Tips on travelling with a notebook...

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you could give me some tips on how to handle my notebook while travelling. Things like wich machines to avoid in airports and wich machines / handling might do damage to the machine.

I haven't travelled yet with a notebook but I will have to do so very soon, so I appreciate any info on this wich I can get.

Thanks in advance.
Gdev

 

Make sure its a carry on and dont drop it. other then that just be careful like you normaly would.

 

Ditto..... my digital camera and laptop are on me at all times and I refuse to let them go through the x-ray machines... This is probably a little much, but better safe than sorry is my motto. If I'm traveling with a large amount of stuff, I've got a super secure, protective, heavy... pelican case which I cut out to fit some laptops, camera stuff and other equiptment.... when I do this, I take hard drives and flash memory (camera memory cards) and I put those in a little secure case which I then carry on with me and have hand checked.

The big thing to remember is shock could damage your hard drive and maybe even your flash memory.... If you don't trust your baggage 110%, carry it on and don't let it out of your site. I've been on the bad side of this and you don't want to be in another country and have to look for computer parts and software........... and you don't want to get home and find out that there are no pictures of your two week vacation on the memory cards either.

 

They actually let you not x-ray the laptop? I'm surprised.

 

The really just make you turn the laptop on. to make sure its not gutted and internal parts replaced with like a bomb or something.

 

I travelled a lot with my Dell i6000. It was in a notebook backpack. When I would approach the Scanners, I would just put the notebook in the plastic bin. Never did I have an issue but I will say that you should keep an eye on your notebook as soon as it comes out of the scanner.

It was a chore carrying around a 15.4" notebook. I am extremely happy that I downsized. Maybe next year I will get a dual core 12.1" widescreen with dedicated video.

BTW has anyone tried a modular battery as a secondary battery supply?

 

yes, find a gate in which nobody is departing and then find an AC outlet there and plug-in and charge / use your laptop before getting on the plane. Just make sure to get your actual gate 20 - 25 mins before departure with a fully charged notebook for the flight, it's so sad when a battery dies while in flight

 

Don't drop it

Going through Sydney International Airport late last year, they asked everyone to pull out their notebooks, pull the battery out and they then proceeded to put it through the X-Ray machine...

So I guess it is different for each country

 

I've always been told to take it out and put in a different tray - I've been concerned but didn't think I could opt out.

If they want you to turn it on, that makes sense...

 

Certain non-US international airports do not even require you to take it out of your backpack. I to be even more secured - you could get a padded sleeve to protect your asset. I always hand carry mine on a long trip, don't trust some of those light figure louies that work in the baggage claim area, and use a backpack vs. a sling carryon, 1 time the sling broke and the laptop swung down and fell down the 5 steps on the stairs... it survived but you don't need the risk

 

Yeah, they want to make sure it works....... it always makes for a quick demonstration of our products as it usually creates a little commotion and draws nearby eyes..... so it's fun for me as long as they don't mishandle it.

 

Travelling between LAX and other airports in the US, I noticed that they always want your laptop to go in the x-ray machine by it self.

They told me to put my laptop in a seperate tray from my watch, wallet etc...

Also make sure you boot windows.... booting linux with all that fast boot text might scare the **** out of them causing them to think your carrying a bomb.

/jks

 

Aiieee!!! H4X0R!!!

BTW, have you had a look at initNG? Still under heavy development, but I imagine all distros will be using it within the next 12-18 months... makes linux boots as fast as $#%.

 

If flying: http://www.seatguru.com/ shows seats that got power outlets. It's also a good site if you want to avoid a terrible seat when flying from LAX to Europe

 

Thanks for all your replies...

I've heard though that and x-ray machine cab be harmfull to the notebook ... anyone know anything about this ?

Gdev

 

Wow... really? Will it be okay if I just take off my harddisk before putting it in x-ray machine?