What kind of UPS? Confused?

[Quicken]

Hi there,

New to macs and love the move. Having alot of power outages lately. Thinking of purchasing a UPS but dont know what kind. Didn't realise that there was so many different kinds. Have a mac mini, am a home user.
Just need enough power for a clean shutsown.
1.83Ghz 110watt cpu max
19" LCD monitor 60watt
MAC OS X 10.4.8

What kind of UPS would you recommend?
Online, Offline, Standby?
Is the surge protection good enough?
Will the shutdown software be compatible with mac?

Was looking at Belkin and APC.

David.

 

[limike28]

A UPS is definitely a good idea if you have a lot of power outages. APC has a full line of products and are highly reccommended. The software is compatible with OS X. If you go to their website there is a tool to help you figure out the size you need.

 

[Yesurbius]

While APC is popular - they don't make the best UPS out there.

There are many types of UPS. In my opinion you should be getting Dual-Conversion UPS. They convert the AC power to DC (Battery), then convert it back to AC. While this prevents against surges and spikes by design, it also has the ability to condition the line. The single largest reason electronic components fail is the power. If you give a device a steady, perfectly clean power signal - in theory that device should run forever.