[SoCal]

When we move to Australia, we're going to travel light. I have a Mac Pro desktop that cost $2500 ($AU3100). A similar computer in Australia looks like it will cost more than $AU4000. Can anyone recommend the best way of shipping the Mac and costs?

[Cliff]

I brought two computers over in a container and carried the laptop and an external hard drive onto the plane. We made sure that the computers are well padded in their original boxes and they were both fine and worked no problems after 10 weeks at sea.

I deleted all the info on the hard drive in case the computers went missing and took all the data on the laptop and an external drive with me in my hand luggage. You could also keep a back up on a sever if you want to for extra protection.

If you just have a few items to ship and don't want container shipping, you could try somewhere like www.sevenseasworldwide.com or www.excess-baggage.com/ . They both can qoute for sea and air freight online for the all the companies.

Cost to ship by sea is about US$300 for one tea chest and US$400 for air on seven seas website. It gets cheaper per box as you take more boxes.

[PamInPerth]

We travelled light as well when we moved to Perth as most of our furniture was needing replaced anyway. We ended up taking 4 boxes to Perth mainly toys, few books, china and monentos, a computer and some electrical items. The cost for surface was AUS $450.

We were a bit worried about the computer but, like you, we had just bought it and so we decided that it was worth taking. Luckily we had kept the original box and polystyrene protection that the computer came in. Even so, we wrapped the PC in a few blankets and then cover it in a large ploy bag before fitting it into the tea chest box and crossing our fingers. We were also able to squeeze a scanner into the same box and all the leads.

We used seven seas and the boxes took 10 weeks to arrive - everything was intact! Computer worked !! :) I'd recommend that you get a quote from them as the shipping went very smoothly.

There was an option to take out insurance but we didn't bother with it.

[SoCal]

Thanks guys. It's reassuring that your computers arrived unscathed.

I've looked at the sevenseasworldwide site. Their instant_quote for a 'Tea Chest' from California to Australia is USD295 Door to Door Sea Service or $395Door to Door Air Service.

According to sevenseas 'The largest packing carton we supply is the 'Tea-Chest carton', it's dimensions are:height 61cm, depth 51cm & width 41cm.' This converts to 16 x 20 x 24 inches so it would definitely be worth it to ship the Mac Pro. The instant_quote for 4 Tea Chests said USD655. So if I say I've paid $295 for the first box, each other box will cost $120 to ship. At that price we might think about a few more things it would be worth taking.

[chestnut]

A tip I heard of from a friend is that if you are sending a printer, remove the ink cartridge as it may leak all over your other electrical stuff and cause a lot of damage.

[Bastiat]

If you don't mind waiting definitely go with sea shipping. Airfare costs tons and can often offset the discount you were looking for in the first place. I always like to think ahead and ship by sea when I have to ship anything internationally.