What is a USB Switch? How Does it Work?

ByJiang
AV Access_Blog_USB Port Image-4bdfaaae

Modern USB devices gain more popularity among people working from home these days, like webcams, microphones, speakerphones, etc. When using a home office with two different PCs and multiple USB peripherals, you may find it a headache to switch the USB signals. Usually, you have to frequently plug and unplug your favorite USB devices between two computers. Is there any gadget that can help you solve this problem? In this circumstance, a USB switch is what you need to switch different USB peripherals between two or more computers. What exactly is it? How does it work? This blog will help you figure it out.

What is a USB Switch?

A USB switch enables two or more PCs to easily share one or more USB peripherals such as an external hard drive, printer, scanner, etc. It not only saves you cost and space on additional USB devices, but also eliminates the hassles to unplug the USB peripheral from one PC and then plug it into the other. Thus, you don’t need to set up a complicated workstation just to share multiple USB devices. Some USB switches support a physical button for USB signal switching, some also support the auto-switch function.

There are various models of USB switches. Some of them are designed for two computers to share one device. It suits you best if you need to share a printer, scanner, or memory card reader between your home PC and a laptop. Others can be connected to up to four PCs for sharing one USB device. Some others may allow sharing four USB devices among four PCs.

One of the best USB switches now on the market is AV Access U3SW24 USB 3.0 switch. It allows two PCs to share four USB 3.0 devices, supporting ultra-fast data transfer rate of up to 5Gb/s. You can easily switch between PC systems by pressing the control button with LED indicating the active computer. It is truly plug-n-play, no additional software or driver required. With its compact size and exquisite design, the U3SW24 switch is ideal for office or home applications where you need to switch between computers.

AV Access_U3SW24 USB 3.0 Switch_USB 3.0/5Gbps – 10 Times Faster than USB 2.0

How does a USB switch work?

A high-quality USB switch can act like a keyboard or mouse switcher by letting you remain at the same connected peripherals but move directly to another device, seamlessly. It is recommended to use a USB 3.0 switch, as it can guarantee 5Gbps of bandwidth, more than enough for most peripherals.

If you’re looking for a reliable USB switch, AV Access U3SW24 is the one that you can’t miss. It is compatible with any USB 3.0 peripheral devices such as a printer, keyboard, mouse, external hard disk, 4K high-resolution webcam, camcorder, digital video camera, etc. It is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices. In terms of operating systems, it can work flawlessly with Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista/XP and Mac OS X, Linux, and Chrome OS. It can be powered by any USB host port, saving you the hassles of using an extra power cable.

That’s all for the blog. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below.

About the Author
Shane Jiang holds a master’s degree in English translation and brings more than four years’ working experience in content marketing. His extensive knowledge in multilingual writing and translation has brought a balanced perspective to the AV Access team.

Original Text Source: https://www.avaccess.com/blogs/guides/what-is-a-usb-switch/

Shane Jiang holds a master's degree in English translation and brings more than four years' working experience in content marketing. His extensive knowledge in multilingual writing and translation has brought a balanced perspective to the AV Access team.