[epperly]

It seems a good number of people run into major issues with their machines due to damage from brief power outages. This makes me wonder...is it better to leave the machine off (but still plugged in) when not at home/sleeping? I am plugged into a good (not great) surge protector...but it seems like often enough people who's machines get damaged by power outages have surge protectors as well. Is it a big deal to be powering down and starting up your machine a couple of times a day? OSX only takes 5 or so seconds to start up these days...so I'm thinking about keeping my machine off all the time. What say you?

[tooki]

With respect to surges, it makes no difference whether the Mac is on or off. If it's plugged in, it's at risk. The only solutions are to a) unplug (remember the connections to all peripherals that are plugged into power, phone, or cable), or b) get better surge protection.

tooki

[Big Mac]

If you're concerned about power issues, get a UPS. They got really cheap after California's power crisis in the turn of the century.

[epperly]

UPS? Praytell, what is that (apart from a brown truck)?

I don't know what that is...but I do recall seeing at least one person still having problems even using UPS.

[Dork.]

UPS = Uninteruptible Power Supply

A UPS is basically a big backup battery that powers things that are plugged into it for a little while if the power goes out. You can use that time to shut down safely, or hook up a backup generator if you have one.

A UPS by itself doesn't help against surges, but UPS's usually have better surge protection built in, anyway.