APC Power Conditioners Hit Mass Price Points

LAS VEGAS — American Power Conversion (APC) is expanding its A/V line with new power conditioning units designed for the mass market. These provide surge protection, noise filtering and automatic voltage regulation for under $400.

The company, which introduced its new products at an International CES press conference here earlier this month, featured the APC A/V H10 and H15 power conditioners designed for performance home entertainment centers. Both units help eliminate power anomalies that threaten home entertainment component hardware and A/V signal integrity.

“Consumers should not have to go without performance power conditioning and related features due to high cost,” said Joe Loberti, general manager of APC's Consumer Networks Solutions Group. “These factors led us to create the A/V H10 and H15 line of power conditioning units that include surge protection, noise filtering and AVR at a price point considerably less than solutions currently available on the market.”

Both the H10 and H15 feature a total of 12 surge-protected and filtered outlets, ensuring complete protection for all components. Six of these outlets offer filtering for such digital devices as HDTV monitors, video recorders, satellite dishes and DVD players. In addition, these units provide component-specific noise filtering banks to prevent video and audio signal distortion. Other features include sequenced turn on/off functionality that regulates the way audio equipment is powered up/down, and inductor-less filtering for high-current components.

The H10 and H15 will be available from the West Kingston R.I.-based company in March at suggested retails of $299.99 and $399.99, respectively.

Mobile travelers can use the APC Universal Notebook Battery, a 28-ounce power pack, to run notebooks for up to eight hours, depending on model and power setting. There is a power level button and LED capacity indicator to check remaining battery time. An input/output power port provides a way to charge and power the battery using a laptop's power adapter. Tips and jacks are provided for most notebooks. Suggested retail is $249.99.

Also new from APC is a USB Optical Travel Mouse, with 2-foot retractable cord, that provides convenient plug-and-play for a suggested $19.99.

Retractable Network and Telephone Cables are 5-foot, spring-activated products that include telephone, Ethernet and telephone/Ethernet combo units, with suggested retails ranging from $7.99 to $14.99.

A SurgeArrest Notebook Surge Protecter is a portable, compact surge protection device for laptops. The product offers telephone, fax, Internet, DSL and modem protection, as well as network protection for a suggested $19.99 retail.