Question Case designed to be carry-on luggage for frequent traveler?

[Meltdown19k]

This may sound wild to some of you, but I wanted to talk it out and see if anything pre-made existed or if anyone had any experience with this.

I travel for work. I'm gone M-F and fly home every weekend. That's 2 flights a week. I'm an avid gamer, video editor and renderer. Needless to say, this comes with hardware that you cannot find in a laptop for under $5000. I can't even find a laptop with a 2080TI.

My current laptop works alright but I'd really like to be able to travel with my PC full time. I've seen DIY builds of "briefcase" PCs of varying quality. I'm wondering if anyone has seen a roller luggage mod that could be used as a carry on. I'd never check something like this.

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has successfully traveled with a desktop PC as a carry on (not checked) and how TSA handled it. I have TSA pre-check, so I'm hoping I'd just be able to flop it open and let them see it. It wouldn't have anything different from a laptop in it.

 

[Meltdown19k]

Here is the contact page: https://nfc-systems.com/contact

Thanks! I'll reach out

Airlines have specific size for carry-ons, and they may decide to enforce/not-enforce the rule inconsistently, just be aware.

9 x 14 x 22" including any handles/wheels.

Yup! Very aware of that. I've been thinking about using this pelican case as the base. All reviews I've read say it fits overhead perfectly.

Get a case that's easy to take apart because TSA security will think it's a bomb. I'd just go with a high end 1080p gaming laptop that way there is no question.

Yeah... That's my biggest concern. If I do pull the trigger my plan is to have it essentially open face mounted to the inside of a pelican case so I can just pop it open so they can get a good easy look.

I would check out some itx cases like the sm550 or 560 from www.sliger.com
Maybe Lian Li Tu150 might be intersting too.

From a quick look I love how they look. I'll definitely check that out.

 

[hang-the-9]

Unfortunately, lowering my expectations is the opposite of what I'm trying to do here. I've spent the last year on the road with a "good enough" laptop with an i7-7700HQ, 32GB RAM and a 1070 MaxQ. Runs games well enough but rendering and editing video suffer.

"Good enough" works when I'm taking a long weekend or a vacation, but when I spend 5/7th of my life on the road I need to figure out a way to go beyond that.

This is specifically so that I can set it up in my hotel during the week. It is not at all for use in the airport. My goal is literally to have a normal desktop PC that can handle the rigors of frequent travel.

Well update the post when you get something that works, I have seen a lot of "I want to build a desktop system that travels like a laptop" posts but not one final solution was ever seen, the posts just died. You also need to carry the monitor with you, unless you arrange one from the place you are staying. Carting around a gaming 22,24" monitor along with you on a plane is not very practical just for the size. And using a system with a smaller worse quality monitor does not sound like that is the goal.

You can also ship things ahead of time to your destination if you don't want to deal with checking things through airports or putting a computer in luggage. Although you would probably want to remove the video card each time to make sure it's not damaged during travel/shipment.

 

[Meltdown19k]

Well update the post when you get something that works, I have seen a lot of "I want to build a desktop system that travels like a laptop" posts but not one final solution was ever seen, the posts just died. You also need to carry the monitor with you, unless you arrange one from the place you are staying. Carting around a gaming 22,24" monitor along with you on a plane is not very practical just for the size. And using a system with a smaller worse quality monitor does not sound like that is the goal.

You can also ship things ahead of time to your destination if you don't want to deal with checking things through airports or putting a computer in luggage. Although you would probably want to remove the video card each time to make sure it's not damaged during travel/shipment.

I intend to! Regarding the monitor situation, I still haven't thought of a good plan. I might just have to stick with travel monitors. I have a travel monitor that does well for me and is surprisingly high quality. You're right that ideally a monitor would come with me, but that's something I can figure out secondarily.

My idea is taking a little more shape. I started thinking about just putting a case in the pelican but the hardest part is the fact that my full size ATX motherboard is about 10" and the ID of the pelican case is 11 and I can't find any cases that are that small.

What's shaping up is that I'm going to mount something like this or or this to a rectangular frame made out of extruded aluminum that is the slightly smaller than the size of the inside of the pelican case. The extra room will be taken up by some sort of padding or rubber bubble shocks to help mitigate the shaking of the case when it's wheeled around / lifted.

The nice part of going with extruded aluminum is that I'll be able to attach cross bars and adjust their position to mount the rest of the hardware. From there I can 3D print or purchase supports for the video card and the heat sink to prevent wobble and shearing.

And since it'll be form fit to the inside and held in place via tension there won't be a need to screw or attach it to the case so when it comes time for TSA I can just lift the whole frame out of the case for inspection if needed.

I'm mostly wanting to talk to people about potential issues. Static is something I'm a little worried about. I've considered not doing bubble mounts but instead layering the inside with ~1/2" rubber. I'm not sure that would be soft enough to truly help with small impacts (mostly putting it in the overhead bins and taking it out). Supporting everything is another issue.

Edit: This looks promising, but I don't know if the dimensions are there for it.

 

[USAFRet]

And not all overhed spaces are the same size.
A regional Embraer RJ145 has a smaller size bin size than a 757.

What you bring as your "carryon" ends up getting thrown onto the conveyor belt and into the hold anyway.

 

[Meltdown19k]

What you bring as your "carryon" ends up getting thrown onto the conveyor belt and into the hold anyway.

Unless there's a secret conveyor belt in the overhead storage, I very much doubt that. I exclusively fly jetblue so I'm not worried about changing overhead sizes. That being said, it's always a good idea to check the overhead capacity when booking a flight. Getting surprised at the gate is only your own fault.

 

[USAFRet]

Unless there's a secret conveyor belt in the overhead storage, I very much doubt that. I exclusively fly jetblue so I'm not worried about changing overhead sizes. That being said, it's always a good idea to check the overhead capacity when booking a flight. Getting surprised at the gate is only your own fault.

No, not a secret conveyor.
If your bag is a little bit too large for the SMALL overhead in that jet, they tag it and take it as you go down the jetway.

Handed to a guy on the ramp, tossed onto the conveyor, and shuttled up to the back of the hold.
Those are the first things to come out, and you get them as you come off the jet. Not baggage claim.

A case or bag that would fit a 757 carryon might not fit some other jet. And you have little control over which airframe you ride in.

"tossed onto the conveyor" = 1 foot horizontal and 8" vertical "toss"
A laptop in a padded bag would survive no problem.
A desktop and a large GPU...maybe not.

I literally watched this procedure 2 days ago.


Just giving another viewpoint. Take it as you will.

 

[Meltdown19k]

No, not a secret conveyor.
If your bag is a little bit too large for the SMALL overhead in that jet, they tag it and take it as you go down the jetway.

Handed to a guy on the ramp, tossed onto the conveyor, and shuttled up to the back of the hold.
Those are the first things to come out, and you get them as you come off the jet. Not baggage claim.

A case or bag that would fit a 757 carryon might not fit some other jet. And you have little control over which airframe you ride in.

"tossed onto the conveyor" = 1 foot horizontal and 8" vertical "toss"
A laptop in a padded bag would survive no problem.
A desktop and a large GPU...maybe not.

I literally watched this procedure 2 days ago.


Just giving another viewpoint. Take it as you will.

I understand what you mean. You act like you have no say and they yank it out of your hand and throw it down the belt. I've had my bag tagged before because they thought it wouldn't fit. Since I do my research about my planes ahead of time, I just ripped it off on my way down the bridge and carried my bag on, and it fit. The solution is to know your bag's dimensions and know your plane's overhead capacity before booking the flight.

I appreciate your concern, this is derailing the thread. Do you have any feedback regarding the concerns I do have? Namely static and shock absorption (which I know won't be much).

 

[USAFRet]

No, they don't yank it from your hand.
You hand it to the person, and they take it from there.
They hand it back to you as you exit the jet.
What happens in between...
Sitting there, looking out the window, I watched the next jet over being loaded with exactly these items. A little bit of a toss onto the conveyor. I would not want to subject a desktop+2080 to that little toss.

A bag that absolutely qualifies in size and shape as a carry on sometimes does not fit.
Especially if the bins are already full.
Or if you're in a bulkhead seat with no underseat space. As specifically happened to my wife on Wednesday, with her backpack.
"Sorry, there is literally no more space in the overhead. We'll take it from here".

Anyway...

Can you DIY something inside of a Pelican? Probably.
I wouldn't count static as a concern.

 

[Meltdown19k]

I wouldn't count static as a concern.

I appreciate the constructive input. I wasn't sure if the wheels would cause static buildup. Regarding padding I'm hoping something like the bubble mounts or 1/2" of something will suffice.