Power and UPS

I'm considering buying a UPS since I live in an area where storms are a regular occurrence and I want to protect my Inspiron 9400 as best I can. A couple years ago a lightning strike somewhere in the area (I live in a small city) fried two desktops, a TV, satellite receiver and a DVD player in my home so you can understand my concern. After this event our practice has been to turn off and unplug all electronic devices at the slightest rumble outside.

I was advised by a salesman that I personally know to get the Belkin Superior Series UPS 500 VA (300W).

1. Do you think this kind of surge/power loss protection would help in the case lightning strikes again or is this merely to protect against undervoltage and similar everyday power problems?

2. Could I connect the laptop and another desktop to this or is 300W too little for both? I have no idea how much power an Inspiron (with a 7900GS) consumes

Thanks

 

I think a UPS is essentially just a surge protector plus battery in one unit. Your laptop already has a battery, so just plug it in to a surge protector. Last time I lost power, my laptop, plugged in to my surge protector/wall outlet, kept right on running and didn't miss a beat. Additionally, it was handy because the screen kind of lit up the room nicely.

I'm not sure a surge protector, UPS, or ANYTHING can protect your equipment if it's plugged in and lightning strikes electrical wires near you. (Do you know how much electricity that is?) The surge protector or UPS can protect against a sudden surge from the power company, but I think lightning would just fry everything.

However, with a laptop, if you're worried about it, you can just unplug it during a lightning storm and run it on battery.

Edit: I see some of these products are advertised to protect against lightning... I don't know, it may depend on how close to you it hits. I still think that unplugging and running on the battery is your safest best with lightning.

 

You really shouldn't worry about getting a UPS for a laptop. For a PC, then yes, you want a surge protector. Laptop will still have the battery to keep in running and if a lightning strike takes the power out, that lightning bolt wont damage anything in your laptop or make anything burnt out. PC on the other hand, will be damaged mainly by improper shutdown, but the power regulation in the CPU will prevent any parts from being fried. The main purpose of the surge protector would be to give you enough time to save your files and shut down. Nothing more, nothing less. In my honest opinion, it is not worth it for a notebook. Yes, it is ok for your notebook to be plugged in during a lightning storm. Your power supply in your notebook will regulate how much power goes in and a lightning strike would not damage it.