my sister at college has a Dell Inspiron i think its a 5100 we wanna get her a UPS specifically an APC UPS her laptop has a 15" lcd 2.4ghz Pentium 4 256mb ram and 60gig 5,400rpm harddrive will this 350va UPS at compusa for $20 be enough or should we spring for this $70 500va UPS on newegg? thanks common sense isn't very common

A UPS for a Laptop? Most laptops come with a 'UPS' built in. Its called a battery. Stuart

Hi Giggles, I'll have to agree with Stuart on this one.

LOL I shoulda thought of that, but she asked for one so we're gonna get her one she is about as paranoid as me when it comes to computers what if her battery is dead and just started charging? what about power spikes and surges? what about brownouts? sure a surge-protector and her battery would do just fine but we want that extra security will the 350va do the job? common sense isn't very common

Seeing as it's unlikely that it will ever be used, the cheaper one would be the way to go. Neither will do the job in a twelve hour blackout though

what if her battery is dead and just started charging? Your having a really bad day if the powers fails just after putting a battery on charge. If the battery is flat, put it on charge for half an hour with the computer off. In that time it will have enough power to do the same job as a UPS. what about power spikes and surges? The power supply that comes with the laptop should take care of spikes. It would have to be a huge surge to get through the power unit to the laptop. If she is really paranoid, a simple surge protector will do the job. what about brownouts? The battery will take care of that. If there is a brown out, power will be drawn from the battery. A UPS is basically just a battery that is kept on a trickle charge. It automatically clicks in when the power fails. They only have enough power for a few minutes, just enough to do a graceful shut down reducing the chances of data loss. They are not a substitute for mains power. Laptops will shut themselves down when the battery gets low and there is no mains power available and they last for about three hours. I would forget about a UPS and buy your sister something really useful like a spare battery and cheap surge protector. Stuart