Home > Consumer Reviews > APC Corp. Surge Protector/UPS with 6 Power Outlets (BE500)

I have this with my new Win XP computer. The UPS seems to work fine. The software with the UPS does not work with XP, but XP does have built-in power management, which Microsoft and APC worked on together, so the UPS and XP can still talk to each other.

I live in the country where two-second power outages are common, making it essential for me to have a battery backup so I don't lose valuable work-in-progress. After my last UPS power back-up failed, I bought two of these APC back-ups, one for a Mac running OS X and one for a brand new Window XP machine. I installed, without incident on both systems, the included CD-ROM software for automatic saving and shutdown. (The box says the software is also compatible with Mac OS 9.0.4 and higher; and Windows 98/ME/2000.) Although this UPS is not as powerful as many (it provides up to 16 minutes of back-up power depending on monitor, CPU power requirements, and whatever else you connect to it - in my case, only five minutes or so), it is adequate for the average home consumer.

This product is extremely well-priced. You should protect your electronics with a surge protector anyway, so why not pay a little more and get both surge protection and battery back-up? Even in areas where power glitches are not common, this is well worth buying. It only takes one frustrating incident to make one regret not having it.