take it from a guy who fried a computer on a cheap surge protector. spend some money.
APC have high joules ratings and offer triple (3 way, not 1 way) protection. now if your protector catch a surge, it will not longer protect that item (most manufacturer don't tell you that). most apc's will let you know when they are no longer protecting you.
there a reason it only cost 2 bucks while mine cost anywhere from 50-100 bucks. I fried a computer on a 30 dollar surge protector (it only had one way protection ) when a surge came through, so you are joking when you think that, that 2 surge protector with a 50 cent polyswitch on it will protect you if a surge come through (the cheap one ain't nothing but a power strip with a polyswitch on it)
if you don't have much invested in it go for it. I have 2,000 - 3,000.00 invested in my main computer so you know that I not messing with a 2 dollar surge protector
It's your choice the store doesn't determine the quality just look for hardware warrenties if a surge does destroy your system and look for how many joules it has. If you decide to get a UPS look for the same things as well as APS ("Regulated Power Flow in the event of brownouts or something").
How about the Joule raiting. As I understand the Joule raiting is the amount of electricity that the surge protector can handle at one time. What do you think is the minimum exceptable Joule level?
How about the Joule raiting. As I understand the Joule raiting is the amount of electricity that the surge protector can handle at one time. What do you think is the minimum exceptable Joule level?
