A lot of people are looking into KVM switches for their home office setup. A KVM switch, or Keyboard Video Mouse switch, is a box that helps you control your peripherals. Essentially, you plug your monitor, mouse, and keyboard into the KVM switch. Then, you plug the KVM switch into your desktop PC and your work laptop. From there, every time you flip the switch, the mouse, keyboard, and monitor will swap back and forth between your two machines.

It’s neat technology, but it’s also very expensive if you want one that’s reliable. A less expensive alternative is a USB switcher. These work by plugging your laptop and desktop PC into the same monitor and using the monitor’s source controls to swap between them. The USB switcher then handles the mouse and keyboard part on its own. Ugreen makes such a device that works quite well for the task. 

The Ugreen USB switcher comes with four ports to plug in various peripherals and two ports on the back to plug in your two computers. The button on top switches which computer your peripherals answer to, making the switch seamless. It works with keyboards, mice, printers, and scanners so everything transfers at once. It’s much easier to get a quality USB switcher than it is a quality KVM switch, so this is great for home offices with multiple PCs.