PB's in AP's and XRAY machines some ROT's.. [Ti] xray machine safe for Powerbook?

[warwick teale]

Hi Guys, I travel all the time around the planet and across the oceans 
(to make this point...) monthly and my Ti667PB has some dings and 
scratches on the cover mainly from 'clowns', over zealous militia and 
don't cares who work airport security in all countries who have a 
zillion frustrated frequent travellers and tourists to deal with at 
x-ray machines daily.. including the  good people here at Chep Lap Kok 
(Hong Kong).

So, here's some  sound advice if you wanna have your pre-aluminium TiPB 
(the Titanium plastic ones' like mine...) in pristine condition and all 
the data intact.

1) XRAYs  have not hurt my Ti667 and all my klunky IBM laptops of old - 
but XRAY machines and their operators have. I have two large dents 
(dings) in the lid of my Ti from it's early days at a US airport where 
one person chucked the laptop across the rollers . I was so angry but 
was looking at the confrontational possibility of getting the usual 
u.s. airport private body search .. so just went on about my travel..

Lesson 1: XRAYS have not played havoc with my Ti - an old 'wives' tale 
maybe.

2) Make yourself a trusty LAPTOP sleave . I used double layered velvet 
with a velco wrap (like an envelope). I had it made in a hu tong in 
Beijing. works great! XRAYS? - no trouble.. XRAY machines - ok.. 
doesn't get scratched on the follers or when mishandled in the BIG 
PLASTIC TRAYS they have these days. ALSo stops usual scratches and 
certainly provokes some nice comments -  even form the most die hard 
stoney faced a/p security worker.

Also works well as a micro-mattress for your TiPB when you HAVE to take 
the laptop out of its case and put it in the plastic tray/bucket. Your 
Ti sleeve sets you out from the crowd of wintel people eagerly 
wondering what you have.

Lesson 2: practise safe carrying - use a sleeve.

3) get a study but low-key (as in inconspicuous) laptop case. Bright 
Metal ones plainly suck like the Rimowa  and other shiny 'groovy ones' 
- it is dented so badly and hits the grounds despite the padding 
causing me to have my Ti667 break at the hinge in Beijing airport. 
($HK2300 to fix that baby)

BEST LAPTOP CASE??: after at least 5 - I like the Pelican computer 
laptop case - water proof as well and floats with your TI safely snug 
while you splash around in Timor sea waiting for rescue - and besides 
it is cool. THe case is excellent in x-ray machines and looks low key 
and bounces when dropped from a small height. Like all Pelican cases it 
can be customised internally with tonnes of padding/foam - my best buy 
last year I'd say. XRAYS machines?? -- bounces down those too - like in 
India - so no breakage and no suspicious "ghosting" or whatever these 
people call it when they xray your laptop bag. PLace for iPOD spare 
battery and other goodies.

Oh and it also acts as an OK cushion to put you backside on while they 
a/p people in the usa have you remove you shoes and some times socks 
and as one post mentioned while your be DE-SARS'ed ... what ever .... 
ah travel is "wonderful" - NOT!

Lesson 3: not all laptop cases are the same - most are useless for the 
TiPB.

4) Get in the habit of putting the Ti (laptop case or not) as the LAST 
thing you have as you go through the xray. These days the security 
people take more time to check (look) at the machine and you will 
likely get through the metal detector quicker so you can 'catch' your 
Ti would it start sliding down the rollers....

Lesson 4: Let the impatient people go first - you have a lounge pass 
and WIFI access and an airport card - they probably don't

5) make sure the TiPB is powered off and NOT in sleep mode. Sleep mode 
PB's that suddenly come on when the lid opens scare many jittery people 
(and fellow passengers) who are used to klunky slow starting windows 
machines... you may end up with some gun toting 'official' with the 
bomb squad on top of you before you know it...

Lesson 5: be cool!

6) HOT BACKUP!--> buy an iPOD (and FW cable) or a cheap FW external 
disk or even another internal 60GB travel star and torx set - use the 
iPOD  for music but it is a wonderful BACKUP device. Keep you hot files 
that you MUST have like the outlook .PST file, your contacts (use iPOD 
for this), your presentations you worked on for months that you will 
use on this trip. Put OSX 10.1.5 on it and strip what you will never 
use and you have an instant FIREWIRE backup system. (I can't get 10.2 
on ky iPOD . anyone done this?),

Lesson 6: as Lord Baden Powel said "Be Prepared".

OK.. lot s more to tell.. but in summary XRAYS are ok but the XRAY 
machines and their varied trained personal are the TiPB's enemy.

w



On Friday, Apr 25, 2003, at 18:23 Asia/Hong_Kong, b wrote:

> Tarik Bilgin paused, thought it over, and spoke thusly:
>
>> On Friday, April 25, 2003, at 07:54  am, Jack wrote:
>>
>>> I'm planning to travel. Is it safe to put the Powerbook thru the 
>>> xray machine at
>>> airports?
>>>
>>
>> I've done it travelling to and from Turkey from the UK several times.
>>
>> Had no problems there.
>>
>> I think there was initial shock when first Ti went travelling and the 
>> guy was detained and searched in frisco airport, but my understanding 
>> was that once they knew what Ti's were this cleared up..
>
> frisco? no offense, but that is a really derogatory slang term for one 
> of the few livable cities on the Planet, just so you know [my hometown 
> too]
>
> ~flipper
>
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