Tech Support Pits:

From Marti===
Dear Webby
In your tip about preparing for a storm you mentioned
using car batteries and stuff. Would it not be easier to
just get half a dozen extra laptop batteries ?
Marti

Dear Marti
You are absolutely right. If you have lots of advance notice
and unlimited funds, then ordering half a dozen laptop batteries 
at $149 each is the easiest. If there is a danger of the power
being out for more than 3 days, then better get a dozen. 
Just remember to budget one day per battery for the initial 
charging and conditioning. Also keep in mind that it may take
a few weeks to get your particular brand of laptop battery.

In reality though, you are much better off with a regular
car, truck or boat battery and a simple automotive DC to AC
converter. It has a cord that plugs into a cigarette lighter and 
usually also has alligator clips to go onto any battery. At the 
other end are regular household style outlets to plug in your
laptop and printer.

You CAN plug a regular desktop in there too, however those
take a LOT more power. They have all kinds of fans in them
to suck all the dust bunnies from the whole house into the
computer and some mighty heaters to keep them warm. Just 
put a hand behind the computer and feel the hot air blowing
out from the grills. While that makes a handy dandy hair dryer,
it DOES use a lot of power.

A laptop gets a week's worth of power from a car battery,
a modern desktop with monitor gets about a day before you 
have to recharge the battery with a car, lawn-tractor, outboard 
motor or solar panel.

Have FUN!
DearWebby