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PSA: a surge protector is not the same as a power strip and I learned that the hard way
I was at a friend's apartment in Austin two weeks ago and noticed he had his whole desk, two monitors, a space heater, and a printer all plugged into one $12 power strip from a gas station. I mentioned it and he said the box said "surge protected" so it was fine. His building's power flickered during a storm that Friday and it killed his monitor and his external drive with about 4 years of photos on it. Turns out a real surge protector has a joule rating (his strip was basically just an extension cord with a switch) and most cheap ones die after one decent hit. I checked mine at home and it was a 2013 model with no rating printed anywhere, so I replaced it that weekend. Go look at the back of whatever is behind your desk right now, does it actually list a joule number or just say "surge"?
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