Buy new laptop or transport

deliinmybelly

Honorable
Apr 23, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hey everyone,

So this is a bit of a two-part question. To boil it down: I am moving across the country for law school and don't know if I should figure out 1) how to move my monster desktop or just 2) buy a new laptop.

Details: I absolutely need a beast of a computer because I play the latest games on the highest qualities and do a lot of Photoshop and other video editing work.

I built a desktop about half a year ago: i7-2600k overclocked to 4ghz, 16gig 1600mhz ripjaws, radeon 6870, 80gig intel 310 ssd for OS, office suite, adobe software, and 1.5 terabyte hd for movies, games, and other programs.

Since I built this desktop computer recently and put quite a bit of money into it, I'd prefer to keep it. Which is part one of my question: I'm going to move halfway across the computer and have no idea how to transport the desktop. Is it safe to take it onto the plane, either check-in or carry-on? I'm scared it'd get destroyed in the process, but shipping it doesn't sound like a very cost-efficient method either, considering it weighs probably 30-40+ pounds. And could get destroyed that way too.

If transporting doesn't work, since I'm working full-time, I could afford technically afford to buy or customize a laptop, leave the desktop at home and bring the laptop with me to school instead. In that case, does anybody have recommendations? I don't have any preferences for IB vs. SB, Intel vs. AMD, etc, but I would prefer the laptop to be of a comparable build to my desktop and around the $1500 range. CPU should clock to over 3ghz, preferably 8g ram, GPU should be in the higher tiers, and an SSD isn't be a must, but would be nice (or a hybrid drive would work too).
 

deliinmybelly

Honorable
Apr 23, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hmm. True, I could sell it. Haven't really entertained this option yet because I'm working full-time so money isn't too big of an issue for me. More importantly though, rebuilding a new desktop wherever I relocate to doesn't actually solve the problem since whenever I come home (winter break, summer break, etc), I would just face the exact same problem again: how do I get the desktop home? :X