My brother-in-law is in the market for a new p.c.
He went to Besy Buy to shop around - found a comp he likes. The sales guy told him that he needs a surge protector with a backup battery that will run the p.c. for 30 minutes in the event of a power failure.
He also said that with new computers a regular surge protector is not enough. He said the warranty will be void if he does not buy the battery backup surge protector. He said all new 2.* processor computers need this feature.
Is this true? I have never heard of such a thing. I am curious if the sales man is handing my Bro-in-law a line of crap.
Sorry if this is the wrong area to ask this type of question, but it seemed appropriate to me.
I've never heard of that either. Also, there is absolutely no need in the world to have the ability to run the pc for 30 minutes. I think mine will run for about twenty, but I use the auto shutdown feature that gives me 3 to 5 minutes to turn everything off myself, or if I'm not here, it will shut itself down after 5 minutes in any event.
The salesman is handing out "Crap". I build computers. I never heard of it. He should be fired but probably won't, because his sales totals are up. If
it was me I'd purchase a computer elsewhere. You can get computers at a good price from this Company, free shipping. http://www.pcinfinity.net/
Interesting... I don't remember when I was in sales that machines willl be voided if you don't get a decent UPS (surge protector).. Well, if the machine blows up because of an inadaquate UPS then yes... but I think the sales guy just hyped the actual reality
Anyways, I made a post here(scroll down to post #34) about building a new pc to the poster. The link I put is from PCMAG and it shows options on building the right pc and also should have a link on what brand pc to buy for your (bros) needs. Hope that helps.
Definitely crap. First off, a UPS is only really needed in the event of a power outage, so it's total BS that you'd need one for a warranty. They're big and heavy and expensive and require regular battery changes ($$) though so I can see why the guy would try to push one on a presumably unsuspecting customer.
EDIT: There seems to be some confusion. A UPS is an Uninterruptible Power Supply...They are basically batteries with a built-in powerstrip so you can turn one outlet into four outlets capable of working on battery power (usually one big battery or one/two motorcycle batteries)...in the event of a power outage this is useful because you can save your work and turn off the comp. They are primarily for businesses because of their weight and expense.
It's definitely a good idea to plug your comp into a surge protector, but you can buy one of those for $20 at your local hardware store.
Aca - hehehe, they sure are! Those batteries inside weigh a ton, try carrying a 12x12 box full of 'em! I gotta haul 'em in by the box where I work, everyone wonders why I struggle with the little box LOL
Last year, I ordered hubby a Dell Demension 2350, he's not a power user by any means, but he's still quite happy with it. He didn't want to wait for me to build one for him, imagine that
Aca - hehehe, they sure are! Those batteries inside weigh a ton, try carrying a 12x12 box full of 'em! I gotta haul 'em in by the box where I work, everyone wonders why I struggle with the little box LOL
Funny. Another side note, on an older one Remember how heavy they were? Took two people to move them I had a battery failure after almost two years, APC sent me a new unit, and I sent the old one back in the same box. I thought that was pretty good customer service and warranty If you have to buy a battery replacement though, sometimes it's best to check out the prices on a new one
i use UPS's on all of my home machines, just in case. Yes they are a bit heavy, with sealed lead-acid batteries in them they will be. I like the 5-10 minutes protection so my power mangement systems can power down everything. I have carried a 12x12 box and yeah they are heavy but so very useful.
I would not be supprised if a company started making a UPS a included item, like the monitor. Also, so UPS's come with that warranty, I have never had one go bad on a UPS so I can not comment on how hard it is to get the warranty service. But that $20,000.00 warranty is a major draw to some. I like the protection, let the UPS take the surge hit not my hardware. What you think?
I think on the warranty, you have to register all the hardware connected to it. My guess is that if one piece of hardware changes, that will void the warranty.
they cant prove wether or not you have a peice of hardware.
I can go to my local store and get a surge protector, how do I "register" that with , in example, DELL??
Is that what you mean AcaCandy? or am I mixed up (wich is highly likely)
My opinion - to keep a warranty intact, and if its a requirement from a manufacturer, they have to give you all you need to keep the warranty in place. If you add to, or take away from - then THATS what voids the warranty.
IE - MS XBOX - it has a warranty - the warranty is valid (even if it blows from a surge) until you open the XBOX up, use controllers that are not MS approved, things like that.
You give them a list of serial numbers on the tower, the monitor, a printer, whatever devices you have plugged into the BACKUP power supply. You aren't registering it with Dell, Dell doesn't care if you blow your machine up and I would imagine their standard warranty wouldn't cover that anyway
You register it with the company that makes the Backup power supply. I would assume the surge protection guarantees, if there are any, would have to be documented somehow as well.
I don't have UPS's on mine, I put a line-filter, surge protector on the entire house. I may lose data if I lose power while working in a program, but the PC should be fine.
You can buy them at lowe's for around $35, this way your TV's, stereos, and other electronics are also protected.
I'm buyin a UPC with teh built in power conditioning when my new hardware arrives. I had one on a old server at work and loved that thing, cept when the batteries die, it makes this awfull whine. >-<
But for a newer PC they aren't needed, but nice to have.....
best buy literly ripped me off on a 250.00 rebate. a couple of years ago. they advertised a 10 gb mp3 player 350.00 with a mail in rebate for 250.00. we sent everything in they wanted(use rebates all the time). we waited forever for it so finaly i contacted them. they said resubmit everything which we did the same day. about 1 month later we got a card in the mail saying the rebate was denied i called them and took everything to the store we bought it from where we were told basicly we were beat. i have not or will not ever buy anything there again and recomendd nobody else does.
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