By Andrew Liszewski
The One Click Power strip should appeal to a wide variety of computer users whether they’re the environmentally friendly type, the thrifty type or the too lazy to bend over type. (Most likely that last one.) While it looks like your run of the mill power strip you’ll notice that one of the sockets is black and this is where you’re supposed to specifically plug in your computer. Other peripherals like the monitor, printer or scanner then plug into any of the other sockets. When you power up the computer the One Click detects this and then turns on everything else connected to the strip. When you power off the computer it of course does the opposite and shuts everything down.
I assume you’re supposed to just leave all of your peripherals turned on and the One Click just controls whether or not the sockets actually get any power but what is certain is that this should end up using less energy than leaving all of your equipment in a standby mode when not in use.
The One Click Power Strip is available from Nigel’s Eco Store for about $60.
[ One Click Power Strip ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]
On one hand, I don’t want my printer and other stuff to go on whenever I turn the computer on. On the other, I certainly don’t want the router and cable modem to go off whenever I turn off this computer, since I have other computers. This notion wasn’t well thought out.
hmm, first time i saw a master switch like this was in 1986 or something..
I want one. I really want for my speakers and other, powered peripherals to shut down entirely when they aren’t needed. I hope to buy one here in the States soon.
This plug supplies power to the peripherals only when the main device is drawing power. If the peripheral has a hard-switch you can still turn it on and off manually. If you don’t want something to turn off with the computer, don’t plug it in to this strip. Easy.
It’s your use of it that needs thinking through; the device itself is straightforward. There is also an ‘IntelliPlug’ version that is half the price but only offers a couple of sockets.