There are several occasions where you might want to ship your laptop somewhere, for example, if your laptop needs to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair, or if you are selling your laptop and need to post it to the buyer.
It is worth taking the time and putting in the effort to make sure your laptop is properly packed up for shipping in order to avoid unnecessary costs and damage to your laptop.
The following guidelines will give you the best chance of shipping a laptop that will arrive at its destination intact and unharmed.
How to ship a laptop
First of all if your laptop is going back for repair then it is essential that you back up all your important files and photographs before sending your laptop away in case your laptop has to be completely modified during repair by which time it will be too late to save them.
If you are selling your laptop then make sure that all your personal files and information have been completely wiped beforehand. There are a number of software programmes that can do this or you can ask an expert to do it for you.
Particularly when sending a laptop for repair, make sure you include the battery and AC adaptor as these will have to be ruled out as a cause of the problem or problems with your laptop. However, when including them in the box along with your laptop make sure they are not stored on top of the laptop as this could damage your laptop. It is best to lay these items next to your laptop in the box.
Make sure that the box you put your laptop in is the right size, if you have the original box that your laptop came in then perfect. If not then be careful not to choose one that is too small as it won’t offer enough protection for your laptop, or indeed one that is too large as the laptop will be subjected to more movement which will increase the possibility of damage. You can purchase boxes especially for shipping laptops. Ideally there should be a couple of inches to spare all round the laptop can you can pack this space with bubble wrap or other packing material.
Clearly label the laptop with the address of both the sender and the receiver and mark the outside of the package as fragile.
Some companies may arrange for your laptop to be collected, if not, when sending your package make sure to choose a company or a shipping method where you are able to track shipments and you should also maybe consider taking out insurance against your laptop being lost or damaged during transit.
If you want to find out all the latest news on tech why not subscribe to our RSS feed?
i want to use it for education