate.
So far the unit performed flawlessly on both counts. Right now I have ATI Radeon 9600 on one computer, nVidia TNT2 on the second. Resolutions ranging from 800*600@140 up to 1280*1024@85 - no problem whatsoever. At various times I had also Radeon 9200, 9500, 9700, nVidia MX440 and relict ATI that came with Dell. I never had any problems with video quality. There were some DDC (monitor Plug and Play) problems with some ATI drivers, which disappeared after an update.
There are two minor problems: one is that while booting a PC keyboard is not available for approx. 2-3 seconds, so it's impossible to switch at that time. Another one is that there is a key combination for a mode when the unit constantly switches between computers and does not allow any mouse/kbd input. If you happent to hit this combination in a game - you'll get fragged.

The biggest compliment I can give an inexpensive "infrastructure" piece of kit like this one, is that it simply works. Plugged it in, and it works as advertized. (...) Bottom line: just works. Small form factor, sensible physical design, cables included, no external power required. (...)