What os the best surge protector for iMac?

Power strips are limited in their use. They provide extra outlets for a single wall connection (of course). The only way they differentiate is whether or not they provide at least some protection for your equipment for surges or nearby lightning strikes. The downfall of all of them is is the power goes out, your computer drops like a rock.

That's where a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) comes in. They have a battery backup, so even in the event of a brown out, or complete power outage, you have at least a few minutes of AC power being provided from the battery to power your computer down gracefully. Like, saving your files first instead of instantly losing them.

The battery also serves as a shock absorber for power surges. Most good UPS units come with a warranty of something like $10,000 if it fails to protect what you have plugged into it from being fried.

I have UPS units all over our house. On our computers, 65" OLED TV, and anything else I want to keep surges from destroying.

Applecare plus will not cover you for a lightning strike (as an example). Take a look at the excerpts here:

(f) to repair damage caused by a product that is not Covered Equipment

(j) to repair damages caused by fire, earthquake, flood, or other similar external causes;

from here:

https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/applecare/applecareplus/0421/042021_applecareplusmacus.pdf

And, there is a much better way to find out if you are covered or not:

https://checkcoverage.apple.com

That's good because Applecare plus will NOT cover the damages being discussed here. See the complete terms as well as a couple of excerpts (under the "Apple will not provide service, etc" heading):

(f) to repair damage caused by a product that is not Covered Equipment

(j) to repair damages caused by fire, earthquake, flood, or other similar external causes;

from here:

https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/applecare/applecareplus/0421/042021_applecareplusmacus.pdf

I would never recommend any actions that may result in liabilities for the consumer.

Apple Care Plus for Mac covers for 2 incidents of “accidental damage,” and you pay a deductable. But you have to buy it within 60 days after you bought brand new iMac. Click this link > https://www.apple.com/support/products/

A powerstrip is not worth much. A good UPS or, at the least a very good surge protector (included in a powerstrip). There is no one answer as there are too many products available.

APC makes very good products, both UPS and surge protectors.

Basically (with APC brand in particular), higher numbers mean larger batteries. Which means longer run times in case of a power outage. How many minutes you actually get depends on how many items you have plugged into the battery backup outlets, and how power hungry they are.

Small ones are cheap since they provide the least amount of runtime. The other main difference is you may notice (as an example) are two 5000 units, with one costing $180 and the other $450. Why the big price difference? The less expensive one runs your equipment off the battery only if the power drops, or goes out. It has circuitry to switch to the battery in milliseconds when needed. The expensive model with the same runtime runs your equipment off the battery all the time. There is no switching. Just continual recharging of the battery as the unit supplies AC power converted from the battery at the same time.

Personally, I've always used the less expensive switching models. I've never had a problem with them.

The Volt Amp number is the one you pay attention to for runtime. With APC, higher is longer. All such units have two sets of outlets on them. Half provide battery backup so the equipment keeps running, and half just protect the equipment, but they'll shut down if the power goes out. Why, you may ask? Because some things shouldn't be plugged into the battery backup outlets. Like laser printers. The UPS sees the pulsing as thousands of surges/brownouts, and will rather quickly kill the UPS.

I'm not sure why they would say that. AC power is a sine wave. Very good explanation here of why there are sine models at all. But in short, less expensive UPS models output a modified square wave. Sine wave models output smooth AC sine wave power. The same as if you had you computer plugged directly into the wall.

They aren't the only manufacturers of UPS's, but I'm partial to APC. I've tried Belkin and a couple of others, and they didn't last as long.

Over the years, I've only had two APC units suffer a hardware failure. What gives out on the less expensive switching units is the switching circuitry. I had the one my Mac is plugged into die a few weeks ago, but I'd also had it for at least five years. Most of the others around the home are much older and still work just fine, other than having to replace the batteries. And you don't do that very often. They last for years before the unit will beep and warn you of a dead battery.

Otherwise, you just replace the batteries when they can no longer hold a charge. Depending on the model (mainly, one or two batteries), the cost is anywhere from $40 to $80. Still less than half the cost of replacing the entire thing when there's nothing else wrong with it.

I use medium range models. Like 1000VA to 1500VA. With a large monitor, Mac Mini and several lower power devices plugged into it, I still get about 12 minutes of runtime after a power outage to save open files and shut things down.

A 1500VA unit only costs $30 more than the 1000VA and will give you roughly a third more battery runtime. And it's not that this 600VA unit that only costs $65 doesn't work, but your runtime will be much shorter. They also all gauge how much draw there is on what you have plugged in to the battery backup outlets. So with the cheaper units, if you plug too much in (and it's all turned on), the UPS will immediately start beeping an alert that you will only have a couple of minutes (or possibly less) runtime during a power outage. In other words, spring for at least a 1200VA device.

Feel free to skip it, the iMac is protected against surges and recovers automatically from outages. Most do.

Really? Where did you find that info? Links please.

If you want to skip it, that's great, but not the best advice.

Nope, is built-in. Most extender strips have it too. Anyway, it’s up to the owner. UPS batteries can overheat, cause fires and burn everything down. So, nothing’s perfect. To each his/her own. For me, the wall works excellent thank you very much.

Where does it say surge protector built in to iMac? One lightning strike, BAM! Done! You risk damage to $3,000 + computer? I talking about hardware. All batteries can overheat, catch fire, especially all cellphones.😜

BAM? You sure that’s the sound it makes? 😂 Worst case, a new power supply might be needed which Apple Repair can take care of easy peasy. A blackened Mac, no no way. Battery or no battery, that’s a choice you have with the Mac. Not with cellphones.

’nuf said. OP has enough info. Cheers!

Unless they actually have surge protector built in, no electronic device can survive a strong voltage spike.

Computers don't have them. None of them. A strong surge will kill your computer - permanently. That's one of the reasons why people use a UPS.

I've had thunderstorms take out a few smaller, inexpensive devices over the years I didn't have behind a UPS. I certainly am not going to risk losing my $1,800 Mini, and $2,300 EIZO monitor to an electrical surge when I can use a $160 device to prevent it.

[Edited by Moderator]