Gefen DVI DL Switcher KVM recommendation

I just got hold of a Gefen DVI DL Switcher KVM today and wanted to post a recommendation. Gefen definitely don’t make the cheapest KVMs out there but they could well make the best ones.

The "DL" in the name stands for "Dual Link". It’s the only consumer KVM on the market today that can drive a dual link DVI display like Apple’s 30" Cinema Display. Their SL (Single Link) product is about $100 cheaper for those who don’t need or want the extra capacity. I originally intended to purchase the SL but it wasn’t in stock and the DL model was, so I decided to invest the extra money knowing I’d be able to extract the benefit when my glorious 30"-owning days materialize at some point in the future.

I was forced to become a KVM expert a few days ago when I started thinking about the imminent arrival of the Developer Transition Kit that I am effectively renting from Apple. I don’t have the money for a new monitor and the truth is I don’t have the space either. I had three options: (1) Control the machine remotely using Apple Remote Desktop or VNC; (2) Plug and unplug the monitor, mouse and keyboard whenever I wanted to use the Intel machine; or (3) Get a KVM. The third option seemed to make the best long term sense; even after I’ve returned the kit to Apple I can think of lots of uses for a KVM.

A friend of mine with a lot of KVM experience recommend I check out the Belkin KVMs. The problem is that no DVI-equipped Belkin product can exceed a resolution of 1600 by 1200. Same for the Iogear KVMs; 1600 by 1200 is the limit. If you have a larger monitor you can either turn down your resolution (which for obvious reasons isn’t really an acceptable option) or you can get a non-DVI switch, but then you’re degrading the video signal by introducing an additional digital-analog-digital conversion (for me that wasn’t an acceptable option either). We pay a lot of money for our monitors and graphics cards nowadays; I don’t want anything getting in the way and degrading the quality of the experience.

Finally I found Gefen. Gefen has been in the game for a long, long time. I remember seeing full-page glossy ads from them in computer magazines back in those pre-Internet days when I used to actually buy printed material. The units aren’t cheap but they’ve got an excellent reputation for quality and an outstanding feature set. Even their SL (Single Link) DVI Switcher breaks the 1600 by 1200 barrier without ever leaving the digital realm, so it should be of Interest to anyone who owns a large monitor like the Apple 23" Cinema Display.

The product is heavy, metallic, robust, rack-mountable. Looks like it could withstand quite a beating. Comes with high quality USB and DVI cables (and of less interest to me, audio cables and an IR remote control). The unit features an integrated USB 2.0 hub (plug in one USB lead from each computer and the KVM provides you with two outputs). Most importantly of all, it has a cool blue LED on the front of the unit. The power transformer takes a standard triphase computer power lead which means that I could plug it into a spare port on the back of my UPS; this was a welcome surprise because I was expecting it would use a hard-to-adapt wall plug and that I’d have to get a custom adaptor made up to plug it into the UPS. I’m pleased to report that the UPS handles the load of two machines, a monitor and the KVM without a complaint.

The unit works very well, no degradation of the video signal, keyboard and mouse work perfectly, and the switch time is snappy enough (anywhere between half a second and a couple seconds depending on whether the "other" machine has put the display to sleep in the meantime). For me KVMs belong to the same class of devices as UPSs: it’s the class of devices where "cheap" shouldn’t be too high up your list of criteria. Spend a little extra for quality and you won’t regret it; go too cheap and you could well lament the purchase later on.

All in all I think the product is worthy of a hearty recommendation. The Gefen customer service was great too, along with that of their distributor in Spain, Video Digital.