Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

I didn't really plan on getting this UPS, but I was planning to get a UPS.

I had been eyeballing the CyberPowerSystems CP1000AVRLCD. The university computer store had one in for $145. While Amazon.com has it for ~$109. Though wasn't quite sure how to work delivery of the Amazon.com around my work schedule.

If the difference hadn't been so wide, I might have taken the plunge and grabbed the UPS from the university computer store. One factor over other (smaller) choices was that it had 5 battery backed outlets. Which means I could put all of 'gumby' and its external drives on it, and one for temporarily placing 'box'.

But, then today I was out eating lunch with some co-workers...and my quest for a new UPS came up....so not in a hurry to get back to work after lunch, we popped into Wal-Mart. Which oddly doesn't seem to sell UPSs? Couldn't confirm, because nobody would help me as I stood around in the electronics department....

So, then we popped over to Best Buy. Of the choices....it came down to the Geek Squad 1285VA and an APC 1300VA. The APC was ~$3 cheaper, and had a hair more capacity. Though the capacity isn't really a big deal for what I'm using. But, that one choice was APC and it was slightly cheaper...I went with that one.

Plus the APC has 6 battery protected outlets, while the Geek Squad (which I already have one of) only has 4 (I also have the CyberPowerSystems version). This means I could put all the things I wanted directly onto the UPS, plus I threw the LCD monitor onto it as well.

Amazon.com sold a BR1300LCD, which from what I've read the difference is the BR model can trim over-voltage conditions in its AVR, while the BX can only boost under-voltage conditions. I don't know of a situation here where I've seen overvoltage, so I think I can get away without it. I know this was a problem back when I was living in Ohio though.

Meanwhile, there's a new 500GB SATA drive sitting on a desk waiting to be installed into 'orac'.