They’re like that in this apartment we’re renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don’t get it.

  • @polarpear11
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    01 day ago

    Why can’t you just unplug it? If you have to go to the socket anyway… maybe I don’t understand because I’ve never lived with the convenience?

    • @[email protected]
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      131 day ago

      It’s easier to flip the switch to turn it back on than to fumble with the plug. You can get a variant without the switches if you don’t like, or simply leave the switch always on.

    • @[email protected]
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      423 hours ago

      Depends on the device.

      Something like a vacuum, sure. You’re probably going to move it around anyway.

      But I used to have a Spectrum computer, and it had no power switch. If you plugged it in then it was just on. Much simpler to power off at the switch than unplug it and risk the plug falling down the back of the table into a rats nest of cables.

      Plus I guess it’s one more step a toddler needs to do to electrocute themselves…

      • @[email protected]
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        422 hours ago

        But I used to have a Spectrum computer, and it had no power switch. If you plugged it in then it was just on

        Something I’ve learned talking to my bri’ish friends online over the years: this happens to you guys because you have those switches. I cannot think of anything I’ve bought in the US that didn’t have its own power control for when it’s plugged into the wall (unless it’s something silly that I made or, for whatever fucking reason, Christmas lights and ONLY Christmas lights as every other decorative string light I own has a switch)

        • @[email protected]
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          121 hours ago

          Nvidia Shield has no switch either. If it crashes (and Disney+ is the main culprit causing that, along with full 4K Blu-ray rips on Jellyfin) you have to pull the power cable on it.

    • @reddit_sux
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      41 day ago

      Even if you unplug it, the socket is still live at more than 200 V.

      • @Nibodhika
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        1 day ago

        Maybe this was meant to be a joke, but that’s not how it works. If it were the switch would also not do anything, because what the switch does is exactly the same as unplugging the thing, i.e. cut a piece of the wire out.

        Edit: unless you meant for safety reasons, in which case the shutter inside is a lot safer than the button.

        • @reddit_sux
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          124 hours ago

          A switch shuts the supply to the socket. Even after unplugging the socket does have electric supply, i.e. it is live. If any metallic object is inserted into the live socket it can give you a worse shock. Since the voltage supply in UK is 220V not 110V.

          Shutter inside is much safer than button but is slightly costlier.