Help me understand this monitor. (No cat involved. Sorry.)

May 2, 2024 1:14 PM

For work reasons, my home computer setup needs to get a bit more complex, and I'm getting into areas where I'm not familiar. I need to be able to switch my monitor between two PCs, and one is a laptop that I'm hoping to just dock and start using my own keyboard and mouse. I'm looking at this monitor, but I want to be sure I understand how it works before I pull the trigger.

I've had docking stations before, but they were always the center of everything. You plugged a monitor, keyboard, etc. into the dock and then snapped the laptop into it. IF I understand this correctly, the docking station is built into the monitor. So I plug my laptop into the USB C port (my other machine will be connected by one of the HDMI ports). And then I can plug my keyboard and mouse into the monitor, not the laptop? Is that right?

How does that work? Is the monitor sending the keystrokes and mouse clicks, etc. down to the computer, which processes them and sends its video output back up to the monitor? Basically, is this going to work the way I think it is?

posted by Naberius to Technology (6 answers total)

No, I'm 99% sure it won't work that way. The monitor doesn't act as a KVM switch—or I should say, a KM switch.

So you want one of a few things:
1. A physical KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) switch. Note that this will only work with wired keyboard and mice.
2. A Bluetooth keyboard and mouse that have switchable hosts. This is one example, but there are others.
3. Software. I use this so that my keyboard and mouse "span" between my personal Mac and work PC. I still need to physically switch the input port on the monitor.
posted by adamrice at 1:46 PM on May 2

It is pretty much exactly as you're thinking of, at least when it comes to the laptop; the monitor is acting as a dock.

One thing I'd think about is how you want to connect your keyboard and mouse to the non-laptop computer. The monitor you linked looks like it only has one upstream USB port - IE, the peripherals are only going to be visible to whatever's plugged into the monitor via the USB-C cable. If you have a wireless keyboard and mouse you can easily switch to the desktop separately, or if you're going to be re-connecting the USB-C cable to your desktop computer, that can work. adamrice above also mentions third-party software that would run on both computers, and send input to the computer without the mouse/keyboard connected when necessary. Windows Powertoys is another alternative to Synergy.

If you want to be able to switch between both the laptop and desktop video signals, and have the keyboard and mouse switch at the same time, you'll want a monitor with KVM functionality. It'll have a second "upstream" USB port, which you can connect to your desktop. The monitor will then route the accessories to whatever device the video signal is coming from, be it the USB-C from the laptop, or the HDMI from the desktop. I've got a Dell U2723QE that does this.
posted by sagc at 1:50 PM on May 2 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, both of you. I should have been more clear that I'm not necessarily expecting to use the same keyboard and mouse with both systems. I've got a desktop PC now, whose keyboard and mouse are plugged into its USB ports as God intended. That PC would connect to the new monitor via one of the HDMI ports. The laptop would connect to the USB-C port, and then I'd get a keyboard, probably wireless, to go with the wireless mouse I'm already using w the laptop. And both those dongles would plug directly into the monitor. I'd switch between computers with an input select button on the front of the monitor.

(Found a spec sheet for the monitor which says the USB-C port is upstream, and there are four downstream USB-A ports. It's this upstream downstream business that's confusing me. I've never encountered those terms before.)

So if I read the review and your comments correctly, it sounds like this should work the way I've described?
posted by Naberius at 2:38 PM on May 2

For the upstream/downstream, the way to think of it is with your computer as the start/river source, and the end device as the end/river mouth. A USB hub has an upstream port that connects back towards the computer ("host"), and one or more downstream hubs to devices further from the computer. The monitor with internal dock acts as a USB hub (among other functions), and so the upstream port is the one that goes toward the host (your computer), and the downstream ports are for other devices (mouse/keyboard/printer/hubs/etc.)

Given that you are intending to use separate keyboards/mice for each machine, yes, I do think the monitor will work as you intended, with caveats:

• the webcam/mic will be available only to whatever is connected via USB-C
• the speakers likely will switch to whichever device is displaying on the monitor
• the downstream USB devices will be disabled when the monitor goes to standby unless you enable USB Standby Mode in the monitor's settings; if you don't do this, you may encounter difficulties waking up the attached computer

posted by yuwtze at 3:45 PM on May 2 [1 favorite]

The manual is online if you want to look at specific details, but yeah, this basically just acts like an ordinary laptop dock built into a monitor. You can't have two computers plugged in at the same time and have the keyboard/mouse switch with the input; only the computer connected over the monitor's USB-C port will see devices plugged into the monitor's USB-A ports.
posted by Aleyn at 9:33 PM on May 2 [1 favorite]

This is a "monitor with a dock". Just imagine a dock that's permanently attached to the monitor, along with a bunch of peripherals (2 MP webcam, speakers, Ethernet, USB hub), while the monitor still has video ports to take video signals from other video inputs (i.e. your other PC).

This does not switch. You will need TWO sets of mouse and keyboard, one for the laptop, one for the other PC.
posted by kschang at 7:16 AM on May 4