Power strip to reduce standby power drain

This sounds great - anyone tried one?

Reducing the Amount of Juice Electronic Gadgets Consume
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/technology/personaltech/24pogue-email.html

"...
The APC strip detects when your Mac or PC goes to *sleep* (standby mode), too. It actually measures the amount of current being drawn by the master outlet. When it drops below 15 watts, the strip realizes that your computer has gone to sleep, and it cuts power to those slave outlets. It works perfectly on my Mac and my PC.

There are also three non-controlled outlets for things that you'll probably want turned on all the time, like your cable modem or router.

It's extremely magical, and satisfying, to watch this in action. At night, my desk area used to twinkle with an assortment of L.E.D. status lights, a painful reminder that all that stuff was sucking down power and polluting the air for absolutely no reason. Not any more. The lights blink off when the computer sleeps.

The kicker: the SurgeArrest goes for about $28 online. Considering you'll save about $25 per year (the company's estimate), it seems like a no-brainer for anyone who cares about money or the environment.
..."

I had not even heard of this before. Something to invest in next time my husband gets paid.

Because if you're at home, you should just turn the damned machine off when you're done using it. Firstly, any Windows PC is at increased risk of having problems if you don't do a cold boot (shut off the computer, then turn it on again) fairly frequently. Secondly--even if you're using Mac or Linux--if people are too lazy to turn off a computer, and too impatient to wait for it to boot again, what on earth have we become?

like printers, TVs with remotes, items with clocks that never shut all the way down. Part of the article is about hoping similar technology is developed for other devices.

I have a new printer at work that never shuts all the way down unless I unplug it which drives me nuts. I turn it off but it wakes itself up periodically!

Yeah, people need that much instant gratification :(

... better, in fact, as the money you save stays in *your* pocket
rather than just reducing operating costs for the company.
:-)

(Clue: When you switch your PC off the power demand drops below 15W
so the power strip will close off all the associated devices that
may otherwise be forgotten.)

It is a particularly good option for a PC used by teenage children
(who don't always "remember" to switch off the printer, speakers, etc.)
or for one used by a less than computer savvy person (who needs things
kept simple or who is worried about "turning the wrong thing off").

> Firstly, any Windows PC is at increased risk of having problems if you
> don't do a cold boot (shut off the computer, then turn it on again)
> fairly frequently.

That used to be a golden rule but these days "fairly frequently" just means
once a month or so. If you are still having to do frequent cold boots with
XP then you have something wrong with your system.

> if people are too lazy to turn off a computer, and too impatient to wait
> for it to boot again, what on earth have we become?

Possibly people who want to switch a machine on, do a job and switch it
off again without the hassle of stopping processes unnecessary to most jobs
or running through a specific startup sequence of operations. Just hibernate
the system when it is at the correct state and the process gets much quicker.

At the end of the day, it is a very useful (if slightly over-priced)
option that will save money and help the environment.
:shrug: