Much obliged for the informative answers. It would appear that getting a UPS is the way forward.
To separate fluff from reality, the answer must also say why with numbers.
If a UPS does that protection, then the best already protected appliance is that laptop. All laptops already contain a UPS.
If a UPS does that protection, then he cited the manufacture spec number that defines that protection. No such numbers exist. The protection inside most every UPS is near zero - only hundreds of joules. So close to zero that advertising will hype it as 100% best protection. A majority will always ignore numbers to believe subjective advertising.
All appliances contain protection equal or superior to anything inside a UPS. Your concern is only a transient, maybe once every seven years, that might overwhelm that protection. Only a properly earthed protector can do that. Nothing attached to an AC plug is earthed; only safety grounded. The solution used everywhere that damage cannot happen is located and earthed where all wires enter the building. Then superior protection inside every appliance is not overwhelmed.
So what does that UPS do? So it magically stops or blocks what three miles of sky could not? That is what others have told you. Reality. A UPS connects your laptop directly to AC mains when not in battery backup mode.
I can easily provide another ten more reasons why that UPS does not do surge protection. Even the manufacturer's specification numbers do not make that claim. Protection for a laptop (also required for the refrigerator, furnace, bathroom GFCIs, and so many other appliances) means a protector (for about $1 per protected appliance) connects as short as possible to earth. Only that solution actually does protection.
Anyone who recommended a UPS can post manufacturer spec numbers that claim that protection. And will explain how its 2 cm part will stop what three miles of sky could not. The difference between fluff and reality is found in damning questions that demand numbers.
DSL modem? Did you know every phone line already has a superior and earthed protector installed for free? Most who make recommendations do not even know of that protector. Instead, make assumptions. Then recommend only on what advertising has told them to believe.
No protector does protection. Not one. A protector is only a connecting device so something completely different - protection. Protection is where hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly. Either a protector connect short (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. Or the protector does virtually nothing. Protection is always about where energy dissipates. Facts that separate fluff from reality.
