Travelling with laptop in a few days..

Hi all,

I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 and will be travelling overseas in a few days. I've done this many times before but this will be the first time I will be bringing a laptop around, so I've been looking around online about what I should do. From what I've read, the X-ray machine should cause no damage to my computer, right? What about the metal detectors where you walk through the special "door" or whatever metal detector they have? I also read that I shouldn't bring it in a laptop bag so it's less likely to get stolen? However I only have a carrying bag and unless really necessary I don't want to go get a laptop backpack. Any other advice?

Thanks.

 

in airports, they'll ask you to put the notebook in a tray and scan in x-ray.

 

do you have the ac adapter covered also diferent countries use different volts

 

It's best to keep your laptop in your carry on, so you don't have a risk of any nosy TSA searching through your stuff and nabbing your notebook, there's always an element of human greed if it were to travel in your luggage. If you do take it in your carry on, as Anzial said, they ask you to put your laptop in a tray to be scanned in the conveyor belt, the X-rays shouldn't do any damage to your laptop, but I guess to be safe, make sure it's off before doing so. Also, I'm sure you already know this, but other countries also have different sockets, Europe and Asia have the 240 V two pin, while Britain uses this three pin socket that's different from the rest of the EU, so keep that in mind.

 

Thanks for the help, I will be going to China for about a month and from what I've seen on previous trips the plugs for US devices should work with Chinese sockets. The adapter that came with my laptop from Dell says it supports 100-240V AC input on the label, so that should work in China as well.

 

The last flight I was on (domestic) actually had a sign that said that you're not allowed to put a laptop in check-in luggage, and that it must be in carry-on.

Since you'll be asked to take the laptop out of your carry-on, it's good to have it somewhere easily accessible.

 

One more question about checking in at the airport. I've heard of people being asked to take their laptop out and turn it on for them to check? What are they checking for? Do they go through the contents of your laptop?

 

Damn this forum is crazy busy..bump..

 

Probably to make sure it's a real laptop and not some c4 molded to look like laptop parts.

 

They make you turn it on & off to make sure it's real and not some bomb dressed up as a laptop. They also make you do it for cell phones, PDAs & MP3 players.

 

Nope, actually it's a liability issue (I did some research when I got yelled at for daring to put a laptop in a check @ the gate bag). Being that they treat your luggage so gently, they know what will happen to the laptop inside.