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What purpose does the plastic handle on power supply unit packaging serve? No other hardware's typical packaging seems to share this trait.

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Not all PSU packaging has that handle. Other components have similar handles to what you are referring to. I've seen it on video card and motherboard retail packaging. Also, this is incredibly off-topic. – MDMarra Jan 12 '11 at 18:26
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Also, why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?? – Aaron Copley Jan 12 '11 at 18:29
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How does Kraft get 10 ounces of milk into a 5 ounce slice of cheese? – joeqwerty Jan 12 '11 at 18:40
The FAQ does not blacklist questions about hardware packaging! – Daniel Beck♦ Jan 12 '11 at 18:50
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Blacklist? What blacklist? This question is subject to the same rules as any other question and can be upvoted, downvoted, commented upon, closed, or answered like any other question, no? What blacklist are you referring to? – joeqwerty Jan 12 '11 at 18:54

migrated from serverfault.com Jan 12 '11 at 18:39

closed as not constructive by MDMarra, Daniel Beck♦, DMA57361♦, KronoS, Mokubai Jan 12 '11 at 19:18

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2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

They are for holding onto with your hand. They ease transporatation, as PSUs are quite heavy, although these devices are also seen on other types of peripheral packaging.

handle

This is how they are intended to be used.

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No stupid questions I guess. – Resorath Jan 12 '11 at 21:49
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Thanks, this answered my question. – tjbp Jan 13 '11 at 0:14
up vote 5 down vote

Desktop power supplies generally do not have handles. Server power supplies with hot-swap capability are generally of a slide-in/slide-out design and require handles to be removed from the chassis. Some power supplies which are cold-swap may still have handles if they are either of a sliding design or of extreme heft. The SGI Octane, for instance, had a single cold-swap power supply which both of a sliding design and quite hefty.

EDIT: I just re-read the question and realized that it was regarding retail packaging, not the power supply chassis. I find that fragile items more likely to have handles on the packaging than non-fragile items. This is purely conjecture, but there might be some study showing that packages with handles feature fewer returns due to mishandling. I'd believe it.

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Sadly, he's referring to the cardboard box and not anything useful, like your answer suggests. – Brad Jan 12 '11 at 19:07
+1 for answering a good question... which this is not. – KronoS Jan 12 '11 at 19:15

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