I’ve got a laptop and a PC. I’ve connected my monitors, keyboard, camera, etc to this docking station
This works like a charm from both my laptop as well as my PC. However, switching between the two is annoying as it involves unplugging & plugging in.
Is there a USB switch I can connect the docking station to, and then a cable each to my PC and Desktop? The docking station has host charging, so it charges my laptop, so I guess the USB switch needs to be powered, or not?
I saw this one which has good reviews.
At a glance it looks like that one only does USB. Did you want it to do the monitor as well?
You can search for a “KVM switch”, where KVM stands for Keyboard, Video, Mouse.
I’m afraid I don’t have one so can’t suggest which ones are good, but hopefully that helps a little 🙂
My plan is to only connect the docking station to the USB switch. The docking station handles keyboard/video/mouse. Not sure if that’s even supported :D
Do you have monitors? How do you switch whether the PC or laptop are shown on the monitors?
By changing the input on the USB switch. So usb from pc to switch. Usb from laptop to switch. Usb from switch to docking station. Hdmi, keyboard, mouse, camera from docking station. Pbtech has confirmed this will work.
They might be right! Or they might have misunderstood the question. I’m having trouble visualising the setup, so I drew a picture.
If I understand the switch correctly, whatever you plug into the USB A ports on the front are always active on one device or the other. Then the devices you plug in to the two USB C ports on the back are the ones you switch between. Is that right?
So is your setup like this? You can use the PC+monitor with the keyboard and mouse, OR the laptop with the keyboard and mouse. But you can’t use the monitor with the laptop and keyboard and mouse?
Edit: Here is how the KVM setup would work. Specific mouse and keyboard ports, specific device ports for plugging in the PC and laptop, then an output for the monitor(s) that will show whichever device is active on the switch.
I’m not sure how the docking station fits into things, it might not be necessary as the KVM would take it’s place:
As pictures are easier, I’ve quickly drawn my plan.
I emailed Targus as well and they said it would work. They did say the host charging will stop working, ie have to charge the laptop separately. That’s fine.
The problem with a KVM I believe is that my laptop only has a single USB out, and thus not support for 2 monitors; this is what the docking station enables me to do. There are KVM’s with docking station enabled, but couldn’t find them.
All very complicated to be honest! I was surprised my docking station works out of the box with my desktop.
Hi mate, thanks for your extensive answer. It is slightly different.
Currently, my monitors and keyboard and webcam are connected all to the docking station. From the docking station there’s one usb cable to the host, ie the laptop OR the desktop. So the desktop uses the docking station as well.
So right now to swap between desktop and laptop I have to swap the host USB cable from the docking station which is annoying.
Therefore, my plan is to plug that cable into the USB switch only. Then, a cable from the USB switch to the laptop and another one to the desktop. Then I can switch between desktop and laptop via the USB switch.
I’m on mobile now so can’t do a drawing.
Perhaps I could have done it with a kvm as well but the docking station was recommended by my work.
Ah I think I get it now! Like this?
My concern with this is that the switch you linked has USBA ports for input and two USB C ports to switch between. The two that are switched between go to the PC and laptop, so how do you connect the docking station and USB switch? I might just have a lack of knowledge, but I’d expect the USB A port is not going to let your laptop/PC send video data to your docking station for the monitor. The USB A connections are normally for an input, like a mouse or keyboard, where as you typically see USB C for something like connecting a device to a docking station.
Maybe you’ve confirmed this is possible but it doesn’t sound quite right to me, though I’m no expert.
Yes exactly like that! Yeah my concern was that as well that USBA doesn’t support video. BUT, the docking station has a USB-C cable with a separate USB-C to A adapter, AND it works like a charm when plugged into my desktop via USBA. Perhaps the USBA standard has evolved.
So I’ll just plug the docking station as a USB device in the USB switch similar to how you’d plug in a keyboard.
I have the ugreen USB switch - does what it says on the box, not had any issues with it. I’ve not tested if it can actually get the fast USB throughput that it advertises, I only use it with keyboard/mouse.
- I’m fairly sure it won’t let you switch which computer “sees” your dock. I use mine by connecting both my dock and my PC to my monitors (2x DP inputs, so I can manually switch what signal I see), then connecting the USB switch to both the dock and my PC, then keyboard and mouse to USB switch. As others have suggested, a KVM switch would be simpler, but getting one that supports 2x 4k@60Hz outputs is expensive
I’m fairly sure it won’t let you switch which computer “sees” your dock.
Just curious why you think it won’t work? I’ve just asked PBTech as well, and they said it should work like I’m planning to.
I can use your setup as well, but that just means more cables to my monitors, plus changing inputs on my monitors is annoying. I’d like to have one button to press to switch between PC and notebook.
For my dock at least, the connection between the dock and the laptop is a thunderbolt connection, not USB. If you are able to drive the dock off a USB 3 type A port on both your laptop and your pc then yeah, the switch might work, but you will probably be limiting the resolution and refresh rate that you can drive your monitors at
I wrote about a software KVM solution for the same setup, desktop and laptop with dock here.
You want a KVM, mind you this won’t broadcast a keypress or cursor movement to both at the same time but you don’t sound like you’re trying to hardware multibox or anything like that, but I feel the need to point out that little nuance. You press a button and the keyboard/mouse/(and monitor if needed) switch from one to the other
Right now it all works by just swapping the usb cable from the docking station to the PC and vice versa. Monitors, keyboard, mouse are all connected to the docking station; the PC uses it as well. So a USB switch seems the easiest.
Going to reiterate the above message, you want a KVM. The one I use by Tessmart or something like that has worked great for me for 4 years now. The model I chose let’s me do dual monitors for each laptop docking station I have plugged in (work & personal). They are a US company so you’ll need to find one that delivers to your area.
Thanks. I checked Tessmart and they sell KVM+ Docking in one. That will work, but I believe is unnecessary.
In my case, I believe I only need a USB KVM switch as I already have a docking station.
So my plan was to have a USB KVM, with one USB device connected: the docking station. Then, from the USB KVM there’s one USB cable to my laptop, and one to my PC. All peripherals (monitor/keyboard/mouse) are connected to the docking station.
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Another option if using windows you might be able to use mouse without borders from the Microsoft power toys and connect both PCs directly to the monitors then use a keyboard shortcut to switch computers in mouse without borders and then switch inputs on the monitor itself.
