USB Type-C "switch"

ciderboy2009

I'm normally quite good at finding things that I need but this has got me stumped.

I've recently had a new monitor delivered which has realy impressed me as it has a USB Type-C input which will also power my laptop.  It also has a built in USB hub so I'm able to have my mouse and keyoard plugged into the monitor and then only have a single USB Type-C lead plugged into my laptop.  This makes my desk look so much tidier.

As well as my Windows laptop I also use a Macbook.  It's great that I can just swap over the single lead to switch between the two laptops but it would be even better if there was some sort of switch I could buy with 2 inputs and one output so I could just press a button to switch laptops.  It would be a bonus if it provided power from the monitor to both laptops all of the time but this isn't critical.

Does anybody know of anything that i can used for this?

Jenni_D

Try using USB C KVM as the search term. I'm not sure the results will meet your price expectations though.

GDB2222

TeamViewer is a cheap way of doing this.

ciderboy2009

GDB2222 said:

TeamViewer is a cheap way of doing this.

Unfortunately my work laptops are quite severely locked down so a software solution isn't an option.

ciderboy2009

Jenni_D said:

Try using USB C KVM as the search term. I'm not sure the results will meet your price expectations though.

Wow - I see what you mean about price!

Mind you, most of them have extra ports which I don't need.  There's one on Aliexpress for just under £30 though which looks like exactly what I'm after.  I just need to decide if I want to wait a month for delivery and to run the risk of it not doing what it says it does (as I've discovered with some previous Aliexpress orders).

getmore4less

Which monitor.

Does it not have multiple inputs?

rdr

I found this one https://www.scan.co.uk/products/aten-us3342-2-port-usb-c-gen-2-sharing-switch-with-power-pass-through-multi-device-system-control-si?gclid=CjwKCAiAxJSPBhAoEiwAeO_fP-7YLaJ2PCRCNzYNSKDk4kcn11ptNV7h0WK4kWxuzoBJPaC51KpwnxoCk3EQAvD_BwE

although it is eye watering the expensive 130 something pounds, USB3 2 in 4 out hubs are much cheaper if you could use one of those instead.

Username03725

Not sure if I've read your requirement correctly, but I used to use the work laptop and my home PC at the same desk using the same mouse, kb & monitors (plural). 

The kb & mouse are a wireless set so swapping involved moving one USB stick from laptop to desktop & vice versa, and for the monitors the right leads were permanently connected, from VGA & HDMI on the desktop and from HDMI and USB-C on the laptop. Working from the laptop gave me 3 screens to use.

The monitors detected whichever input was activated first, so it was a case of just switching on whichever machine I'd be using and it all just happened without any action on my part. On the odd occasions both computers were needed the input selector on the bottom edge of the monitors was easy to use.

getmore4less

One solution would have been to pick a monitor that has the KVM built in.
there are probably more than the ones in this guide.

https://www.displayninja.com/best-monitors-with-built-in-kvm-switch/

ciderboy2009

getmore4less said:

One solution would have been to pick a monitor that has the KVM built in.
there are probably more than the ones in this guide.

https://www.displayninja.com/best-monitors-with-built-in-kvm-switch/

Unfortunately it was provided by work so not my choice of monitor.

I've ended up ordering myself one of these which looks like it will do what I want (could have got it a bit cheaper from AliExpress but at least it's easy to return to Amazon if it doesn't work how I expect it to):  https://smile.amazon.co.uk/CableDeconn-Bi-Direction-Delivery-Transfer-Converter-Black/dp/B092VHC166

Thanks to everybody for their assistance.

GDB2222

ciderboy2009 said:

getmore4less said:

One solution would have been to pick a monitor that has the KVM built in.
there are probably more than the ones in this guide.

https://www.displayninja.com/best-monitors-with-built-in-kvm-switch/

Unfortunately it was provided by work so not my choice of monitor.

I've ended up ordering myself one of these which looks like it will do what I want (could have got it a bit cheaper from AliExpress but at least it's easy to return to Amazon if it doesn't work how I expect it to):  https://smile.amazon.co.uk/CableDeconn-Bi-Direction-Delivery-Transfer-Converter-Black/dp/B092VHC166

Thanks to everybody for their assistance.

I bought one of these, and it works really well. I bought it 8 years ago, and it does what I need, although it's rather out of date now. 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Aten-CS22U-2-Port-Cable-Switch-black/dp/B002NTIZCG

If the one you bought is not suitable, maybe have a look at Aten.