We have all been sold the one-cable dream where you start off spending a small fortune on a super-high-end 34-inch ultrawide monitor that boasts a built-in KVM, 90W USB-C Power Delivery, and enough ports to hook up every device in a home lab. The marketing materials sell you the dream with exactly one wire connecting a sleek laptop to a massive screen, and peripherals running to said screen. It looks like the ultimate productivity workflow until you realize that you'll be connecting your gaming PC via DisplayPort and your work laptop via USB-C.

Switching between these inputs in the middle of a work meeting to check a render or a Discord notification entails waiting far longer than you'd be comfortable with. Most monitor firmware take a full minute to cycle through their multiple supported inputs while the "Searching for Signal" animation mocks you. Meanwhile, the KVM on the monitor might disconnect your webcam from the work meeting on the laptop, and other issues. Turns out the simplest solution is a cheap little $20 box that's been staring me in the face for thirty years every time I pull up Amazon — an affordable KVM switch.

Why is a KVM still relevant?

Monitors are slow and software's a fallacy until it isn't

Now, just last week I wrote an article on XDA about how $800 monitors now do everything a KVM switch can do, making the latter redundant if you've got the money to spare in this economy. Your setup should only need a USB switch if the monitor can handle video switching automatically, but two concerns came to mind immediately afterward. First, a monitor takes a really long time to cycle through the available inputs to find the second input you're hoping to switch to. Second, there's the rather lucrative option of free software at the other end of the spectrum. Any self-respecting tech enthusiast would point budget-conscious towards tools like Microsoft PowerToys' Mouse Without Borders or Barrier.

Software-defined KVMs are incredible when they work. They allow for seamless cursor movement across screens as if they were one giant desktop. But for the power user, software is a tether. It relies on a stable network connection. If your Wi-Fi hiccups or your workplace-mandated VPN throws a wrench in the works, your mouse suddenly hits an invisible wall. The other obvious limitation of software KVMs is how they operate only in the OS layer. If your PC fails to boot or you need to tweak your overclocking settings, your software KVM is useless. You find yourself crawling under the desk, unplugging your keyboard from your laptop and jamming it into the back of your desktop like it's 1998. A physical, cheap KVM switch doesn't care about your OS, your drivers, or your network security. It is a hard-wired bridge that works before the OS even detects the USB input.

Even if you aren't sold on the idea of using an external switch for video input cycling at will, a standalone USB 2.0 or 3.0 switch makes sense in ways a "smart" solution baked into your screen cannot. Imagine you are on a grueling 2-hour Zoom call on your work laptop. You want to keep that call on your secondary monitor while you use your primary keyboard and mouse to move files around on your personal PC or manage your home server. A $20 USB switch can move your USB peripherals between devices instantly while your monitors remain configured to display the separate inputs side-by-side or on separate screens, all without black-screening or input lag.

Simplicity is often the perfect solution

Fewer points of failure

Experts often overcomplicate their setups because we believe more features equal more value. However, trying to do too much with just one device adds needless complexity to the process. Those smart features become avoidable points of failure. KVMs with EDID emulation that try to emulate a keyboard and mouse so that the computer thinks they are always plugged in the hope of preventing window-shuffling. However, a cheap one just acts like a physical extension cord that you can move with a button. It passes through the raw data, meaning your 8,000Hz polling rate mouse and your RGB-heavy keyboard work exactly as intended.

Some of these cheap switches come with a wired remote button as well, so you can tuck the KVM and all its ugly cabling into a cable tray, and just have the button within reach. You no longer have to worry about whether a monitor KVM has enough ports or if its KVM is compatible with Mac and Windows. You buy the best screen for your eyes and the cheapest switch for your peripherals.

A cheap gadget is the unsung hero

We often think that improving our workflow requires spending more money on faster CPUs, OLED screens, and ergonomic chairs. Beyond a point, these changes become frivolities with diminishing returns on every additional dollar spent. The popularity of these cheap KVM switches is merely because they work reliably every single time and don't add smart features anybody asked for. Sometimes, you just need one thing to do one job perfectly, and on a KVM, that would be $20–40 well spent.