A docking stations has become particularly useful – essential even – in office settings where users often need to switch between laptops and desktops.
JCH462 Wormhole Switch, from j5create, takes this convenience a notch higher. The multi-function docking station lets you connect two Windows devices via USB-C (there’s an attached USB-A adapter if required) and duplicate or extend their displays.
The Wormhole Switch lets users control the connected devices using a single keyboard and mouse, great news for anyone who routinely gets confused by which peripheral belongs to which computer. The keyboard works on whichever PC the mouse pointer is active on, or you can use the Alt+S keyboard shortcut or mouse wheel to swap manually between devices. If you have a touchscreen laptop, you can turn its display into a graphics tablet for your desktop.
Quick copy and paste
You will need to install the driver on both connected computers for this trickery to work, and doing so will display a control bar that will let you manage your screens, switching between extend and duplicate modes, and shifting displays left and right (or up and down, depending on how your computers are arranged).
Users can effortlessly drag and drop files from one computer to another, eliminating the need for external storage devices or cloud-based solutions, and also cut/copy and paste clipboard content between PCs.
It’s worth pointing out that if one computer goes into sleep mode you won’t be able to use the other one to wake it, but that’s a small inconvenience.
Wormhole Switch comes with two USB Type-A ports and one USB-C 5Gbps port on the side, so you can connect any compatible peripherals, including a mouse, keyboard, external drives, and webcams, although this only works with the PC1 host. If, for example, you want to work on files from an external flash drive on PC2, you’ll need to copy them via PC1 first.
Wormhole Switch is an incredibly handy piece of kit and surprisingly affordable too. You can currently buy it on Amazon priced at $69.99.