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Ever flown with your Mac Pro?

Have you considered renting? I'm sure there is a place in SF that will let you rent a mac pro for a couple of weeks. That way you can just take your hds(adequately protected of course), throw them in your bag, and then put them in the rental. Probably easier than attempting to take it with your or ship it.

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SDColorado said:
This video shows a 1730 Transport Case being used for a Mac Pro as well. It utilizes the Pick 'n' Pluck foam for a custom fit. Not an exciting video, but informational.
http://youtu.be/E4sjm1-LXYY
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Well, depends on your airline and what kind of ticket you have, but the mac pro is already 40 lbs, and that thing has to weigh more than 10, so you will probably be hit with overweight luggage fees, which aren't cheap.
 
The MacPro will fit in the overhead of just about any, non-regional, jet out there. 717, 737, A320, etc...

I would keep it with you at all times. stick it in a duffel bag or wrap it in bubble wrap.

The TSA could be tricky when you are checking in for your flight. Be prepared to have it poked, prodded and OPENED by the TSA.

I understand your caution. Under no circumstances allow it to be checked luggage unless it's encased in 12' of foam. It's rough out there on the ramp.
 
Listen to Wonderspark. He knows what he is talking about.

I've never travelled with my Mac Pro, but I do carry tons of computer and A/V equipment all over three or four times a year. If you insist on checking it, use a case like the Pelican, remove drives beforehand, and insure it to the max. You do NOT want to see what really happens in the bag room and on the ramp.
Oh, and I seriously doubt you'll get a Mac Pro on as a carryon on most aircraft these days, especially during the holidays. If you pack accordingly and have to gate check it, then you really have a problem. My preferred method is put equipment in cases, or even original boxes with extra padding, and send via Fedex or UPS.
 
Have done it no problems with a Pelican case 1640. It's a mother of a case. I also have a 1650 for my NEC 2690, I always called it the coffin. I named the 1640 "The Morgue". Ha.

I wouldn't want to (and there's no need to) go bigger than the 1640.
 
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I always take my MBP as carryon luggage. Put it in a nice case and bring it with you. Put it under your seat. I would never never never check it in as luggage no matter how well you pack it.
 
xlii said:
I always take my MBP as carryon luggage. Put it in a nice case and bring it with you. Put it under your seat. I would never never never check it in as luggage no matter how well you pack it.
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I'm constantly amazed at how easily people confuse this forum with the MacBook Pro forum....
 
inform airline of excess hand luggage

Most airlines will allow fragile equipment/musical instruments to be carried in person, to either a special hold or into the cabin, if you let them know in advance.
I would think a Mac Pro would in a bag is easily hand luggage, might cost you a little extra, but not nearly as much as a flight case that will get dropped out of the hold anyway.
 
Forgive me, but wouldn't it be easier to CCC the MP's HD, and clone it to an external; then just plug it into a borrowed MP once there?


Like I said, forgive me; it might be a stupid question...
 
xlii said:
I always take my MBP as carryon luggage. Put it in a nice case and bring it with you. Put it under your seat. I would never never never check it in as luggage no matter how well you pack it.
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Lol... fail

We aren't talking about the MBP, we have the MP. Which is 20+ times the size of the MBP.

The suggestion of just bringing along your HDs and renting a MP isn't a bad idea, assuming the location you are going to have MPs for rent. If you hit the weight limit, you will be paying out the bum for the overweight fee. For United, the overweight fee is cheaper than the fee for an extra luggage, I don't assume you'd want to take your processor bay, HD bay out to split the weight.

If you decide to check it in, check it as an odd size item that is in the same bracket as golf clubs, skis, musical instruments, etc. It will be well taken care of.
 
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chiefroastbeef said:
If you decide to check it in, check it as an odd size item that is in the same bracket as golf clubs, skis, musical instruments, etc. It will be well taken care of.
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Respectfully, I disagree on only this point. It will take a lot to convince me that what I learned as a baggage handler has changed, especially when you mention United Airlines. They were by far the worst, most abusive of any airline baggage handler I've ever seen, and I speak from direct, personal experience. My buddy asked a United bagger to please stop throwing bags twenty from his cart to the belt, which prompted said bagger to proceed to then use all his muscle to hurl them as hard as he could against the steel partition inside the wheel belt. The last bag, he carried to the belt, swung over his head and slammed onto the belt like it was WWF, and then told us to ***k ourselves. They're union, and have no incentive to care.

The guys that ran interline / odd size were no different, and I've seen kennels with pets in them fly out of carts. You worry about a Mac Pro... I feel sorry for pets that get put through the baggage system even more. Sad times, but the pet-abusers are much more rare, thankfully.
 
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I just retired from the Flight Division of Fedex. So I never dealt with customers or with boxes. However us managers saw reports on various facets of the business. Including loss and damage claims.

Damage was minimal. To get specific, the one recurring hazard I saw was water damage caused by rain either at the origin location or destination. Wrap the innards of your container with Saran wrap, pay a little extra for insurance.

Each FedEx parcel is handled 9 times in its journey. US mail requires 19 individual hand operations.
 
garycurtis said:
I just retired from the Flight Division of Fedex. So I never dealt with customers or with boxes. However us managers saw reports on various facets of the business. Including loss and damage claims.

Damage was minimal. To get specific, the one recurring hazard I saw was water damage caused by rain either at the origin location or destination. Wrap the innards of your container with Saran wrap, pay a little extra for insurance.

Each FedEx parcel is handled 9 times in its journey. US mail requires 19 individual hand operations.
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I totally have more faith in FedEx than United Airlines. I think part of the problem is the pay level... not so great in the airlines. I'm sure they all have bad eggs, but it was just so prevalent at Denver International... I'd say 80% "don't-care" rate.
 
I have FedEx'd over 20 computers back and forth between San Francisco and Boston, including G5s, using both overnight and ground. No damage, no problems except for one home-built PC where the heatsink fell off the processor. Most of them in original boxes, a few in custom boxes that I made. I've also shipped a lot of 30" ACDs via FedEx overnight.

When it matters, I use FedEx. I'm a huge fan. In fact, when I moved my primary residence from SF to Boston, I FedEx'd myself about 1200 lbs rather than use movers. At the time FedEx was charging about 80 cents per lb for ground.
 
wonderspark said:
Saw a lot of pelican cases. They are pretty much bullet-proof. That would be the only thing I'd trust, myself. Not with the monitor in there with it, though. I am thinking the G-forces of an 11 foot drop would push that 50lb Mac Pro right through the foam around the monitor if it landed just right.
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Individual cases are generally better than one big honking one.

xav8tor said:
Listen to Wonderspark. He knows what he is talking about.

I've never travelled with my Mac Pro, but I do carry tons of computer and A/V equipment all over three or four times a year. If you insist on checking it, use a case like the Pelican, remove drives beforehand, and insure it to the max. You do NOT want to see what really happens in the bag room and on the ramp.
Oh, and I seriously doubt you'll get a Mac Pro on as a carryon on most aircraft these days, especially during the holidays. If you pack accordingly and have to gate check it, then you really have a problem. My preferred method is put equipment in cases, or even original boxes with extra padding, and send via Fedex or UPS.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

My first recommendation would be to pull the drives (since that's really the valuable part) and hand-carry them.

My second recommendation is to not forget that most airlines now charge fees for checked bags ... especially steep fees for bags greater than 50lbs. As such, the cost of 2nd Day FedEx / UPS is probably going to be close enough to be considered as cost-competitive.


-hh
 
I think you would be better of leaving the mac pro where it is but connected to internet and then access it with openNX (http://sourceforge.net/projects/opennx/) or similar. This the mac pro will work like a server, so you only need a simple terminal. This plus a ftp program and you are setup.
 
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