This switch is marketed for switching an up to 8K screen with USB-C / thunderbolt DP input between 2 computers that support DP over USB-C / Thunderbolt. But I wanted to see if it would work as a switch with a hub connected. In that way I could connect mouse, keyboard, screen, and any other devices I want to the hub, and then easily switch all those devices between one machine and another. (At the time I bought it, I was intending for using it for switching between my Windows and Mac computers).
I bought it from AliExpress, where it was sold as 8K USB-C Switch Distributor 1x2 2x1 Thunderbolt 4 Video Converter TYPE-C two-way Conversion Switcher PD 100W Splitter USB 3.1
. (Note it currently is no longer available, at least from that seller). I bought it using the '2pcs Gen2 Cable' option, not really because I wanted the cables, but more because I was wary of the possibility of it not working and then the seller just saying that I wasn't using the correct cables with it if I purchased the no cables version. It cost me USD $18.44.
The branding on the box is very generic, not even really indicating what it is. It does say High-definition Multimedia Interface
and Always Enjoy · Super · Quality
on the top. On the sides of the box it has a random 15
printed for some reason.
The device itself just says 8K USB-C Bi-Direction Switch
on it with no mention of the manufacturer. On the back it has the standard compliance logos. On the front it also has an 8K Association Certified
logo. Looking it up, this is a real thing, though I doubt this device has actually been certified.
It can also apparently be used in reverse to switch between 2 screens (or presumably other devices) connected to a single computer. But I don't know why you'd want to do this and didn't test it.
Test with USB-C 10Gb/s hub
Testing first with a Ugreen 45363 Revodok Pro 106 USB-C 10Gbps hub and Macbook Air M4 and Mac Studio M1. Logitech Pebble 2 Combo bolt receiver (for mouse and keyboard), 4K screen on HDMI, 100W PD, and CFExpress reader were plugged into the hub. Pressing the button on the switch successfully switches everything on the hub between the 2 machines.
It takes about 30s or so for the output to appear on the screen when switching. I'm not sure if this is down to the hub, the connected machines, the dock, or the screen. But it makes it so that switching between devices with the switch isn't any faster than manually switching separate monitor, mouse, and keyboard inputs.
On my Mac Studio it would keep bringing up the Keyboard configuration when you switched to it, not every single time, but almost every time. This would be quite annoying when regularly switching between systems. Oddly it just did this with the Mac Studio and not the Macbook Air.
The Macbook Air showed that it was being powered from the connection (so PD pass through was working okay).
Same test but with different laptop
Testing same as above but with a Dynabook Satellite Pro Windows 11 laptop instead of the macbook, the laptop could not see the devices plugged into the hub correctly. The hub did work correctly when plugged into the laptop directly, though only when plugged in with the USB-C plug a particular way up. I did try every combination of plug direction of the hub into the switch and the switch into the laptop, but it made no difference - you could never get all connected devices working.
Sometimes you'd get HDMI output but no mouse/keyboard or CFE card reader. Other times the devices would connect for a few seconds then disappear, then repeat this connecting and disconnecting.
So it seems like you probably really need a relatively modern machine with USB 3 20Gbps or USB4 / TB4 for the switch to work.
Occasionally the switcher would stop working. This was not during use, and I'm not exactly sure what caused it, but it was probably related to plugging and unplugging the inputs or output. When this happened, unplugging the power to the switch then plugging it back in would reset it and get it working again. This does indicate that the separate power is needed and you can't just rely on USB-PD from the hub plugged into it.
Test with Thunderbolt dock
Despite the AliExpress listing saying the switch was Thunderbolt 4, I could not get my Akito / OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro to work via the switch. The power light on the dock would flash blue then go back to orange (not connected). I tried this using Thunderbolt cables rather than the USB-C 20Gbps cables supplied with the switch. The thunderbolt cables worked fine between the Dock and my Macbook directly so the issue must be down to the switch rather than the cables.
I also tried very short 10cm TB4 cables between the dock and the switch and between the macbook and switch in case it was the combined cable length was too long, but this made no difference.
I did not test switching with bluetooth devices connected via a bluetooth dongle in a hub connected to the switch. My laptop and Apple devices all have built-in bluetooth, and as far as I know you can't choose between built-in bluetooth and bluetooth via a dongle when trying to connect a device. So I couldn't try this because the devices would probably just connect to the machines' built-in bluetooth rather than via the dongle, and hence the switch would have no effect.
Conclusion
Unless you have some device other than a keyboard / mouse you want to be able to easily switch between machines, the switch is not really worth it. For me I do have devices I sometimes want to connect to my Windows machine and other times to my Mac, but it is unlikely that I would want to switch the machine the device is connected to during a session. I may want to connect something up to my Mac one day, then switch back to Windows while that device remains connected to the Mac. Then another day I may want to connect that same device to Windows. But wanting to actively switch a device during a session other than the KVM would be quite rare.
(For switching Video normally I just have both machines connected to different inputs on my screen, then change the input on the screen to choose between which I want displayed. For switching Mouse and Keyboard I just use 2.4G & Bluetooth ones that support multiple connections and then you press a button on them to switch between the connection profiles.)
Manual
