Hi,

How do you carry your computers & monitors when traveling a lot?

I did a quick search but can't really find a solution.

I imagine there has to be some metal-cases or the like?

Maybe someone can link me to products people are using, that would be very kind.

Thank you.

The correct answer is that most people use laptops. Desktop machines aren't built for travel. And certainly not repeated travel. Nor are enormous monitors, frankly.

If you have to travel, you might want to consider removing and packing separately components like the GPU. And you can get expanding foam to put inside the box to keep things better in place.

But I have no idea if flight cases exist. They probably do, but query how much use they are.

well, I won't be traveling all the time, just thought there are people who do and they might have a proper solution for that problem.
I'll be staying for 6-12 months at each place and really need my setup for work so notebook doesn't help.

packing the components separately is a good idea though.
the monitor bothers me the most. I haven't kept that box, would have been something at least.

thanks for your response.

When I moved I shipped my iMac, a 32” monitor and tower. I only had the original box for the PC so I had a shipping place pack them, which was probably half the price. All in it was around 300 bucks and there were no problems on the receiving end. If you are flying I think I’d rather do that and insure the crap out of them than trust baggage handlers and Pelican cases. If you are driving I’d just use the original boxes or wrap them in blankets or something. Whatever you do make sure to make good backups in case the worst happens.

For a machine, buy an Intel Hades Canyon NUC. For a monitor, I ve seen Asus offer some 14'' portable ones. If you really want to haul a 30'' monitor, it's going to be trouble.

yes I'll be flying. didn't think of a shipping place. gonna look if there's one around my area. good idea, thanks.


oh that's a cool device. worth considering, thanks for the recommendation.
yes the monitor gives me headache

If it's for business you should be able to deduct it as an expense. If you're just moving around it may get pricey if it's more than once or twice a year. There are places that rent office equipment you might look at as well. I couldn't find one that gave on-line quotes but only looked at a few google results. With Macs you can create a disc image of your HD and easily install that on a new machine, I'd be surprised if there wasn't something similar for Windows. That would let you just travel with a HD and then load that on a rental machine. You'd still want multiple back ups and you'd want to get real good at cleaning your data off of the rental machines, but it may be another option to look at.

true, renting sounds most convenient. didnt think of that, will look it up.
thank you very much kerowo for taking the time to respond, very kind.

apparently, in the city I'm moving to there's noone offering PCs for rental.

did some reading on that Intel Hades Canyon NUC cause I really like the size of it.

it's getting bashed pretty hard on the computer-forums. 'ridiculously overprized' seems to be the consensus there.

do you know of any similar solutions?
I'm not a gamer so I don't need extraordinary graphics-perfomance but a somewhat powerful machine of about the same size would be a good solution I think.

I don't know what your doing with them so this may not work, but if you used compute power in AWS or Azure you could use a laptop as a dumb terminal and not need to move the box around.

unfortunately, that's not an option

It is overpriced in the sense that if you get a similarly speced desktop, you will pay less money. It's not overpriced if your value of the portability of the thing exceeds the premium you re paying for it.

Another thing to note is that it's not the most powerful machine you can build, but it's probably the most powerful machine you can build for this size. Do note that you are also going to pay extra to add memory and ssds.

Your problems derive from wanting to use a 30' monitor.

There are three alternatives I can think of.

1. Is there a large TV where you re going that you can use as a monitor? If you re staying in a hotel, it's quite likely you can use their tv as the monitor. This of course depends on whether you re satisfied with 1080p resolution.

2. You can try get an all in on desktop and carry it in its box. Google HP Envy for example of this type of machine, but most major manufacturers offer this stuff. This would also be somewhat overpriced.

3. Settle for a smaller screen, either in a laptop or a portable monitor.

Check out these:

https://www.asus.com/Monitors/Portable-Products/

It will help, if you described your intended usage.

I got the impression the thing gets ridiculed by people who use computer-words I don't understand so I gave their opinion some merit

agree on the power:size though, it's a cool product nonetheless.



right, that's basically the only real problem.



It's not even a necessity. I'm just so used to the big screen with the 2560x1600 resolution that I'd like to find a solution.
Maybe I'll find someone who can tailor me some case so I can carry it with me right away.
Other options, like sending it, won't really work that well when I'm moving again after a couple months.
So, if my case-dream won't come true I may get one or two of those portables you posted. They look neat too.

Indeed, I should go with a strong notebook instead of one of those small PCs.
Didn't know they are that powerful already too. One of those high-end products is plenty enough for me. (I'm not much of techie )

thank you for the help leviathan74, much appreciated

i travelled from europe to asia, 10 hours on plane.

I had a 30' dell layered in bubble wrap, then layered in bath towels. I put plastic bags and clothes in the bottom of a cardboard box, then put the monitor on top, then put more plastic bags and more clothes around the sides until the box was full...also put the cables and monitor stand in the same box, then i just taped it up and checked it in...arrived no probs, did the same for a short 2 hour flight in asia and again np's..

that's great, thanks for the info

Should probably check what the sized boxes are going to cost extra with the airlines, no point using a big expensive box when a smaller box will do.

true, it needs proper protection though since the guys loading the airplanes won't treat the luggage carefully. I got friends who did that during university, they warned us about it.

for the first destination I would just compare the costs to (insured) regular delivery because I'm at home right now and can just let it send there by someone after my arrival (that's if I'm going with the notebook) but for moving again what BigBananas did may be a decent solution.

sorry, if my sentences are weird. non-native-speaker, obv

I tried carrying monitors a few times. Pelican case, the box the monitor came in, wrapped in towels in a luggage case. Mailing the stuff to the destination.

Ultimately it's just too much of a pain. Now I use an iPad as a second monitor with a program called "Duet".

It's still not as good as having a 30" monitor but it has been enough for me.

Yea...flight from europe to asia i didnt pay anything extra, i travelled quite light tho it was jus the 30' and some clothes in the box...

When i took 2 hour flight in asia i took a 27 and a 30 and a desktop pc...had to pay like 250$ extra baggage fees...i made them place like 20 fragile stickers on each box also lol...

never heard of Pelican case. checked their website. those would be great but it appears they don't offer one for the size I'd need.

it's going to be annoying, I see that but for moving just once or twice a year I think it might be worth it.


regular shipping is quite expensive too. anyway, having my beloved 30'' would be worth spending some extra money.
thanks for sharing your experience. good to know it would basically work that way too.

I imagine you're not far off the point where it would be cheaper to buy a monitor when you arrive and then sell it on to recoup some of the cost when you leave?

just checked. there's some truth to it. I was under the impression those 30''+ are still very expensive but apparently prizes have dropped a lot since I bought mine many years ago.

even saw an AOC 31.5'' with 2560x1440 for €184. now that's extraordinary cheap and perhaps not a good monitor but still far away from the €1k+ I assumed.

is there anything I need to consider when choosing a notebook?
hdmi 1.4b and above is what I need if I understand that correctly.
though hdmi 2.0 should be common for newer lapotps anyway I guess.

Mini DisplayPort is my port of choice for high res monitors, HDMI 2.0 works as well. My work laptop( third gen Thinkpad x1 Carbon) has one of each and can (with some struggling of the Intel graphics) drive the laptop monitor + 4K +2560x1440 at the same time. If you're buying a non-bargain/used laptop these days I wouldn't aim for any ports not capable of driving 4K 60Hz