2 Computers / 3 or 4 monitors / USB Hub

blmcnemar · September 22

Good evening,

I am having a hard time trying to figure this out without buying everything I think might work and trying and failing until something works. I have a work laptop and personal laptop, 3 monitors, headset, ethernet, and multiple USB attachments including a wireless keyboard and mouse. My goal is to have a USB switch / KVM switch to control everything. My ideal setup would be to have 3 or 4 monitors working off a external USB StarTech 4 monitor external graphics card. (so it says it is) and a USB hub with all the peripheral's connected and ethernet connection. Then a simple button switch you press to switch between work and personal that switches all the monitors and USB hub back and forth from personal to work. I have multiple questions surrounding this.

As for the StarTech Graphics adapter, will it work off a non DisplayPort USB port? Either USB C or USB 3.0?
Will a USB C switch or USB A switch transfer all that data from PC to Hub which will have the StarTech adapter plugged in and all peripherals connected to it?

This is the one switcher that I was looking at. Each laptop would connect to the switch then the single output would go to an adapter then hub.

USB C Switch,Bi-Directional USB C Switcher 2 Computers

Switch with this adapter to connect to hub.

USB C Female to Female Adapter

Adapter to the a hub like below.

USB C to Ethernet Adapter

Then the display adapter below and peripherals will plug in to the USB C hub.

StarTech USB C 4 monitor video adapter

StarTech USB A 4 Monitor Video Adapter

Is there any performance difference between these adapters? USB A seems like it would be easier.

I hope this makes sense and that my theory is correct to make all this work. I want it to be simple to where you plug in both computers in to the switch then everything automatically connects and you can switch back and forth with ease utilizing one setup for 2 laptops. I don't really game, just work during the day and at night, I research and play around with IT stuff with my home lab setup.

Also if this is not in the right forum I can delete and post else where. Thank you for any help!

mdecima · September 22

¿are you open to the possibility to change one of your monitors?

i found out that the simplest way to do this was to use a monitor that had a thunderbolt+ USB HUB + power delivery and daisy chaining + Ethernet.

Just use this USB C Switch,Bi-Directional USB C Switcher 2 Computers one thunderbolt cable to the primary monitor, the other monitors chained via displayport

this cheap one have it all

blmcnemar · September 22

Thank you for replying! If I was starting over or if I purchase my own monitors I might try to do that. My monitors were provided for me, for work from home. My current laptops only have USB A 3.0 and USB C 10gb connections. I am trying to make it all work with laptops and hardware I have. If I knew how all the different USB C and USB A connections could transfer data and video I think I could determine if my solution would work.

My work computer is a Lenovo with the thinkpad ultra dock and my personal computers all have USB 3.0 ports. I would like to keep using the dock and use the USB C 10Gb ports on my work and then figure out how to connect my USB A to the switch. (I might end up buying a refurbished newer laptop with USB C) I just dont want to spend hundreds or thousands on this solution.

blmcnemar · September 22

So I did talk to StarTech support today and their 4 monitor adapters have a graphics card built in as long as the PC has a monitor directly connected to the PC. (Laptop's obviously have this built in)

They said that there was not any performance difference between the USB C and USB A adapters and as long as the drivers are installed and connected to USB 3.0 or higher it should work fine. They also confirmed as long as it is above USB 3.0 the adapter can plug into a hub and still work. So I do think my solution posted above will work.

My only concern is over the capability of the USB switchers that are out there that are under $100 USD. With further review the one I listed or similar seemed to only support up to 5 USB devices connected to it. Over that they will not mount. I need to research them more to hopefully find one that will work.

mdecima · September 27

Well, i just saw the most recent video from linus, and looks like wendell have the propper solution that does not includes fiddling with different adapters, etc.

https://www.store.level1techs.com/products/p/kvm-switch-usbc-model-5le4p-kntxj

blmcnemar · September 27

Yeah I saw that too but $600 to $800. I get there is a lot of effort that goes into research and producing.

That setup would be great for gaming as I'm sure it's low latency and supports 4k monitors. Currently that isn't my need and I don't want to spend that much and have multiple sets of cables. To me it would be simpler and possibly cheaper to have an external graphics card to support the monitors and have that switch between computers.

That was my thought with the StarTech adapter. You only have to switch data between computers which would be the keyboard, mouse, hub, and StarTech adapter. This would save significantly from Wendell's solution. It's simply a different use case.

I have seen similar setups of kvm switches but didn't want to spend that much and have all those cables.