Shipping A Desktop Computer To Uk

[ha55ha]

Hi, I'm moving back home to England next month and would like to ship my desktop computer back. Does anyone know the best way I can go about doing this? How much I should be looking to pay, which shipping company etc.

Thanks!

[SamsonSW]

The only way I can see this being remotely worth doing:

Remove the motherboard/CPU/RAM and hard drive, and pack them properly in purpose-built boxes obtained cheaply from resellers, ship via cheapest surface post office, insured for half of what they cost new.

Or slip it into your luggage, probably these bits are worth more than some of your old books or clothes.

Sell or give away the rest, really only the monitor will have a value that might make it worth your time.

Rebuild with new case etc on the other end, paying a local geek kid to do it for you if you don't feel confident but really a piece of cake if you pay attention when taking it apart here.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Crossy

[hopdafru]

I would simply take the motherboard/hard drive/video card out and pack them with my clothes in the suitcase.

Leave the bulky tower in LOS and buy a new one back home...

[pattayadingo]

I have to agree. Why ship it back when you can take the important parts in your luggage.

If you have a flat screen monitor, do you have the box it came in? If so, the airline would allow you to take that. Many people take large tv's on aeroplanes. Cannot see it costing you too much and better than paying all the shipping costs.

You could even advertise the monitor in classifieds and maybe sell it.

[SamsonSW]

The only way I can see this being remotely worth doing:

Remove the motherboard/CPU/RAM and hard drive, and pack them properly in purpose-built boxes obtained cheaply from resellersm, ship via cheapest surface post office, insured for half of what they cost new.

Or slip it into your luggage, probably these bits are worth more than some of your old books or clothes.

Sell or give away the rest, really only the monitor will have a value that might make it worth your time.

Rebuild with new case etc on the other end, paying a local geek kid to do it for you if you don't feel confident but really a piece of cake if you pay attention when taking it apart here.

Who or what is resellersm ??

Typo - remove the M and you have resellers - people that sell computers retail, like at Pantip or Fortune if you are in Bangkok. They usually have plenty of boxes and foam protection packing of the correct form factor, both mobo's and HDDs are generic shapes.

As opposed to manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers.

And plain resellers as opposed to value-added ones.

You really haven't heard the term?

[innerspace]

As said take the components in luggage, dump the case here and rebuild once you get back.

Done it before and easy enough.

Though I brought it back here a year later!

[SamsonSW]

Which reminds me if the unit's more than 18 months old, donate it to a temple or school, you'll find the same secondhand for peanuts back home - not true coming back this way though.

[BlackArtemis]

Whenever I deal with computers and this country I simply sell them off and buy better back home.

The prices here for components are high enough that even a 1-2 year old system can help fund a much better build back home.

But I live in the US, and I know the UK has higher prices than us, but it's something to look into.

Just take out the HDD and xfer that to the new sysyem

[Fgis]

Once I put one in a strong Samsonite luggage, no problem, but now I am less stingy and would give the computer to a school or poor Thai family before leaving !

[ha55ha]

Thanks for the advice! I'm pretty much a computer donk so I didn't consider just taking out the parts I need. I got it custom made here with pretty much the highest spec I could get and I presumed it would be expensive to get another built back home.

What parts exactly should I take out? The SSD drive is the most important part to me, but what else is worth taking back?

Thanks again

[ha55ha]

I'm not looking to ship my monitors back btw, will just sell them here

[draftvader]

There is another suggestion if you LOVE your tower. Do as suggested above and put the individual parts (i.e. MB, RAM, HD, SSD, VGA) into their original packaging. Once you have done this you can pack everything INTO the tower itself. The one thing REALLY worth replacing as the weight/cost of shipping/cost new ratio is not so good is the PSU. Being that PSUs chance of failure massively increases with age (being that their job is to get VERY hot and then try not to...seemingly) you would probably save more than enough money on the over weight charges with an airline to pay for a more up to date unit in the UK.

You'll probably find that, once you have packed everything into the tower, that there will plenty of space to put in clothing, books, etc around the components in their boxes. Your tower can then go into your suitcase and you can pack more in around it. This allows you to ship your tower whilst only taking up the smallest volume possible for the weight.

[ignis]

Myself doing it the other way around..

Motherboard, Graphics card and hard-drives, went into the take on board small case, the Tower itself lid in bottom of case on a towel, few clothes the tower open filled with clothes, clothes on top and all around, this case was check-in luggage.. no problem and just put it together again here next day.

really depends on what tower and hardware you have and how old it is.. otherwise as others have said ....or take out HDD's and take., buy a new one on arriving back add your HDD's.

Edit: Motherboard I left the Ram and CPU on it and packed in bubble rap, rapped a couple of T-shirt around this in my on board small case

Edited April 25, 2013 by ignis