[Swordmaker]

A Hong Kong company makes a USB testing device that repeatedly increases the USB port by pushing higher and higher surges of voltage into the port until the device it is connected to is fried completely. The maker of that device has reported that the ONLY computers that are built to survive this destructive testing are made by Apple. — PING!

Apple Only Computer Maker
With Surge Protected USB Ports
Says Test Device Maker
Ping!

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[Flick Lives]

A teaspoon of iron filings in the cooling vents of any PC should work equally effectively.

[dayglored]

This reminds me of the ESD testing we did on the IBM-PC peripherals I designed and built back in the 90's (printer port and serial port, not USB).

The peripherals and their connectors had to withstand up to 2,000 volts not just 240V. But the charge was delivered from a specified capacitor charged to that voltage, per the specifications. It modeled the human body, and was to ensure that our device would survive if some human joker scuffled their feet across the carpet and then picked it up and drew a spark.

Possibly there's more capacitance in this USB device, thus more total stored charge, albeit at a lower voltage.