Seeing as many colleges seem to still be in the process of upgrading their power grid in the midst of all the incoming freshmen, we wouldn't be surprised if the power decided to cut out once or twice during the first few months of school.
So why not prepare for the worse while future-proofing yourself from future blackouts? Our recommendation for best computer supply, after the jump...
We've gone through this before, but for those who don't know, UPS stands for "Uninterrupted Power Supply." Basically, a battery backup for any electronics that happen to be powered by the little guy once the grid decides to take a break all your YouTubing.
Our best pick comes from CyberPower, namely their "green" 9-Outlet Intelligent LCD UPS. We've tried other brands like Belkin and APC before, but none seem have as streamlined an interface as CyberPower's offering, with all the important vitals displayed on the Crystal Blue display.
While it probably won't win MoMa awards, the design of the box itself does beat out many of the other UPS boxes out there. Still, because you'll most likely be shoving it under your desk, in a closet, or anywhere away from prying eyes, you probably won't have to worry too much. Unfortunately, these products have always had functionality drive the product design and not vice versa. But kudos to CyberPower to actually giving the front panel some thought.
Testing this unit on our own setup, we managed to get a sweet, stable 18 minutes on our Dell 20" monitor, Audioengine A2's, and Macbook Pro 13". Not too bad at all.
Toss in a 3-year warranty and affordable price tag of $105 and you've got yourself a bonafide winner.
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Comments (2)
Two issues here:
1. The APC Back-UPS RS LCD line has a display that gives you the critical information (in red instead of blue, so you don't risk ruining your night vision), and doesn't confuse you with icons that aren't relevant to the current condition. I've seen both and IMO, the APC display is much better than the CyberPower display.
2. For computers and sensitive AV gear, you really want a UPS that produces a true sine wave output. None of the budget models of UPSes will do that, although most of the more expensive APC SmartUPS models will. Otherwise, you risk causing damage to your equipment.
3. Ideally, you want something that provides at least one or two sockets that are filtered but not on UPS, for devices that would otherwise just pull too much power and suck down your battery too fast. The CyberPower units don't have this option, whereas APC units usually do.
OOps. Make that three issues, not two. My bad. ;-)