Kensington ShareCentral 5 for USB Device Sharing (K33901US) by Kensington
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List Price: Our Price: $39.99 You Save: $40.00 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Kensington ShareCentral 5 for USB Device Sharing (K33901US)
Digital camera Review: Great device
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought this from my local Fry's while it's on sale for $7.99 after rebate.
Setup takes only a few minutes.
I am VERY thrilled how easy it was to setup this device and connect other USB devices to it.
It is now connecting 1 Brother MFC-7340 to 2 PCs - my wife was screaming that she was not able to print to the new printer I just purchased. I also hook up one 4-port USB hub to it. The hub has four external USB HDD drives connect to it.
Both my PCs recognize the MFC and the drives without any problems and all functions are available to both PC when the user switch it over.
The only issue is that Kensington Share Central will automatically switch all devices when a PC boots up. Therefore, it forces the user to manually switch it back if he/she want to use the connected devices. This issue can become a huge problem if a file is being copied/moved or an important operation is interrupted. Kensington really should fix the firmware in the device to prevent this from happening.
It is a little bulkier than I would like it.
Overall, it's a great device to share USB devices between two computers in close proximity.
Digital camera Review: Great, as long as you NEVER leave your chair
Summary: 1 Stars
Nice idea, bad implementation. Installed the software drivers, crawled around behind my desk to set it all up, customized the nifty magnetic buttons, and was happy for a while.
Then I discovered the tragic flaw of this device - you can't wake your PC back up with the keyboard or mouse. Often, you can't even switch the control from one pc back to the original to jumpstart the USB control. Every time I'd want to get going in the morning or after lunch, I'd have to unplug the USB cables, wait, plug it back in, maybe swap the controls, and then I could actually start working.
If that's the routine you're after, save the money and just swap all your devices manually, it's basically the same thing.
Digital camera Review: In Auto Mode, Works as Described
Summary: 3 Stars
Overall, it works; if in Automatic Mode. In Manual Mode, you have to reset it with every bootup.Digital camera Review: Kensington Share Central
Summary: 5 Stars
These are really nice additions to my system and I am glad that I ordered two. I have a Mac G3 and a Mac G5 so they allow me to have both computers connected to my major accessories and hard drives. It was not difficult at all to make the hookups.Digital camera Review: No Windows 7 Support??
Summary: 1 Stars
New customers should complain to Kensington directly. I was very disappointed to hear from Kensington's overseas tech support today that this product is discontinued and has no Windows 7 support. I always saw Kensington as a good company with long warranties and quality products. I suggest other customers complain about this directly to them as this product is being sold as new on their website and other etailers. Also experienced some Mac crashes when trying to switch (however due to lack of windows 7 support I cannot switch devices between computers anyhow. If it supports Vista, I dont know why they wouldnt support Windows 7 since the Windows 7 is basically an thinned out Vista. Trying to use this with Snow Leopard and Windows 7. If anyone has had any such luck please post about it.