Transporting iMac question (please help!)...

[doowrehs]

Hi there,

I'm soon to be moving overseas and will be shipping my iMac G5 20" to my new address by mail. I'd really be grateful if anyone could advise me what measures to take to ensure that it survives the journey. In particular, I'm worried about the CD drive, and whether all the bashing around, being tipped upside-down, etc. will cause it to go out of alignment. I remember when I bought a PC laptop in the past that it came with a fake CD pre-inserted into the drive (presumably to prevent the drive from bouncing around in transit). Should I do the same in this case and put a CD in the drive before shipping, or might that actually cause some damage? Also, are there any other internal things that might get damaged i.e. the hard-drive.

Any help very much appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[rdowns]

As long as you ship it in its box and packing material like it came to you, you should have no problems.

WARNING: Search MacRumors for a thread on the iMac's power supply. I think you will need to upgrade it in order to use it without frying it.

 

[~Shard~]

Yep, just ship it in its original box and you should be fine. However the PS is a good point - where are you moving to, and where are you currently? You may need to address the PS depending, as a move from 110V to 220V (or vice versa) would require a transformer to step up or step down, as I don't believe there is one built into the iMac.

 

[doowrehs]

Moving from the states to the UK. I hadn't considered the converter issue, as I thought it was just like most Apple stuff (i.e. change the plug and you're good to go). I know the UK is on 220v, so I guess I'll have to get a transformer when I get there. Hope they're not too pricey! Either way, many thanks for your help!

 

[~Shard~]

Moving from the states to the UK. I hadn't considered the converter issue, as I thought it was just like most Apple stuff (i.e. change the plug and you're good to go). I know the UK is on 220v, so I guess I'll have to get a transformer when I get there. Hope they're not too pricey! Either way, many thanks for your help!

Yep, you'll need to look into that then. Since you'll be going from 110V to 220V you'll need a step-down transformer of some sort, or perhaps you might want to look at a whole new power supply, but I don't know what the cost would be to swap that in. Otherwise, as I probably don't have to tell you, you'll fry your Mac as it will attempt to operate at twice the frequency!

Hmm, I've never looked, but some equipment do have transformers built in, or a switch on the back of the computer near the power supply allowing you to go from 110 to 220 - I don't think this is the case for Macs though... This is more common in smaller appliances like battery chargers, electric razors, etc.

 

[fwhh]

To be precise, the mains voltage in Europe (also GB) is 230V/50Hz....
With a tolerance in voltage of +6%/-10% or +10%/-6% depending on the former voltage... (DIN IEC 38)
;-)

 

[strider42]

Hmm, I've never looked, but some equipment do have transformers built in, or a switch on the back of the computer near the power supply allowing you to go from 110 to 220 - I don't think this is the case for Macs though... This is more common in smaller appliances like battery chargers, electric razors, etc.

The old CRT iMacs used to have self switching power supplies, but I don't know about the new one's. I think I remember a previous thread saying they didn't have universal power supplies, so a transformer would be necessary on a new machine.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Voltage may not be a problem forUK model...

Apple's Tech specs on the iMac list the following:

"Line voltage: 100-120V AC or 100-240V AC, depending on country of purchase"

Since it doesn't list a separate 220-240V model, it seems to imply that the international model is already multi volt.

You can check this out on your Machine - there should be a power label on it with the machines operating voltages.

 

[diamond geezer]

The PSU voltage info is printing on the back of the imac, just under the Power Socket.

I think that all US iMacs are 110v. Best to buy a replacement in the UK and then you'll have 110-240v.

Using transformers is always a bad move, to much chance of people forgetting and plugging the unit it sans-transformer.

boom

 

[doowrehs]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I've checked my iMac and it does indeed state that it only operates in the 100-120v region, which I guess is not too big a problem assuming I can pick up a cheap transformer.

What is a bigger problem, however (and something I've only just found out from perusing these forums), is that as soon as my iMac leaves the states it will be without warranty. Apparently, Apples's warranty for the iMac only covers repairs in the region the computer was purchased. So, should I have any problems down the line, I'm basically screwed. This seems extremely unfair to me, and I really don' t understand the reasoning behind such a policy. The situation I'm in means that I'll basically only get 1 month out of a "12 month" warranty. Bearing this in mind, I'm starting to think that bringing my iMac with me might not be such a good idea...

Thanks Apple.