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I'm getting a new iMac... a 4.0 GHz Retina 5K... and I'm currently doing research to choose an appropriate UPS. Does anyone have any recommendations or caveats? What do you use?

What do you use?

None. I have had more problems with them than without.

Blackouts are rare. Between cloud computing and software that writes to disk frequently, the most I have lost is a few minutes of work. This has been true for over twenty years in my case.

Remote recording is different. I always have a redundant parallel recorder — it depends on how many simultaneous tracks are running what I will bring. Up to 8 tracks, I use a Zoom R24. With more, I'll use a laptop running DP. If stereo, one of my iPads.

I do recommend UPS for businesses that run on a Mac or PC where the loss of even a minute can be a disaster. Servers, order taking, financial transactions and the like,

I have to disagree with MIke on this one. Power is pretty solid in my vicinity, but the UPS prevents issues when those periodic momentary outages occur, like one did about a week ago when it was raining in Southern California. Why not give your desktop the security a laptop offers?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6842102131

I have the 1500, but have a ton of drives running in my power-hungry 4,1 Mac Pro, and also power my interface to avoid losing a take if power drops mid-performance. Do the math and get what you need power-wise. Been using the above for over three years and still on the original batteries. CyberPower is usually more cost-effective than APC.

Pure Sine Wave is recommended for newer computers. Costs a little more, but won't stress your power supply. I use a second UPC, a cheap APC, for my video monitors.

The only time I've had an issue with a UPS is when batteries get too old. Replace 'em and you are back in business. Battery replacement is typically very easy and batteries are generic items. You don't need to go to the UPS manufacturer. Last replacement battery I purchased was found at Home Depot in the automatic gate opener department. How handy!

This is cheaper though: http://www.replaceupsbattery.com/CyberP ... fgod1VcG5w

Have a good friend who used to work for Apple doing QA on laptops and towers. He recommenced getting anything that also did line conditioning. Typically power blackouts aren't a problem but brownouts are, drops as well as spikes. Your basic power strip will do spikes but for optimal electronic equipment power you want the power to be tightly regulated. Less equipment failure is the goal as well as battery backup. For hardcore QA guys this is a must have but because most people aren't paying attention to it you have to look over specs to find out if a backup does this as well as keep a battery charged and ready...

He recommenced getting anything that also did line conditioning.

Macs are noisy buggers, that is certain. The power cable acts as an antennae for every possible noise source.

I second line conditioning. Mine is incredibly noisy without it.

I wouldn't be w/o a UPS. I think mine has a line conditioner... It's also important is that you get something rated well above your consumption estimates. You'll want to have any external drives and pointing devices that are powered attached to the UPS as you might need them to shut down safely. Some apps will allow you to save and close, while others may require you to answer a dialogue box and could halt a safe power down.

And it's not just Mac power cords that are problematic. My fax cords like to bleed to the speakers (which are well shielded) if the speaker wires get too close. Not exactly what you asked, but along the lines of Mike's comment about line conditioning. You can have the best line conditioning but if you're not careful about where you place cables, you can still have ugly artifacts - at least in the speakers, if not the audio files.

You may need a voltage line regulator more than a ups such as a Furman AR-1215. Nothing burns out delicate electronics more than unstable line voltage. You would be amazed how voltage fluctuates in your neighborhood or place of work especially given the age of many power transformers. When Xcel energy bought out my local power company, they did practically nothing to improve the grid until power station explosions occurred. In my case, I had to write to the public utilities commission to complain of the numerous spikes and outages with our transformer. When Xcel finally replaced it, they found it to be over 60 years old!!

A decent UPS will handle all functions described… UPS, Surge Protection, Voltage Regulation and Lien Conditioning.

I sort of agree with Mike. I have a simple department store APC UPS and a couple of Furman power strips. I've had them for about 20 years, and they still work. I replaced the battery once. The power here is very stable and reliable, but years ago, the slightest glitch or a guest with a 1800 watt hair dryer could kill hours of work. Now, OS X and most decent apps are so good at keeping track of themselves, I never lose more than a minute or two's work even in a total system freeze up requiring a cold restart. If I was starting over, it probably wouldn't occur to me to get a UPS, but I'd get the conditioners.

I just traded in my old UPS for a new Furman F1000 from Sweetwater. It has a UPS and voltage regulator built in. Voltage regulation is a nice addition if you see dips in power. It happens often around here when AC's are being used in the summer. Keeps digital clocks happy too.

FWIW, the new Mac Pro's use a different power supply than the old towers. They can get by with a 1000 VA UPS, but the old towers are supposed to use a 1500 VA. Not that it wouldn't work with a 1000VA, but you won't have as much battery BU time in case of an outage.

I just can't understand why anyone would operate without a UPS. We're talking $200 or less for a high quality, sine wave UPS of substantial capacity that handles voltage regulation, surge protection and line conditioning.

For your perusal, a couple of scientific reviews involving SSDs:

http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~swanson/papers/ ... werCut.pdf

https://www.usenix.org/system/files/con ... inal80.pdf

Of course, the Internet is replete with many, many horror stories of system failures and data loss after power loss or surge. Though many have happy endings, solutions are typically preceded by much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I get enough of that in my studio (mostly the wailing) without worrying about my AC power.

Bottom line: Issues created by line voltage problems are best avoided in advance. It seems penny wise and pound foolish to not take advantage of the available technology.

It's pretty cheap insurance.

By the way- UPS batteries are replaceable at a nominal cost. Figure about a 5 year life span but it's usually a lot longer.

Dammit, I really want to think my Furman and Juice goose are good enough, but I don't think either are good for brown outs or dips in power at all. I actually worry more about the Memorymoog here, it's over 30 now, and all these things are difficult on the older electronics in it.

A Mac will run on 100-240V. This has been true since the beginning, I think. Certainly true of the Mac+ that I bought 30 years ago this month. If you are worried about brownout, you have some serious voltage issues. Peripherals are a different issue.

The only problem I have ever seen from voltage spikes was caused when PG&E changed a transformer. A friend lost her light bulbs, refrigerator, air conditioner and washing machine. Her iMac and printer were fine — they were not on a surge suppressor. The power company's insurance paid off.

Again, I have seen problems with off the shelf UPS units and have fixed systems by removing them from offices. They were not replaced.

AT&T blamed one for the problems that I'm having with Internet. They no longer supply them with UVerse and pulled the one that they installed from my system.

I don't believe in them except in commercial server banks and the ones they use do not cost under a grand.

I do use line conditioners that I make for about $10 in parts.

Live sound in clubs is different. Voltage regulation is often critical to the survival of your amps and PA.

I had the surge capacitors in a power strip blow up once while setting up on stage in the Istanbul Opera House. Damn, that was loud and there was lots of smoke. I repaired the rented voltage transformer that caused the problem and hard wired the power strip so we could finish the tour. The president of Turkey was coming to the performance, armed soldiers were pointing their AK-47s at me, no one fired so I get to tell the story, no international incident was caused... One of my better road stories...