Many of us here are power users with more than one system within arm's reach.  Having individual keyboards, mice and monitors for each machine is a waste of real estate, electricity and ca$h.  Enter the KVM switch - a Keyboard, Video and Mouse switch with some intelligence built in to it for maximizing signal integrity, keyboard and mouse synchronicity.  KVMs are nothing new, but they sure have evolved over the years, just the same way keyboard, mouse and monitor technologies have as well.  There are dozens of manufacturers worldwide, with thousands of different models.    KVM switch types range from the ultra-cheap 2-port KVM-built-into-a-cable, to the obscenely expensive enterprise-class "KVM-over-IP" boxes with 32 or more ports.

In this article, we have the latest and greatest desktop consumer KVMs from five vendors, in different port configurations and connectors.  These switches generally fall within the $100 to $300 price range.  We examine 2-port and 4-port switches with USB, PS/2, VGA, DVI  and even audio switching.