I am going to want a computer when I start at University in Canada, my budget is about $1,500 or so and I'm thinking of getting one of those shuttle systems (or similar) and take it back and forth as hand luggage although I am considering taking my lcd monitor from the UK with me because I am on a tight budget and would rather avoid having to hand out $500+ for a new one, do you think it would be worth taking it back every 5 months or so and is it even possible?
I imagine most people here that have moved PC's have just had it shipped with the rest of thier belongings but was hoping you might have some advice you could offer me, perhaps there are options I have missed.

Have you considered a laptop as that seems to be ideal for your needs. If you want a laptop that can also play the latest games I recommend the Acer 4501 which handles Half-Life 2/COD/There easily and the battery lasts for quite a while (average Is 4 hours with general use, less when playing games).
If you do then don't forget to get a Canadian laptop mains adaptor.

If you want a small pc box It might be worth looking at a Mini-ITX which is much smaller than the shuttles. Take a look at the size of the nanode pc next to an apple http://www.mini-itx.com/news/nanode/

i see you have 2 choices

1) buy a cheap removeable hard here and then the bare bones of a pc out there

or 2) you whip your hard drive here and put it in the bare bones of a p.c. out there

put putting the 2 options together is not rocket science, as some would make you think

either way make sure you have a cd rom with all important info on it

just in case the worst happens

to get removable hard drive cheap go to www.novatech.com they also have 1 years garentee with them but check it out

yea, a laptop would be perfect apart from I would like something I can upgrade which is hard to do with laptops. I had a look around the Mini-ITX site, but they also look like they could be hard to upgrade from unless you use that one site, I dont really have the time to build a computer and was hoping to get one built for me and I just choose the parts. or is that possible with them? I found thier site quite hard to follow.

I went with the laptop option - i think its the easiest.. and i also had an external hard drive along with it.

what do you think of this system I came up with from ncix.com?

http://www.alex311.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pc.JPG

and do you think I should just buy a monitor there, or would it be feasable to take a shuttle and 17" lcd back and forth as carry on luggage? I'm thinkin its probably a bit risky.

i dont know enough about buying them

i just have fun and build for a laugh

steve

We gave away the monitor and keyboard in England - and put the box (it is a nice slim box, about the size of a UK toaster) in my handbag - along with the mouse, so it went on the flight as hand luggage.

Then all we did was buy a cheapo keyboard and monitor when we got here....

Clare

That looks fine to me, I am guessing from your ATI card that your into gaming so having a shuttle would make more sense price wise than a laptop.

Taking the lcd & shuttle shouldn't be any problem apart from having more items to carry and making sure the lcd screen is well protected. Also worth buying the lcd screen in person If possible just to eliminate any chance of the dreaded dead pixels.

One way to help finance your pc Is to get a relative/friend in Canada to auction some Nintendo DS which were released on Sunday and aren't available in Europe until March. I've seen over 100% profit on some ebay sales.

Dont forget the difference in voltages

UK 240v / Canada 110v

Make sure your system had a PSU that you can switch between 110 and 240v

No point in bringing over a nice PC from the UK, only to find your PSU only operates at 240v. Now who would look really embarrased !!!!!!!!!

Eddie

Why don't you just throw the darn thing away and buy a new Mac when you arrive in Canada? The true luxury computer

yea, gaming is my main reason for not going for a laptop.

I intend to actually buy the PC in Canada, can I not solve the voltage issue with one of those transformers you can pick up from electrical stores? or do I need a variable PSU?

thanks for the help

If you decide to buy a computer in Canada, you could look at Best Buy

http://www.bestbuycanada.ca/home.asp

They just opened a new store here about a month ago and the prices are supposed to be really good.

I wouldnt worry too much about that. most PSU's in UK are dual voltage and only cost about £30 - one bought in Canada may not be dual of course - any canadians confirm availability of dual PSU's?

another alternative is to have a case at each end and just transport the components - similar to the hard drive solution but also transporting motherboard and graphics card. keyboards mice and floppy drives are cheap enough to have some each side of the pond.