StarTechcom Portable Laptop Crash Cart Adapter, USB/VGA KVM Console, File Transfer & Video Capture, Windows/Linux/MacOS, TAA

I tend to work on random computers dropped off at my desk, generally without a PC or keyboard. This product has been a great time saver, I no longer need to track down a spare monitor, or when I'm at a customer's site beg them for a monitor. I'm able to get my work done and I couldn't ask for more. I've even used the adapter for extended development sessions without issues. To give you an idea how versatile this thing is, I've:- Diagnose and repair computers both at work and remotely, including systems that should be headless and stuck in some inconvenient location in a mode that needed some TLC to get running again.- Bring small computers with me to a customer site for work purposes, and use my laptop as the keyboard/monitor.- With the aid of a HDMI->VGA converter box, used this and online meeting software to demo a program running on a tablet remotely, which worked out much better for all parties than pointing a webcam at the tablet.- Demo software on a PC that had no network connectivity to remote customers.The product price might seem a bit much, but to me it's been well worth it. Even if my only use was because I'm the guy friends and family bring dead computers to, I'd seriously consider purchasing it.My only complaint was a one time event: I had a conflict with this product's software and the drivers for the StarTech USB to DVI adapter on a Windows machine. I was able to resolve the issue by manually removing the USB to DVI drivers and re-installing the latest versions. That one issue aside, I've had no problems with the software.

I bought this because I am always going to data centers and hate looking for, or just HOPING there is, a crash cart lying around, or that the client has a KVM in the rack. This easily fits in my laptop bag, and comes with me in the truck or on an airplane. And if you get a 15 foot usb cable with it like I did, you can sit on the hot aisle instead of the cold aisle. You data center monkeys will know what I'm talking about.But it works exactly as advertised. You see everything from POST onwards, on anything from desktops to G9 HP servers. WELL worth the cash. Feels solid built too...hefty...but I still treat it like a baby just because of how expensive it is.Fair warning though...on Windows 8 or newer, they don't have any signed drivers yet, so you have to boot into the recovery mode and turn off driver signing in the OS, then it will load the drivers and work fine. It will continue to work until you reboot. So if you just put your laptop to sleep, it will be fine. Just keep this in mind if you think yours doesn't work on Windows 8/10. Once the drivers are loaded the first time, they never need to be reloaded again, but it won't find the device on USB until you turn off driver signing in the OS.Other than that, this is probably the best tool in my bag.

When I monitor my system to my other system. The video doesn’t display well enough. The price is too high and the quality I get for the price is not so great

I haven't used this very much yet but so far I am very happy with the product. It does exactly what it says it does. I had been lugging a flat panel screen to our Disaster Recovery site lately because the crash cart there was terrible. It is much nicer to just pop-out the laptop and hook this device up. Plus this fits nicely in my laptop case so I've always got it available for those times when you need unexpected console access to a server.The software came on a small flash drive and installed quickly and without any issues. The device is very plug-n-play friendly. If you run the software it will say - plug it in, when you do it then sees it and shows the video feed. Unplug it at any time and the software is fine and just waits for it to be plugged in again.I was a little worried when it says the server needs to power the device (so it didn't drain the laptop battery) because sometimes you just don't want to plug in a USB to a critical sever, and some old servers may not even have USB (or you may want to plug into the PS2 port which requires the included USB-to-PS2 adapter.) But the device worked like a champ with or without the server side USB plugged in. Granted you don't have keyboard or mouse if you only plug in the VGA, but you can at least view the screen which is sometimes all you want. I assume it pulls power from the laptop in this case.I like that you can take snapshots of the server screen, especially for those errors that only stay on the screen for a few seconds. The tool bar can be on top or to the left.My only suggestions to make this a 5-star item would be:1) To embed the software in the unit. The included 2GB flash drive was nicer than a CD, and I attached it to the USB cable via a twist-tie so it doesn't get lost, but I've seen products simply embed the flash drive in their products.2) Provide video capture in the software so you can capture the boot-up sequence. Sometimes those blue-screens blink by so fast you don't even have time to click the button to take a snapshot.All-in-all, a very fine product, well worth the cost!!

Used multiple times to connect to old idrac consoles in a tight closet with no room for full setups. Also works amazing for putting a console screen on a screen share during a meeting.