[Panama Red]

A UPS has a battery in it, so it is going to have some weight and size to it versus a surge protector which is just a power strip with a surge protector built into it. As for a switching power supply, I've never heard of it, but as along as it has a battery in it to handle the down spikes, it's a UPS no matter what the name (a rose by any other name is still a rose ).

A UPS is also rated for how many AVR and how many minutes it can handle when your power is off. APEC and CyberPower are two of the larger UPS makers.