auntieginzy

Can anyone recommend the best carrier to take our 27" iMac from the UK to the USA? We have the original box and packing.

penguinsix

Can you just bring it as excess baggage on your flight?

Or sell it and buy a new, and likely more powerful model here. The iMac is due for a refresh this month. Sell the old one there and use the money to upgrade. Macs have a very strong resale value.

HarryTheSpider

AddyLaddy

Ours came with the household shipping via the Panama canal. It was fine in its original packaging. I then went in to a US Apple store and they gave me a free replacement power cable so I didn't have to use an ugly adaptor.

I am also waiting to see if it gets a refresh this month though - the HDD is now full and I am too chicken to dismantle it and replace the drive!

auntieginzy

As our iMac is top of the range with the biggest memory and totally up todate, there is no way we are selling it or changing it. Apple have said they will replace the cable, but I don't really want it to go with the rest of the furniture as it's a long time to be without it. Want to send it with a carrier who is really reliable but no idea who is best?

fatbrit

There are no guarantees! I ship thousands of dollars worth of goods by Fedex every week despite the video below. Insurance is a better bet than a prayer.



If they break it, claim on the insurance. Then buy a non-Apple machine that's twice as fast at half the price and you've made on the deal.......and God doesn't have to kill another sweet and innocent puppy.

dbj1000

I can't imagine who I would trust to ship an iMac from the UK to the US. Any of the reputable shipping companies (UPS, FedEx etc.) can get the package here, but I wouldn't hold out high hopes of it arriving undamaged.

I agree with everyone's advice above. Sell it, and buy a new one here.

Just so you understand that this is genuine advice, I'll tell you that when I emigrated I had a Mac Pro, fully top of the range, only a couple of months old. Rather than face the problem you're facing with shipping, I backed the whole thing up on a large external hard drive, sold the computer, then carried the hard drive in my hand luggage. The day I arrived in the US I went out and bought another Mac, and was up and running with an exact copy of my UK system within a day.

If you do choose to ship the iMac, make sure you have a COMPLETE backup. Ideally, back up once to an online service, and once to external media that you carry with you. The worst outcome is that your shipped computer arrives damaged, and you can't recover the data.

Bink

I shipped mine it's original box in a container with all my stuff. It was fine. I did insure it all though just in case.

dbj1000

Yeah, but the OP is saying that (understandably) they don't want to be without their computer for as long as it will take to ship their other belongings.

I would have had no major worries about shipping a computer with our container of belongings either. But I also wouldn't want to wait a couple of months for it to arrive.

HarryTheSpider

OK.

So back it up, and put backup in your hand luggage.

Remove or otherwise protect any personal details you have on it - tax returns or PDFs of bank statements etc.

Take it with you on the plane as excess baggage, insured separately. Excess baggage will be between £35 & £70 depending on weight.

Good luck...

penguinsix

While it may be the latest and greatest, at this moment, by the time you get here it will be one generation lower. The new iMacs are already showing up in testing sites and the delivery time for orders of the current model have slipped to several weeks (a sign of inventory depletion before a new model). Most forecasts have the new model coming out in the next 3-6 weeks.

http://www.applebitch.com/2012/08/31...hmark-testing/

I would suggest checking ebay and seeing what you might be able to get for that model. You may be very surprised in that you'll be able to sell for as much as 75-80% of what you paid. And this is where it gets interesting.

When you buy in America you won't be paying VAT on the machine and will likely be able to get it a new machine for what you have in your wallet. For example:

The current price for the 'top' iMac on the Apple Store UK website is £1,649 which is about $2,618 USD. However if you look at the similarly spec'd model in the US Apple Store, you'll see the price is only $1,999, a savings of $600 USD (£400). Of course there are some bits and bobs like sales tax but generally it's quite a bit cheaper to buy one over here. Also factor in the cost of shipping your old computer it into that equation. Basically you can have a new computer for no expense, or very minimal.

But if you don't end up selling, I would recommend an external USB drive backup of everything you have. Carry that in your carry on as a backup until your machine arrives. I don't think UPS / FEDEX will be any better / worse / cheaper / more expensive than any other carrier. They all seem to be in the same general range and as you saw from the video you are at the mercy of the guy who is carrying it in the end, regardless of the uniform.

Good luck.

GeoffM

If you were to ship it in a container, be aware that apparently containers with PCs/Macs are more likely to be searched in detail through Customs which costs you extra money - possibly making it even less cost effective to ship. At least that's what Pickfords said.

civilservant

Another vote for sell it and buy new. Also remember you have to factor in the lack of Apple Tax in the US so the prices for new machines are inherently lower than the UK.

I wouldn't trust someone to ship my Air, let alone a honking great iMac.

ian-mstm

Respectfully, that's really not a good reason. If it was a dog, I'd understand your wanting to take it... but the iMac (or any computer for that matter) is just a hunk of machinery. Pull the hard drive and take the hard drive with you if you want... that'd make more sense!

Ian

Bluegrass Lass

I don't know what the price would have been in the UK, but my 17" Macbook Pro cost me around $2700 around 2 years ago.

I think the OP should backup the most important data online or on an external hard drive, and then bring it as a carry on on the plane, or yank the hard drive and sell the iMac.