Switch screen from one computer to the next without unplugging?

[grosslyclever]

Hello,

I have two laptops. One mac and one pc. I also have one external screen. Is there anyway I could switch my screen from one computer to the other without unplugging the VGA cable every time?

Is there some sort of splitter I can plug into both laptops and just press a button for the screen to go from one computer to the other?

Is there anything that can do that?

Thanks in advance,
- GC

 

[thomanjones]

Search Monoprice for Product ID 54, or link: http://bit.ly/112fZ7

2-Port VGA Monitor Switch Box $7.43

 

[grosslyclever]

Anything smaller than that?

 

[thomanjones]

I've used some 3-headed KVM cables that don't have a connection box like the one above, but they relied on keyboard commands to switch and did not work reliably going from Mac to PC. So no, nothing that I know of that is smaller, but I'd try googling 'small VGA switch' or something like that to see what else is out there.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

It's a bit more expensive but how about a Belkin Flip USB KVM Switch, the box part of it is quite small and you can hide it out of sight as it has a little click switch attached via a cable that you use to switch inputs. I've used these at uni and they seem to work pretty well.

Oh and you can ignore the USB bit as it works fine for me with just the VGA cable plugged in to my laptop. Though it may need one of the USB connections plugged into a computer for power.