The roadwarrior's lament.
October 19, 2009 2:41 AM   Subscribe

Roadwarriors: What's the consensus on the necessity of a laptop surge protector when traveling?

Yes, I know the drill. Surge protectors should be connected to computers in all places and at all times. But the inconvenience of carrying a surge protector to foreign cities makes me wonder if they're truly necessary.

Do you pack a surge protector for your laptop when on the road? Have you concluded that it's helped you get out of dangerous scrapes? And if you are outfitted with a surge protector, what models have you found that are both highly portable and capable of handling varying voltages throughout the world? (I'll be traveling with a MacBook and MacBook Air, if this makes a difference.)
posted by Gordion Knott to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)
 
I don't carry a surge protector, for my day to day laptop luggins. However, the real reason you carry a surge protector is so you only have to carry ONE foreign plug adapter.

Are you from the USA? 110 volts? will you need to carry a transformer? One plug to rule them all, again. (I seem to remember not needing a transformer for our 220 equipment in the USA, but the other way can result in issues.)

3rd world countries? Surges happen more often there.

Two laptops? Take a surge protector, if only for multi-plug capabilities.
posted by titanium_geek at 3:03 AM on October 19, 2009


Years ago PC Magazine did a study/test that showed that the switching power supplies used in desktop PCs were extremely resistant to damage by power surges and lightning strikes. So I don't routinely use them, although the UPS' I run on some of my equipment does include surge protection.

Laptops use the same kind of power supplies (I think), only in a much smaller package. So I don't think surge protectors are necessary, at least where I live.

Also, if I remember right, cheap surge protectors use metal oxide varistors that can lose their effectiveness over time and become almost useless. You can get better protectors but they're going to cost a lot more.
posted by 14580 at 3:05 AM on October 19, 2009


Yes, I know the drill. Surge protectors should be connected to computers in all places and at all times.

Really? I've used one maybe 10% of the time, over 20 years of near-daily mostly-Macintosh use. The other 90% of the time, I was directly plugged into whatever office, hotel, restaurant, or parking lot wall-outlet was handy. I've never lost a computer to a power surge.

So for your trip, and especially considering you have a second laptop along for the ride... I'd go bareback without a second thought.
posted by rokusan at 4:23 AM on October 19, 2009


You have a switcher with its own transient suppression plugged into a laptop with some transient protection, pumping a battery between the wall voltage and your laptop's circuitry. On top of that, you're probably using wireless, so there aren't cables connecting you to the phone lines. I think you're safe leaving the surge suppressor at home, and when you are at home, I think you are safe leaving the surge suppressor in the closet. If you live in an area with a lot of huge ass transients and/or lots of lightning activity, plug into a UPS.

I don't own any surge suppressors, nor would I buy one. A coffee spill or trip over a power cord is more likely than powerline induced damage. It happens, but not often enough to warrant the millions of dollars wasted on them yearly, IMO.
posted by FauxScot at 4:49 AM on October 19, 2009


Never had one. Never had a problem in over 9 years of laptop travels in US, Canada, Europe, Mexico.
posted by birdwatcher at 4:59 AM on October 19, 2009


Mac laptops have been dual voltage for at least a decade; double check this, but you don't need to use a surge protector *or* a voltage adapter with your Mac. Just the plug adapter. I wouldn't be surprised if other laptops have this feature.

As others have remarked, you don't need a surge protector with a laptop because any surge will get damped out by the transformer -- that's the big box on the power cable. it turns AC to DC for your laptop and battery, and any surge you're likely to experience will get damped out as a matter of course.
posted by musofire at 6:09 AM on October 19, 2009


Even my computer-nerdiest friends stopped using surge protectors a long time ago, and just plug directly into the wall, at home or wherever they are.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 6:34 AM on October 19, 2009


Not to mention that surge protectors do eventually wear out, and you get no protection at all. Dan of Dan's Data did a thing about them a long while back.

I can't prove why I think this, but even though desktop and laptop power supplies are functionally equivalent, I suspect the fact that a notebook power supply isn't attached to ground makes it a bit more resilient.

That, and they are probably more likely to get damaged by bad power, necessitating that the adapter be replaced. Whereas a desktop power supply might still pretend to function correctly.

(I can only offer as "proof" that when I've ever seen parts damaged by bad electricity or lightning, it seems like the zap comes up through the ground.)
posted by gjc at 6:55 AM on October 19, 2009


I carry a surge protector and one foreign adapter. Pretty much everything chargeable plugs in there and that way I don't have to worry about any of it.
posted by alight at 6:55 AM on October 19, 2009


I've travelled through Latin America (Mexico, Central America, the Andes) with my Powerbook over the last year. No surge protector--nothing! And no problems!
Maybe it's a gamble, but this thing is put together well, and the adaptor works in every country I've been to.
posted by mixer at 9:56 AM on October 19, 2009


I choose regular, sane backups that arte compatible with my travel and figure if I get bzzzwappppupup'd, and the magic blue smoke comes out of the laptop I'll just go get a new one if it's really that critical...and I'll have my backups...

So no, I don't travel with a surge protector unless I'm doing a big network build and there's likely to be 5-6 people who need an outlet.
posted by iamabot at 10:13 AM on October 19, 2009


So I'm sitting in my room and the overhead light goes diiiimmm for about five seconds and then brightens back up to 40W. Sometimes it gets so dim that I can just see a glowing filament in the (clear glass) bulb. Is that a surge? Because that happens to me a lot in third-world countries.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:51 PM on October 19, 2009


Fun fact, if you travel to mainland China - due to the fact that many of the electronics sold here are intended for/copied from markets abroad, plugs included, and that much of the country was only recently electrified, EVERY plug on EVERY extension cord takes universal plugs. You definitely do not need to bring any kind of adapters here for your laptops. Dumb electronics without voltage switchers, yes, but not your laptops.
posted by saysthis at 9:16 AM on October 25, 2009


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