Which UPS should I get?

[chrisjhill]

I live in an area that receives maybe 1 or 2 powercuts a year. Not a lot, but 1 or 2 too many

I have a 20" iMac (Alu) and was wondering what would be the most cost effective UPS that I would need. When a powercut does occur I would just want to shut it down (or have the iMac do it itself). I don't want to work on during the cut.

I know people recommend APC, but I was just wondering what the best one for my situation would be (I'n a complete novice at electricals - I don't know anything about how many watts it uses etc).

Would this one be okay? http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE400-UK&total_watts=200

With this UPS would it be as simple as just plugging the iMac into the plug socket and off it goes? Would I have to do any configuring with the iMac/UPS?

Thank you!

 

[chrisjhill]

Hmm. Just been doing a bit of research. It seems that HDD's automatically park the head whenever they lose power, so I shouldn't have a HDD failure.

So I guess my question is: Would I really need a UPS or would a standard £15 surge protector be just as good in these situations?

 

[DoFoT9]

hello, for your uses that UPS will suit you very well. as long as you are at home and can backup within 10-15minutes you will be fine.

the fact that your computer is an iMac is somewhat good, as opposed to a PC/MacPro that would consume ALOT more power.

i have an UPS, rated at 210W. I can get around 1hr-1.5hrs of use for my modem (the washing machine resets the modem every time it turns on..so its annoying). hopefully you will get 15minutes.

 

[DoFoT9]

Hmm. Just been doing a bit of research. It seems that HDD's automatically park the head whenever they lose power, so I shouldn't have a HDD failure.

So I guess my question is: Would I really need a UPS or would a standard £15 surge protector be just as good in these situations?

if its just a power surge, then a surge protector is fine...

but if you are having "brown outs" where there isnt enough power then that can cause some real trouble. the computer can be jolted and thats when things go wrong.

 

[AdeFowler]

I'm a big fan of Belkin's range of UPS in the UK, mainly for the 3-pin sockets.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=144687

 

[8767092]

I bought a couple of APC UPS units for about $18.00 each from Staples when they were on sale. The 550VA unit I have for my "desktop" can power a combination of my Mac Mini, 24" LCD display, and External HD (AC powered) for approximately 20 minutes if I set the monitor to minimum brightness when the power dies. That isn't too bad all things considered.

I like them quite a bit, but they aren't going to do much beyond give you enough time to shut a computer down or help it stay on when the power dies for just a few seconds/minutes. They aren't meant for extended use.