StarTech.com 8 Port Rackmount KVM Console w/ 6ft Cables - Integrated KVM Switch w/ 19" LCD Monitor - Fully Featured 1U LCD KVM Drawer- OSD KVM - Durable 50,000 MTBF - USB + VGA Support

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

For £1,182 ex-VAT, this StarTech 1U rack KVM drawer is best seen as a “proper in-rack console” replacement for situations where you can’t justify building a separate console server or you need something quick and consistent for admin access in a data centre. The appeal is practical: an integrated 19" LCD in a rack-friendly drawer with OSD control means you can walk up to a rack, power on, and get straight into BIOS/console workflows without wrestling with external monitors or cabling chaos. StarTech is also fairly reliable in the KVM space for keeping things stable across longer runs, so if you’re supporting multiple machines that don’t lend themselves to iDRAC/iLO-style day-to-day console access, this can genuinely save time.

That said, it’s not an obvious buy unless you’re confident you *need* a local rack drawer KVM (and you have the budget to keep it). If your environment already uses remote management properly, this is money tied up in local access hardware you may rarely use. It’s also priced like a “standardise the rack” purchase—so if it’s only for one server or occasional use, you’ll usually get better value with a simpler KVM solution or a console server approach. In short: buy it if you run a rack where fast, local console access is mission-critical and you want a clean 1U drawer experience; don’t if you mainly manage servers remotely or only need occasional console access.