Old Macintosh carry on plane

[vintageseguy]

Hey all. Am planning to return to the U.S. from Europe in June, and I will be bringing my family's old trusted Macintosh SE with me.
Should I try carry on or packed luggage? (I have status with Delta so no concerns with the weight)
Given how fragile this thing is, I am thinking carry on. Has anybody done this before or see any risks with this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Analog Kid]

Carry on, if the SE means more to you than the price of replacing. You can buy a new Mac for less than the price of a plane ticket, but I suspect that’s not why you keep it. Delta baggage handling is atrocious…

 

[vintageseguy]

Thanks - I suspect this could be a pain taking the computer out during the x-ray screening...
It's not just the sentimental value, I will most likely sell it back here at some point, and reselling is a bit easier compared to Europe (computer/OS is English US, but everybody is.. Italian).

 

[HDFan]

If you have watched videos about the mechanical sorters used with baggage handling you'd never want to put anything delicate in baggage. Huge pistons violently slam baggage into the right sorting slide. I do know travelers who put wine bottles in their luggage, with a lot of protective packaging and wrapped in clothing without any breakage.

Not sure whether it would be worth bringing for selling. Looks like you would get ~$150 on ebay. Some sales have been much higher, but it is the luck of the draw. By the time you calculate ebay fees and shipping costs looks like you wouldn't get much.

 

[Analog Kid]

Thanks - I suspect this could be a pain taking the computer out during the x-ray screening...
It's not just the sentimental value, I will most likely sell it back here at some point, and reselling is a bit easier compared to Europe (computer/OS is English US, but everybody is.. Italian).

I've brought much weirder stuff through the x-ray scanners. Leave yourself time for people to take a second look at it, but the SE is probably going to pass fairly easily because there's no batteries in it. They're less worried about electronics themselves than they are about electronics being used to detonate something else-- if there's nothing that looks like an explosive near the electronics, they'll get a good clean look all the way through it and all should be good.

I learned not to put my chargers and shampoo too close together in my luggage, for example.

Generally, if they're unsure, they wipe it down and do a residue test looking for certain chemical compounds.

 

[vintageseguy]

If you have watched videos about the mechanical sorters used with baggage handling you'd never want to put anything delicate in baggage. Huge pistons violently slam baggage into the right sorting slide. I do know travelers who put wine bottles in their luggage, with a lot of protective packaging and wrapped in clothing without any breakage.

Not sure whether it would be worth bringing for selling. Looks like you would get ~$150 on ebay. Some sales have been much higher, but it is the luck of the draw. By the time you calculate ebay fees and shipping costs looks like you wouldn't get much.

I’d probably tinker and use it for a bit here. I could sell in Europe but I’d rather do a local sale than eBay. And that’s been a bit easier in the NYC area.

 

[AJK13K]

Why not ship it. Go to a vendor that does packing and shipping. I sent an antique chair to my nephew. It was a family item and he wanted to keep it. I went to a freight company. The built a box for it. Packed it well an it got there without a scratch. It did cost several hundred dollars but it was a valuable antique. I suspect the Dahl, ups etc store could do the same and it would not be all,that expensive.