Every BIOS change in a rack of four servers means wheeling over a spare monitor and hunting for a keyboard. A 1U rack console ends that: a monitor, keyboard and touchpad folded into a drawer one rack unit tall. The better ones carry a KVM switch inside, so the same drawer reaches eight machines. What decides the buy is less the screen size than what your servers actually output, because a VGA drawer in front of a rack of HDMI mini PCs turns into an expensive adapter problem.
We compare five units here for a 19-inch homelab rack: two 1U rack console drawers with a built-in 8-port KVM, one name-brand single-port drawer, and two rackmount HDMI KVM switches to pair with it. None of them has been on our bench. Every spec below comes from the maker’s datasheet, manual or product page, and we checked price and stock for every listing against the Amazon catalog in October 2026.
The picks at a glance
Each pick answers a different rack, so start from the line that describes yours. The reasoning, the specs and the reasons to pass on each one come further down.
- Best 1U rack console for a modern homelab: Kinan LH1708, about $1,070 (check the live price). A 17.3-inch 1080p drawer with an 8-port HDMI KVM built in.
- Best value drawer for VGA servers: MT-VIKI MT-1708UL, about $590. Eight VGA ports in 1U for roughly half the price of the Kinan, with a 1280×1024 panel.
- Best name-brand console drawer: Tripp Lite B021-000-19-HD2, about $1,120. A 19-inch 1080p screen with a DVI-I input, meant to sit above a separate KVM.
- Best rackmount KVM switch: TESmart HKS801-EB23, about $205. Eight HDMI ports with EDID emulation, plus RS232 and LAN control that an IP KVM can drive.
- Cheapest rackmount HDMI KVM: MT-VIKI MT-801HK-C, about $110. Eight HDMI ports and an IR remote, but no keyboard hotkeys.
Our selection method
We started from what people actually search for (rack console drawer, 1U rackmount console, best KVM for a server rack) and kept only listings you can buy on Amazon US today. Each pick was then checked against three sources. The manufacturer’s page or datasheet gave the specs, the live Amazon listing gave the exact model, stock and price, and a reseller listing or the vendor manual served as the cross-check. Where the Amazon copy disagreed with the maker, we went with the maker and say so in the pick.
A few units were left out on purpose:
- ATEN CL1308N: a sensible drawer on paper, but the ATEN datasheet was unreachable for us, and we do not recommend hardware on reseller copy alone.
- Used Dell and HPE KMM drawers: cheap on eBay, but listings and condition change daily, so there is no stable listing we could stand behind.
Because nothing here was tested hands-on, you will not find invented brightness or power readings. Where a number appears, it is the spec the maker publishes, and the pick says whose.
Drawer, drawer with KVM, or a separate switch
A rack console comes in three layouts, and picking the layout first narrows the list faster than any spec does. The difference is where the switching lives. That decides how many cables run through the rack and what you replace when one part ages out:
- Single-port console drawer (KMM): screen, keyboard and touchpad, one video input. It reaches one machine unless you add a KVM switch, and that’s the point: the switch can be upgraded later without touching the drawer.
- Drawer with a built-in KVM: the switch sits inside the same 1U, so you save a rack unit and a set of cables. If the switch dies or your servers move to a video standard it does not take, the whole drawer goes.
- Rackmount KVM switch with no screen: one keyboard, mouse and monitor port for up to eight machines. Pair it with a drawer, a cheap monitor on a shelf, or an IP KVM for remote access.
In practice we would buy a built-in KVM drawer when every server in the rack outputs the same video standard and you want the tidiest front panel. We’d split drawer and switch when the rack mixes old VGA servers with HDMI mini PCs. The same goes when remote access is on the roadmap, because a separate switch with network control is what makes an IP KVM useful across eight machines. If you only need a console now and then, our IP KVM guide for homelabs covers the browser-based route, which skips the drawer entirely.
Rack consoles and KVM switches compared
Each row lines up a pick on the specs that change the decision: the video standard your servers must speak, the panel’s native resolution, how many machines one unit reaches and how much rack depth it needs.
| Model | Type | Screen | Server inputs | Mounting | Power | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinan LH1708 | Drawer + 8-port KVM | 17.3in, 1920×1080 | 8x HDMI + USB | 510-850 mm | Internal PSU, 100-240 VAC | ~$1,000-1,100 |
| MT-VIKI MT-1708UL | Drawer + 8-port KVM | 17in 4:3, 1280×1024 | 8x VGA + USB | 600-810 mm | 12 V DC adapter | ~$550-650 |
| Tripp Lite B021-000-19-HD2 | Single-port drawer | 19in, up to 1920×1080 | 1x DVI-I (DVI or VGA) | 2- and 4-post racks; rail range not published, unit 27.26 in deep | C13 cord to NEMA 5-15P | ~$1,050-1,150 |
| TESmart HKS801-EB23 | KVM switch | None (1x HDMI out) | 8x HDMI + USB | Rack ears | 12 V DC | ~$190-220 |
| MT-VIKI MT-801HK-C | KVM switch | None (1x HDMI out) | 8x HDMI + USB | Brackets, 370 mm body | USB or adapter | ~$100-120 |
Native resolution is the column most buyers skip. The MT-1708UL’s panel is 1280×1024, so a server sending 1080p gets scaled down and small text turns soft. That is fine in a BIOS and tiring in a long shell session. Both HDMI switches top out at 3840×2160 at 30 Hz, well past any drawer screen here, so the drawer is always the limit when you pair them.
1. Kinan LH1708
The Kinan LH1708 is the drawer we would put in a rack built from recent hardware. Its built-in 8-port KVM takes HDMI and USB from each machine, and the 17.3-inch panel runs a native 1920×1080 at 60 Hz. The whole unit is 1U with an internal power supply, so no brick dangles off the rails.
Kinan’s product page lists eight 1.8 m HDMI plus USB cables in the box, and the datasheet gives a mounting depth of 510 to 850 mm, a 100-240 VAC internal supply rated at 13 W, and a weight of 10.8 kg. You switch from the front buttons, a keyboard hotkey or the on-screen menu, and an auto-scan mode cycles through the ports for unattended watching. The product page also notes an extra HDMI output for connecting an additional monitor. Plan on USB keyboards and mice at the server end: the product page mentions PS/2 as well, but the datasheet lists USB emulation only and the bundled cables are HDMI plus USB.
That 510 mm minimum post spacing matters more than it looks. A shallow wall-mount network cabinet may not offer it, while a full-depth server rack clears it easily. Measure between your front and rear posts before you order. If you’re still choosing the rack itself, our server rack guide for homelabs lists depths next to each pick.
- Who it suits: racks of mini PCs, Proxmox nodes and recent servers that all output HDMI, and anyone who wants a 1080p panel where shell text stays sharp.
- Who should pass: racks of older Dell or HPE servers that output VGA only. Each one needs an active VGA to HDMI converter, which adds cost and cabling that the MT-VIKI avoids.
Amazon sells it as the “LH1708-Upgraded” through the Kinan storefront, and the stock flag read scarce when we checked. Kinan doesn’t document what the “Upgraded” suffix changes, so the shipped unit may differ in small ways from the datasheet. The listing claims a 2-year warranty that we could not find on the Kinan site, so confirm it with the seller first. The Kinan LH1708 runs about $1,070 on Amazon; check the live price.
2. MT-VIKI MT-1708UL
The MT-1708UL does the job of the Kinan for a rack full of VGA servers at roughly 55% of the price. It is an 8-port VGA and USB KVM in a 1U drawer, with a 17-inch 4:3 panel and a 98-key keyboard with a touchpad, according to the MT-VIKI spec sheet.
Native resolution on that panel is 1280×1024 at 60 Hz, which suits server consoles and BIOS screens that were laid out for 4:3 anyway. Its external monitor port goes up to 1920×1080 and doubles as a cascade port if you outgrow eight machines. Mounting depth is 600 to 810 mm, and power comes from a 12 V DC adapter rated at 24 W maximum. The box includes four 1.5 m and four 1.8 m VGA cables, so servers several units away from the drawer stay within reach.
- Who it suits: racks of used enterprise servers (Dell PowerEdge, HPE ProLiant, Supermicro) whose onboard video is VGA, and budgets that stop well short of four figures.
- Who should pass: HDMI-only mini PCs and anyone who lives in the console. VGA needs an active converter from HDMI, and the 1280×1024 panel blurs a 1080p desktop.
A 600 mm minimum depth can rule out a shallow wall-mount cabinet, and the external 12 V brick takes a PDU outlet of its own. Amazon also flags a newer 15.6-inch 1080p model on the same listing page. We left it out because we could not match it to an MT-VIKI spec sheet. The MT-VIKI MT-1708UL sells for about $590 from the MT-VIKI store on Amazon; check the live price.
3. Tripp Lite B021-000-19-HD2
Tripp Lite’s B021-000-19-HD2 is the drawer for a rack you expect to keep for a decade. It is a single-port console with a 19-inch LCD that runs up to 1920×1080 and a DVI-I input that takes DVI directly or VGA through the included adapter. Keyboard and touchpad connect over USB. It is meant to sit above a KVM switch, not replace one.
On the Eaton product page you’ll find USB 2.0 pass-through ports front and rear, automatic sleep when the drawer closes, and mounting in 2-post and 4-post EIA racks (screws not included). It also lists a 6 ft C13 to NEMA 5-15P power cord and a 1-year warranty. The C13 cord is the detail that keeps a rack tidy. Swap it for a short C14 to C13 jumper and the drawer feeds from the same strip as your servers, as covered in our rack PDU guide for homelabs.
Pairing it with an HDMI KVM is simple, because DVI-D and HDMI carry the same single-link video signal. An HDMI to DVI-D cable from the switch output carries the picture, and TESmart documents that adapter path for its switches. The drawer’s keyboard and touchpad also need a USB link into the switch’s keyboard and mouse port. Neither vendor confirms that this combined USB device works on the TESmart’s emulated port, so test it before you rack both. With the TESmart below, you get a 1080p name-brand console that reaches eight HDMI machines with network control, for about $1,330 at current prices.
- Who it suits: racks where the drawer should outlive two generations of servers, and buyers who want Eaton’s support channel behind the hardware.
- Who should pass: anyone shopping on price per port. On its own it reaches one machine, and with a switch it costs more than the Kinan.
A third-party seller (vCloud Choice) fills the Amazon listing rather than Amazon or Eaton, and the stock flag read scarce, so check the return terms of that seller. The older sibling, the Tripp Lite B021-000-19 at about $790, is sold by Amazon directly. Its panel tops out at 1366×768 and it takes VGA only, a poor match for HDMI hardware. The B021-000-19-HD2 lists at about $1,120; check the live price.
4. TESmart HKS801-EB23
The TESmart HKS801-EB23 is the rackmount KVM switch we’d pair with a single-port drawer, and the one to buy if remote access is anywhere on your list. It switches eight HDMI and USB machines to one HDMI output at up to 3840×2160 at 30 Hz. It emulates EDID on every input and accepts commands over RS232 and TCP/IP on its LAN port.
What the extra money over the MT-VIKI buys is control: keyboard hotkeys, RS232 and LAN. TESmart also documents a separate EDID emulator on every input, while the MT-VIKI sheet lists stored-EDID switching without saying whether it is held per input. Without EDID held per input, a server on an unselected port can lose its monitor information, and TESmart says its emulator helps reduce display reinitialization, flicker and a rearranged desktop when you switch back.
The spec page lists the switching options as the front keypad, an IR remote, keyboard hotkeys (Right Ctrl twice, then the port number), mouse-wheel switching, RS232 at 9600 baud 8N1 and TCP/IP on port 5000.
One decision comes before you plug in the LAN port. Its default address is a fixed 192.168.1.10, which sits inside the most common home subnet and can collide with a device you already run. The PiKVM handbook notes that DHCP does not set it and that a TESmart Windows utility changes it. Set the address from a laptop on a direct cable before the switch joins your network. That port controls the switch only, and it does not give the eight machines a network connection.
- Who it suits: a rack of HDMI machines behind a drawer or monitor, and anyone planning to drive the switch from an IP KVM.
- Who should pass: VGA-only racks, and buyers who need a 1U height in writing. TESmart includes rack ears but does not publish a rack-unit height for this model.
The TESmart site offers 5 years of warranty with product registration, while the Amazon listing says 3 years, so register it either way. The TESmart HKS801-EB23 runs about $205 from the TESmart store on Amazon; check the live price.
5. MT-VIKI MT-801HK-C
The MT-801HK-C is the cheapest way to put eight HDMI machines behind one console, and it gets there by dropping what the TESmart adds. It switches eight HDMI and USB inputs to one HDMI output at up to 4K30. Its only switching methods are the front buttons, an IR remote and a wired desktop controller.
There is no keyboard hotkey, no RS232 and no LAN control, so neither the drawer keyboard nor anything on the network can change ports. The MT-VIKI spec sheet lists a 370 x 82 x 31 mm metal body with a mounting bracket set, four USB 2.0 ports and stored-EDID switching. At 31 mm tall it fits a 1U slot, but the body is narrower than a 19-inch opening, so measure your rails against the brackets. The same sheet calls it USB powered and also lists a power adapter in the box, so plan on using the adapter.
- Who it suits: a handful of HDMI machines where you reach the rack in person and a button press is fine.
- Who should pass: anyone who wants to switch from the drawer keyboard or from a remote session. Spend the extra on the TESmart.
Expect to pay about $110 for the MT-VIKI MT-801HK-C from the MT-VIKI store on Amazon; check the live price. Paired with the Tripp Lite drawer through an HDMI to DVI-D cable plus a USB link for the keyboard, it brings the name-brand route down to about $1,230.
Fit checks for your rack
A spec sheet will not tell you whether a drawer suits your rack and your servers. Each check below takes a tape measure or a look at the back of a server, and each is expensive to discover after the drawer arrives:
- Video standard on every server: count which machines output VGA, HDMI or DisplayPort. A drawer is only as useful as the share of your rack it can reach without converters, and VGA to HDMI needs an active converter, not a passive cable.
- Native panel resolution: 1920×1080 keeps a shell readable; 1280×1024 and 1366×768 are fine for BIOS work and soft for long sessions.
- Mounting depth: drawer rails have a minimum and maximum post spacing (510 to 850 mm on the Kinan, 600 to 810 mm on the MT-VIKI). Measure front to rear posts, not the outer depth of the cabinet.
- Rack width: every drawer here is 19-inch. A 10-inch mini rack needs a different approach, covered below.
- EDID on the switch: without EDID emulation, machines on unselected ports can lose their display information and reset resolution or layout when you switch back.
- Hotkeys and keyboard ports: switching from the drawer keyboard needs hotkey support, and a Right Ctrl trigger can clash with a VM console that uses the same key as its host key.
- Power: internal supplies use one standard PDU outlet; 12 V bricks take an outlet and some cable management of their own.
None of these drawers fits a 10-inch mini rack, because every one is built for 19-inch rails. At that size a small HDMI monitor on a shelf or an IP KVM per node is the practical answer. Our 10-inch mini rack build and the list of 10-inch rack accessories cover both. For a desk rather than a rack, the KVM switches that behave well on Linux fit better than anything here.
One IP KVM in front of the switch
The layout we’d build in our own rack puts the screen and the network on the same switch. HDMI out of the TESmart feeds an IP KVM such as a PiKVM, and USB emulation from the IP KVM plugs into a USB 2.0 device port on the switch. The IP KVM then changes ports over the LAN interface of the switch, so one browser tab reaches all eight machines. The PiKVM handbook documents this TESmart integration, including buttons in the PiKVM web UI for each port. The handbook was tested on TESmart’s 16-port HKS1601A10 and says the other LAN-port variants should work, so treat the HKS801-EB23 as expected to work rather than validated.
That handbook adds two caveats. USB from the IP KVM goes to a USB 2.0 device port, not the dedicated keyboard and mouse port, and virtual media may need a USB 2.0 hub in between. Video can also fail to appear when a host is already running and attached to another monitor, so connect hosts to the switch while they’re powered off. The switch has a single HDMI output, so a drawer and the IP KVM can’t both use it without an HDMI splitter or moving the cable by hand. When a box drops off the network entirely, our walkthrough on recovering a headless server with an IP KVM shows what that remote console buys you.
The cost per server
Divide each setup by the machines it reaches and the ranking changes. The console and switch figures use the Amazon prices we pulled in October 2026. The IP KVM rows use the prices in our IP KVM guide for the PiKVM V4 Mini (about $275 direct) and the GL.iNet Comet (about $100), so treat the whole table as a snapshot:
| Setup | Approx. total | Per server at 4 | Per server at 8 | Local screen | Remote access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MT-VIKI MT-1708UL drawer (VGA) | $590 | $147 | $74 | Yes | No |
| Kinan LH1708 drawer (HDMI) | $1,070 | $267 | $134 | Yes | No |
| Tripp Lite HD2 + MT-VIKI MT-801HK-C | $1,230 | $308 | $154 | Yes | No |
| Tripp Lite HD2 + TESmart HKS801-EB23 | $1,330 | $332 | $166 | Yes | Possible with an IP KVM |
| TESmart HKS801-EB23 + PiKVM V4 Mini | $480 | $120 | $60 | No | Yes, all ports |
| One GL.iNet Comet per server | $100 each | $100 | $100 | No | Yes, simultaneous |
At four servers, a drawer is the most expensive way to see a console, and one IP KVM per machine costs less while working from anywhere. The drawer earns its rack unit at eight machines, or when you want a screen at the rack that does not depend on the network you are trying to fix. For most homelabs past four nodes, we’d take the TESmart plus PiKVM row and keep a cheap shelf monitor for emergencies. Pick the Kinan when you would rather have everything behind one 1U lid. If this is the first server going into the rack, our guide to choosing a first rackmount server covers the out-of-band console (iDRAC or iLO) worth looking for.
