jeong


I do both. I 1st check the price online and have it confirmed by a representative over the phone. I think it's a personal preference when it comes down to it and the difference should be if any, quite minimal other than the fact that the online procedure should give you a more comprehensive overview of different shipping options since there're loads of them which may be cumbersome to explain all over the phone. 

I believe he is referring to Uninterrupted Power Supplies or UPSs.
 
If I remember correctly, online UPSs are always active, requiring the transformer to work all the time, where as line interactive (standby) UPSs switch to the transformer in the event of a power event. Most lower end sever and consumer level UPSs are line interactive, only high end server/telecom/data center UPSs are online. They usually cost much more then the line interactive ones. Most people use Line interactive (standby) UPSs with few problems and a much more affordable price tag to match. I have been running a APC BackUP 550VA line interactive UPS on my older quad core gaming rig for about two years with no problems, and on my next PC I plan to run a Cyberpower 1500VA or APC 1500VA line interactive UPS, as they have been the best price/performance that I have seen for the i7 rigs with 800-1000 watt PSUs that everyone seems to be running now a days.