Do I need a Surge Protector

Everyone should have surge protection/line filters when an electrically sensitive piece of equipment is plugged into the wall. Storms, black out, brown out, and surges can happen anytime.

The MagSafe does not have this built in.

You don't need a battery backup for your MacBook because it has a battery but to be safe, you should have some sort of surge protection. They come in all sorts of levels and prices and there is no guaranty that even the best money can buy will protect your computer from lightning.

My opinion: Keep a good backup and make sure that you have insurance covering your MacBook and forget the surge protection. If you decide on a surge protector, get an inexpensive one. Also, if a storm comes in...unplug from the wall.

Glad I could help and thanks for the Star !

Hmm. I would like to see the evidence of this need. The voltage coming from the magsafe adapter is very low. With a surge or brown out, I should think the only thing that would get fried would be the adapter, and not the computer. I use a nice UPS for my desktop, because it is much more vulnerable, but I would be surprised if it would make any difference here. Do you have any evidence that this is a problem?

dndrich wrote:
Hmm. I would like to see the evidence of this need. The voltage coming from the magsafe adapter is very low. With a surge or brown out, I should think the only thing that would get fried would be the adapter, and not the computer. I use a nice UPS for my desktop, because it is much more vulnerable, but I would be surprised if it would make any difference here. Do you have any evidence that this is a problem?

There are spikes caused by electric surges that can have unpredictable outcomes on electronics. The most severe is a positive lightning charge which carries up to 300 gigajoules. I'm afraid a MagSafe and perhaps even a lead-shielded overcoat can't protect you from that. You see, the lightning doesn't always travel where it's supposed to and can jump into equipment even if it's unplugged. One time it fused a telephone cable inside my building that caught fire and melted into a basketball sized wire and plastic heap. I've lost servers, terminals, and pc's during bad storms not to mention several peripherals all of which had expensive surge protection and line filters.

True, a blackout or brownout will only cause the battery to kick in but when you live in storm laden areas like the Midwest or Florida where thunderstorms and lightning strikes are commonplace; and, if you've had lots of equipment get fried over the years, you learn to take precautions when necessary. Most definitely the best thing to do is unplug your MacBook during a storm.