Is it necessary to use an UPS with my M2 Mac mini...?

I would say yes it is safe practice to have your Mac mini and monitor connected to a quality brand UPS device.

Its protecting your Mac mini from any sudden power drops and power surges which can be very damaging to the electronic components.

So what the UPS does if there is a power cut it switches over to battery power and you are able to save your work and close down the Mac.

That long email or document you have been spending half the day composing will be saved if you close down correctly.

If on the other hand if you have no UPS connection the mac shuts down immediately and you take the chance that when you are able to restart, your work may or maybe not have saved or be lost.

I have been using a middle of the market quality UPS and mainly where we live, over the 2 months the UPS has protected my Mac mini at least 4 times.

And a big plus is we have had power outages only for a few seconds and the UPS cuts in until the power supply is more stable.

So its a big plus for me having a UPS and it makes good sense to protect your expensive electronic gear.

Note that is not recommended to have your printer connected to your UPS because of the excessive power drain from printers which will drain the UPS quickly.

The comments about "where you live" are key here. We can get several power outages a week, often at night during the summer months. As I rely on my Mac for income as well as family memories, I have battery backups on both our "critical duty" Macs.

Historically Macs have been far less susceptible to power outage damage than the average "other" computers. Still, I opt to give them a bit of help given the vagaries of power in our geographic area. Here (inland NW US) high winds, lightning storms, wildfires, and the occasional over-amorous bull elk can turn off the lights with little notice.

i've never used an ups, når do any of the workplaces I've worked used ups, where I live powerouts are not that common, and even if they happen it would not damage a computer

Thanks for your comments, you have demonstrated that the mac will not be damaged by suddenly power cut off, that is enough for me, I only care my mac will be ok under this situation.

thanks, I also think suddenly energy outage protection should be mac's responsibility, add a small battery inside mac is not that complex, when it finds energy outage, it could use small battery to safely shutdown.

I do not know much about this process, but from your replies, and with confidence in Apple, I think ups is not necessary now.

The answer depends on how you use your Mac.

If it is the usual casual use such as browsing the web, checking emails, streaming videos, etc. you will likely not need it as an outage would not be "catastrophic".

If you are using your Mac for business and power outages are not uncommon in your area, I would suggest that yes you probably need a UPS. If you are in the middle of working on something important that you have just spent hours on and the power goes out, while the computer will not be damaged, your hours of work will likely be lost and need to be recreated. If you have a Time Machine backup and it is set to do automatic backups, then at most you would lose an hours worth of work, perhaps, but it is is still an hours worth of work.

So, if this is your scenario, I would get a UPS so you can at least save your work and shut down gracefully.

An occasional power outage is nothing to worry about.

Using a UPS for a home computer, really depends on your local power grid.

If you have unreliable power or loose power often, then a UPS is probably a good idea.

In our area we loose power a few times a year and only use good quality surge protectors.

After I have read all of these replies, I want to confirm one thing, if I decide not to use ups for my m2 mac mini, does mac itself really has a protected design to avoid burning motherboard and ssd and other components?

I just care whether my mac will or will not be broken with 3-10 times suddenly energy outage in 1 year.

Macs recover from power outages quite nicely. They will not burn out due to a power outage. It has happened to me many times over many years; every Mac has restarted just fine after power was suddently cut off. But it is very inconvenient when it happens when you are working on something!

I strongly suggest, however, that you invest in a high quality surge suppressor, not the cheap strips you can find online or in big box stores. I swear by Eaton Tripp-Lite Isobar surge suppressors. They are extremely well built and reliable. Plus they are guaranteed including replacement of the suppressor & insurance on connected equipment. And, yes, they do work; mine saved all my computers & home theater equipment during a couple of huge power surges; and Eaton replaced the units at no charge after they burned out from the surges. They did their job!

"does mac itself really has a protected design to avoid burning motherboard and ssd and other components"

no. If there is a power surge, it's quite possible your Mac will be fried. You sould, at a minimum, use a good quality surge protector.

As for the a UPS, if you have a good back up and don't care about restoring from backup if a power outage corrupts a key system file, or you don't care about losing unsaved work, then stick with a quality surge protector.

hcsitas wrote:

Yes, completely. Furthermore, a UPS adds fire risk specially in residential areas where fire and safety regulations are more lax and often out of one’s control. Skip the UPS, most do.

Keep your time Machine backups handy. If these outages are common you may need a UPS, if they are rare then a new replacement for a burned-out Mac can be quickly set up from that TM backup. As a quick check on your vulnerability just pull out the power cord for a minute or so and test the restart. Best to test your system recovery before you need it in a panic one day. Don't trust unverified Apple fan assurances, have a recovery strategy to go along with your backup plan.

No, Macs are designed to recover from sudden outages.

Totally agree with your comments Allan.

It is better to be prepared for the unexpected than to hope that it does not happen.

Hi,

I've been using UPS for my Mac Pro, its monitor and iMac. I never experience powerouts, though.

Yes, completely. Furthermore, a UPS adds fire risk specially in residential areas where fire and safety regulations are more lax and often out of one’s control. Skip the UPS, most do.