"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...

UPSes are absolutely mandatory for safe file writing and continued
running with the lousy electrical service we get nowadays. Before I
got my first one, the computer shut itself off several times a day
on
bad days. If it weren't for the blink of the lights at the same
time,
I'd have taken the damned thing apart and/or troubleshot it.

That's a good reason to use a laptop with its built-in battery. Mine
has an external keyboard and mouse on the pull-out shelf and a larger
second display above it, which cure its limitations.

It consumes less than 1/4 of the power my desktop needs and can run
much longer on the UPS or a 12V jump-start pack.

The VGA output isn't noticeably less sharp on an HDTV than on the
built-in screen. I can expand the I/O with CardBus COM and USB2 ports
or an ExpressCard USB3 and plug a second hard drive into the CD bay.

-jsw