Quick Version: Sometimes e-mailing files to yourself or dumping stuff onto a USB drive gets old. Kensington’s plug-and-play USB cable makes sharing files between two computers stupidly easy. If you’ve used a USB port before, you’re pretty much set.
Overview and Features:
- No software. Just plug the cable into each computer and you’re up and running.
- Simple drag-and-drop interface, or you can open files directly.
- Option to make files read-only for security purposes.
- Works with PC and/or Mac.
- MSRP of $59.99 (Amazon has it for $53.89 and a $15 mail-in rebate until 12/17/08)
It’s pretty simple, really. You plug one end of the cable into a USB port on your first PC and plug the other end of the cable into a USB port on your second PC.
After that’s done, a window like the one shown above appears on both machines. Simply drag and drop files between “THIS COMPUTER” and “CONNECTED COMPUTER” and you’re all set. You can also just double click a file from your connected computer and it’ll open up on the computer you’re using. It works equally well with Macs, too. I had a Sony VAIO and a MacBook swapping files with the greatest of ease.
It’s good for…
…service technicians, temporary computer setups, people who need to share files with others quickly, and people who use two computers and want to push and pull files from both machines without dealing with network settings.
Not so good for…
…people who don’t want to spend $60 just to drag and drop files between two computers. What the cable does isn’t rocket science, it just does it quickly and painlessly, which may or may not be worth $60 to you.
Recommendation
If you think you’d use something like this, go ahead and buy it. I used to do tech support and this would have been a great thing to have in my bag for quick file transfers between my laptop and a client’s machine. I could also see value in having a couple of these cables when Team CrunchGear is covering a big show like CES and we need to quickly toss files back and forth at the end of the day.
Media Sharing Cable for PC and Mac [Kensington]
Man, I’d love this. No need to join machines to a domain or workgroup, no size restriction (respectively), and no cleanup or resetting of uh…settings afterward. Added to Wish List, thanks, DA.
Note: It’s now only $38.89 after the rebate. Score!
Yea I am always going between transferring files from my desktop to my laptop and they can get pretty large so I might have to pick one of these up. Thanks for the heads up drew on the rebate.
Paying $60 or even $54 for something to do what a loopback Ethernet cable can do is just stupid. If you’d dumb enough to buy this thing, you’re probably too stupid to know what a loopback cable is, just buy this, dummy:
http://www.amazon.com/Ziotek-8-Crossover-Cat5e-Adapter/dp/B0009JFF0W/ref=pd_sim_e_5
Then both you and your dumb friend plug a network cable into the only hole in your computer where one fits with a click (the click is important, dummy).
Dear urdumb,
Simply put, YOU’RE the ignorant one here. Yes, a crossover cable is possible, but think about it before you go spouting off your mouth–is it as convenient as a USB cable? I think not. Who the heck wants to crawl around the floor to get behind a computer full of dustbunnies to plug in an ethernet cable? Not me, done that, been there too many times. This nifty and CONVENIENT USB cable is a godsend to techs who need something quick and easy.
So get off your high technology horse and shut up.