That passthrough power setup is exactly what I'm after. I'd prefer not to be sending PD power to my desktop PC, whereas the laptop connected should be receiving power.
Do you know if you can connect a USB hub to this switch? I would like to share not only a mouse and keyboard between 2 laptops, but all my peripherals like printer, microphone, camera, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, etc.. Thanks for the answer !
Great video, thanks! It's sometimes a bit hard to understand all the properties of the product from the spec sheet and review like this helps you a lot. That four port version with reasonable price tag would be a must get for me also. :)
Thanks Michael, you are right the front USB-C doesn't support DP alt, it wasn't listed in the specs so wasn't sure and had to test it out I gave it my best go at it.
Question: I have 1 laptop 1 monitor and 1 docking station. All are lenovo. I want to add additional laptop to this configuration. Is this device will help me do it?
It will also switch any USB hard drives/flash drive connected to the USB-C or USB-A ports as well, ideally not great because it doesn't safely disconnect the as you switch. It will also switch an external monitor if it is connected via USB-C to this switch (tested).
I will ask if they have a KVM switch that has similar functionality, not having dual charging I could understand via pass through power be hard since USB-C does has max power draw and two couldn't be supported but then a matter of supplying a power adapter (non-USB-C) for this unit that could have capabilities to support dual charging but of course price of the device will go up.
Thanks for the video! What about a USB speaker/microphone? Will they switch at same time as keyboard/mouse with BEZEL X, or do we need to press the remote button?
You can pass any USB device with the remote button if you choose to isolate those devices to a certain computer. However, audio is isolated to the currently switched PC/Mac your Aten is linked to. Audio unfortunately doesn't "pass-through" to the other computer via Bezel X software. You can however pass audio by using drivers like VoiceMeter Banana/Potato (VoiceMeter virtual cables) and isolate each track and have it capture in software like OBS. There may be hardware solutions for audio mixing, but they can start to get costly. I've looked into this for a dual PC setup, and audio has been the biggest headache in this scenario.
just wondering if you connect a monitor with native usbc port, e.g just a usb c cable one end to the monitor, one end to the usc port on the front of aten, would that work?
Anyone tried this with windows 11 ? seems like bezel X is not working 1.0.004 is working. Manual button is working fine. Is there a Keyboard shortcut to switch between the ports ?
Not being able to drive the monitor through the usb-C port is a real issue, since sharing the monitor along with mouse and keyboard is common. It’s not clear why the external monitor failed to be driven by the ATEN
After assisting Aten with the M1 Mac issue, we found that the M1 Mac needs to be connected via port 1. If the mc mini is intel base that should be okay to connect to port 2.
@@BsianTech so everything works with macbook air m1 or are there any problems though? Second question, is it possible to connect another USB hub with external power supply to one USB-A from Aten US3342? I need more USB-A ports than 3.
@@pawemroz8736 So the M1 Macbooks need to be on USB-C channel 1 and also do the firmware upgrade for the US3342 as well. It has to be in that configuration for it to work properly. As for connecting USB-A hub for more USB-A ports yes you can do that, I have tried it and it will switch all those USB-A ports over to the other computer. One thing to beware of is if you have a USB flash drive or extremal hard drive best not to connect it to this switch because everytime you switch between the two computer it treats as if you rip the device out without safetly disconnecting the drive and then becomes a dirty drive.
@@pawemroz8736 I have multiple hubs attached that are not powered, but if you supply your own USB-C power adaptor (I have a 10w iPad adapter) for the Aten power delivery port, it passes through more power to the switching USB-A ports. I personally have tried this and I can charge my iPhone and iPad from the USB-A hubs without issues. I also power my Schiit DAC/Modi from the hub that is attached to the Aten!). I don't use 85w power delivery for my laptop (even though it is attached to either a laptop or secondary pc (I used a USB-C to USB-A cable instead of the ones supplied in the retail box) and it seems to work by giving the Aten extra power for the USB-A ports. One downside is that sometimes when I attach the PD host port to a PC that doesn't require power delivery; sometimes the switching doesn't work 100% but saying that, the new firmware update has improved this performance significantly and because of this update I believe it's really a prime-time product to use if you have a use case for it. I just wish Bezel X was available on Linux. Switching from Windows/Mac to Linux is tedious and sometimes doesn't pickup my external HDD's (as BsianDad has mentioned).
That passthrough power setup is exactly what I'm after. I'd prefer not to be sending PD power to my desktop PC, whereas the laptop connected should be receiving power.
Man, I love this video, you did literally all the tests I needed to know so I can purchase it safely, Thanks a lot!
Glad I covered all the bases on this switch so you are able to make a good informed decision. Happy to help out @Milton Lenis =).
Do you know if you can connect a USB hub to this switch? I would like to share not only a mouse and keyboard between 2 laptops, but all my peripherals like printer, microphone, camera, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, etc.. Thanks for the answer !
Great video, thanks! It's sometimes a bit hard to understand all the properties of the product from the spec sheet and review like this helps you a lot. That four port version with reasonable price tag would be a must get for me also. :)
Excellent demo of this product. The front USB-C port does not support DP alt mode it seems, which is not very surprising
Thanks Michael, you are right the front USB-C doesn't support DP alt, it wasn't listed in the specs so wasn't sure and had to test it out I gave it my best go at it.
The “V” component of the KVM word is missing. In general, there should be 1 monitor output for multiple PCs.
Question: I have 1 laptop 1 monitor and 1 docking station. All are lenovo. I want to add additional laptop to this configuration. Is this device will help me do it?
I ended up getting one of these after watching this video because it perfectly fit my use case
Fantastic to hear that I was able to assist with your decision. Are you running two windows computers or one Mac and one Windows?
@@BsianTech Two windows computers. A laptop I take on the go and my desktop
Does this implemented USB PD plug back to a PD docking Station for 3 monitors?
Do they have an option to share a single monitor?
can its sharing the HDD? can I see PC-1 drives on PC-2? what about external monitor output?
It will also switch any USB hard drives/flash drive connected to the USB-C or USB-A ports as well, ideally not great because it doesn't safely disconnect the as you switch. It will also switch an external monitor if it is connected via USB-C to this switch (tested).
Would be great if it has HDMI support as well and if only it can charge 2 devices at the same time.
I will ask if they have a KVM switch that has similar functionality, not having dual charging I could understand via pass through power be hard since USB-C does has max power draw and two couldn't be supported but then a matter of supplying a power adapter (non-USB-C) for this unit that could have capabilities to support dual charging but of course price of the device will go up.
@@BsianTech are you in close contact with them ?
@@MrThefox1995 I am working with Aten to fix the issue with the M1 and this product. Will be getting another product in that will support HDMI.
@@BsianTech are there development plans for this model to make 4 way kvm ?
@@MrThefox1995 I think I am getting another product from Aten to do 4 way with video this time.
Wish there was a 3-port version
Thanks for the video!
What about a USB speaker/microphone? Will they switch at same time as keyboard/mouse with BEZEL X, or do we need to press the remote button?
You can pass any USB device with the remote button if you choose to isolate those devices to a certain computer.
However, audio is isolated to the currently switched PC/Mac your Aten is linked to. Audio unfortunately doesn't "pass-through" to the other computer via Bezel X software.
You can however pass audio by using drivers like VoiceMeter Banana/Potato (VoiceMeter virtual cables) and isolate each track and have it capture in software like OBS. There may be hardware solutions for audio mixing, but they can start to get costly. I've looked into this for a dual PC setup, and audio has been the biggest headache in this scenario.
Great review, will this work on two desktops as well or one desktop one laptop setup?
just wondering if you connect a monitor with native usbc port, e.g just a usb c cable one end to the monitor, one end to the usc port on the front of aten, would that work?
For this to happen, the USB-C would need to support DP Alt Mode and doubt if this is the case
Anyone tried this with windows 11 ?
seems like bezel X is not working 1.0.004 is working. Manual button is working fine.
Is there a Keyboard shortcut to switch between the ports ?
Yes, I tried with windows 11 and BAZEL software is working fine
besel x is just mouse without borders from the microsoft garage
Not being able to drive the monitor through the usb-C port is a real issue, since sharing the monitor along with mouse and keyboard is common. It’s not clear why the external monitor failed to be driven by the ATEN
You can't attach external monitors to the Aten US3342 because it doesn't support DP Alt Mode.
Does it support m1 macbook & mac mini for mouse switch?
After assisting Aten with the M1 Mac issue, we found that the M1 Mac needs to be connected via port 1. If the mc mini is intel base that should be okay to connect to port 2.
@@BsianTech so everything works with macbook air m1 or are there any problems though? Second question, is it possible to connect another USB hub with external power supply to one USB-A from Aten US3342? I need more USB-A ports than 3.
@@pawemroz8736 So the M1 Macbooks need to be on USB-C channel 1 and also do the firmware upgrade for the US3342 as well. It has to be in that configuration for it to work properly. As for connecting USB-A hub for more USB-A ports yes you can do that, I have tried it and it will switch all those USB-A ports over to the other computer. One thing to beware of is if you have a USB flash drive or extremal hard drive best not to connect it to this switch because everytime you switch between the two computer it treats as if you rip the device out without safetly disconnecting the drive and then becomes a dirty drive.
@@pawemroz8736 I have multiple hubs attached that are not powered, but if you supply your own USB-C power adaptor (I have a 10w iPad adapter) for the Aten power delivery port, it passes through more power to the switching USB-A ports. I personally have tried this and I can charge my iPhone and iPad from the USB-A hubs without issues. I also power my Schiit DAC/Modi from the hub that is attached to the Aten!).
I don't use 85w power delivery for my laptop (even though it is attached to either a laptop or secondary pc (I used a USB-C to USB-A cable instead of the ones supplied in the retail box) and it seems to work by giving the Aten extra power for the USB-A ports. One downside is that sometimes when I attach the PD host port to a PC that doesn't require power delivery; sometimes the switching doesn't work 100% but saying that, the new firmware update has improved this performance significantly and because of this update I believe it's really a prime-time product to use if you have a use case for it. I just wish Bezel X was available on Linux. Switching from Windows/Mac to Linux is tedious and sometimes doesn't pickup my external HDD's (as BsianDad has mentioned).