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The CS661 itself is small, very small. It measures 3-1/2″ long, 1-1/4″ wide, 1/2″ high and weighs just 3 ounces. It requires no external power, drawing everything it needs from the USB port, and works with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, 2008, and Vista. ATEN includes a little carrying-pouch to keep everything cinched and neat when the CS661 isn’t in use.

Looking a little like a pack of chewing gum, the CS661 has a set of LEDs on the face that give you an at-a-glance status of connectivity and activity. The top of the device is rounded and the bottom of the CS661 houses a single USB 2.0 port. Any device connected to this port will be linked to the “local” computer: a nice feature for anybody who will be using this device with a netbook or other USB-port-limited computer.

The CS661 has dedicated “Local” and “Remote” ends of the device, meaning that one side will always control the other. The function of each end is clearly marked on the USB plug itself, though we wish that ATEN had also marked each end of the device just to make things a little easier. The “Local” USB cable extends 3 feet while the remote side goes on for just under 5, meaning that you access the remote computer with a laptop or desktop that is up to 8 feet away. Just for fun we tested the CS661 with two 15″ USB 2.0 powered extender cables. It worked, but such a practice isn’t recommended since you’ll be close to overdrawing the total power available on the USB 2.0 bus.

Using the CS661 is easy. You plug the USB plug labeled “Remote” into the computer you wish to control, and the plug labeled “Local” into the computer you want to use to display the video feed. To each computer the CS661 will appear to be a USB drive and windows will attempt to autolaunch the software. A window will then open on the Local workstation that shows the entire visible desktop of the Remote. That’s it…. you now have full control of the remote computer and can do anything to it that you would be able to if you were sitting at the keyboard of that workstation.

Though the software functions much like several popular remote desktop clients like the various flavors of VNC or Microsoft’s RDC, the big difference is that the display, keyboard and mouse on the remote computer will operate exactly as it is shown on the local window. When using Microsoft RDC or many of the versions of VNC you are essentially logging into a virtualized account that will not show up on the remote screen.

Video quality is quite perfect — no dithering here. You’ll see exactly what is seen on the remote computer, though there is a slight lag between the Local and Remote stations. You definitely will not want to do any timing sensitive functions or run video through the CS661, but it works just fine for everything else from networking to web browsing to word processing.

At the top of the window you’ll find a set of buttons that control the various functions and options of the CS661. The first button will open the File-Transfer function, a useful tool for those who want a secure way to send files back and forth between the remote and local computers. It’s easy to use and just as fast as the USB 2.0 port will allow. However, we would like to see future versions of the software include the option to automatically establish shared drives between to the two workstations. Though it would be less secure, it would make dragging and dropping files mush easier.

The next two buttons toggle the remote window between full screen and minimized. The fourth button will send a CTRL-ALT-DELETE command to the remote station and the final button will set the window to maximum resolution.

In all, the CS661 is a well-designed tool that does the job it was created for — controlling a remote computer with a minimum of configuration and setup.

The ATEN CS661 Laptop USB KVM is available now. Shop around and you’ll be able to find it for under $100