Moving soon -- shipping desktop computer good or bad idea?

[shlemielo]

I'm moving soon, and I need a plan for my computer. I can either try to ship my desktop to my new location, or buy a desktop replacement laptop. Thing is, this is probably a temporary move and I only plan on being there for one year.

New laptop for $1500, or ship current (powerful) desktop. Hm. Anyone have experience shipping desktops for a move?

 

[Wanescotting]

how about disassembling desktop, then put back toghter in new location, ship only the case

 

[fatpat268]

Shipping a computer is fine. Just take out the CPU heatsink and all cards (Graphics, sound, tv tuner, or whatever else you have plugged into the PCI/PCI-e slots) and pack them seperately.

 

[Vic Vega]

I've shipped lots of OEM PCs without incident but they tend to be better put together as far as being designed for shipping compared to custom PCs. If you have a good sturdy case and can find an appropriate box and foam to fit it you shouldn't have a problem. If you have a monster CPU cooler you will want to remove it.

 

[davmat787]

If your desktop has one of them old fangled spinny type of hard drives, you could always take that out and ship the less sensitive parts. The hard disc would be most likely to be damaged, and it has all your data.

 

[Krynj]

I'd just ship it. Powerful laptops are no replacement for powerful desktops. Especially if you really rely on your desktop's horsepower.

Could disassemble it, ship it separately, and just ship the case. Or sell the case on the cheap locally, and put that towards a new case, in case you don't want to risk damaging the case in transit.

 

[DesiPower]

I did it through UPS. wrapped it in blanket and put it in a big box... it was about 7 8 years ago... cost me ~ $40

 

[shlemielo]

Yeah I've made the mistake of shipping the whole computer without disassembling it. That was about 6 years ago and Fedex put a huge dent in the side of the case. Any idea how much it would cost to ship the computer? I'd have to factor in 24" monitor, bookshelf speakers, and keyboard/mouse.

EDIT: wow this forum moves fast. Yeah, $40 shipped seems like a good option.

 

[Aikouka]

It should be fine to ship it, but just be wary of certain things such as coolers that are rather tall. I'd imagine a video card would be fine given it's screwed on one side and latched on the other.

If your desktop has one of them old fangled spinny type of hard drives, you could always take that out and ship the less sensitive parts. The hard disc would be most likely to be damaged, and it has all your data.

A hard drive should be fine going through transit. If I recall, they have separate operational and non-operational g-force limits.

 

[gophins72]

I did it through UPS. wrapped it in blanket and put it in a big box... it was about 7 8 years ago... cost me ~ $40

i did the same, it was not an issue.

 

[Pardus]

you can ship a desktop with all the internals, just make sure everything is secure and double box it, shouldn't be an issue. use fedex ground, not usps.

 

[Bignate603]

It should be fine to ship it, but just be wary of certain things such as coolers that are rather tall. I'd imagine a video card would be fine given it's screwed on one side and latched on the other.



A hard drive should be fine going through transit. If I recall, they have separate operational and non-operational g-force limits.

Yes, and hard drives are mailed all the time, you just need to make sure that you package the computer is well packaged. It may be worth checking the local shipping store to see if they have anything in particular that could help you pack it up. I had to ship my brother in law's laptop last month and they had a special box to package laptops. It worked very well, much better than anything I could have done to pack it myself.

They only thing I'd really be concerned about is the CPU cooler. Remove that and you'll be fine.