So if the power goes out while in instant on mode will it cause damage? I wonder because the PS4 has issues when in standby mode if the power goes out. I'm getting a One soon and want to know if I should avoid instant in due to having a semi unreliable power grid.

I never had a problem with it. The only thing that some people may find annoying is that it may take 30-45 seconds for the Xone to communicate with your cable or satellite box. Not a big deal to me.

@saga: thanks for the reply

I moved residences right before the One came out and after getting the console I had done a lot of tweaking and rearranging of my entertainment center cables and such. I was constantly turning of the power strip and moving stuff around. I never noticed any anomalies due to the complete loss of power, you just get the full, longer boot. You will not need to call Kenny Loggins because your console won't be in the Danger Zone.

If it's writing to the hard drive while doing an automatic update when the power goes out I would worry about it.

i recently had a power outage and my xbox was in stand-by mode and had no problems. Turned it on and worked just fine.

Yeah this is a concern, though I wish MS would issue an official statement on this like Sony did. (If they already have I am unaware)

No problems here, either. We had that big ice storm on the east coast a few weeks back during which I lost power to my Xbox One and PS4 multiple times. Fortunately, all is still good in the hood.

A surge protector is never a bad idea with electronics, but I wouldn't expect it to be more of a problem than it would with a PC in sleep mode.

That said, the ethernet port on my PC did get fried a while back after a particularly harsh thunderstorm, since the router was plugged straight into the wall. That same thunderstorm knocked out my air conditioning. It's probably going to depend on what causes the outage.