Just a note on your exclamation about disassembled computers - some components are more likely to potentially rip off and do internal damage when transported, like a GPU or CPU cooler. So people will either pack the inside of the case with something to prevent movement, or in other cases completely remove the heavy bits and carry them separately. It’s more of a worry for higher end parts that have higher heat dissipation needs (as the OP says, “suitable for larger storage, video editing, etc”), since they usually have more mass & metal to them. I don’t disagree with your conclusion, however.

imo it's a big assumption to conclude Westerner = white, so if you're likely to have an easier time as a white person then perhaps leave it at that. Unless there'd be a difference if you're carrying a UK vs US passport.

imo, it's a big assumption to conclude that custom officers will look at skin color to determine where a person is from, as opposed to, dunno, checking which country was the issuer of the visitor's passport. the author of this answer could remove the racial remark with no loss to the message.

@MindwinRememberMonica: Customs officers are a law unto themselves. And everybody notices a person's skin colour. So I don't think your concerns are based in reality.

+1. Doesn't answer the question directly of what the laws and exemptions are, but it answers the question that should have been asked: should OP be worried about it. For a more thorough legal breakdown OP can consider asking on law.SE

Not every mention of skin color automatically makes the speaker a racist.

In 202x, one should be wary to mention ethnicity unless strictly necessary. I still believe the remark on this answer is ancillary at best and not necessary. Therefore it's chaff and should be removed. Do we need to make assumptions on OP's genetic makeup? No. I'm striving for objectivity here. No more, no less.

@FreeMan it's like MS Hearts back in windows 95. Don't play the racism card before anyone else does. It is not a part of this discussion and exactly what I was trying to avoid.

@TonyK my concerns are based on objectivity and what makes a good StackExchange Q&A. Reality be damned. Trying to read the sidelines of an autistic person's comments will net you a visit to the eye doctor. There's no innuendo here.

@MindwinRememberMonica Acting as if perceived ethnicity doesn't affect travel experiences a lot is... absolutely bonkers. Perceived ethnicity (combination of color of skin and shape of face primarily I guess) is completely objectively a big part of travel. It completely changes the risks involved with various activities. I have absolutely no idea why bringing that up on a travel site would be an issue...?

@MindwinRememberMonica You are right. Custom Officials are made of the best and brightest^tm And are not bigoted or racist in anyway so skin color is completely irrelevant....

@MindwinRememberMonica Unfortunate as it is, in the real world, ethnic profiling does happen. Get outside the airport where people aren't looking at your passport and see if all of a sudden they treat you the same. To the extent that it might actually affect travellers (regardless of myself or anyone else with the same question), I don't see why it wouldn't be appropriate to mention on a travel QA.

To add to @fyrepenguin's remark, another reason for disassembling a desktop PC is that unless it's a small form factor, they're hard to fit whole in carry-on, and checked bags often get extremely rough treatment, and, so I hear, in some parts of the world may also be subject to theft of valuable contents by airport staff. So it may be better to pack most internals into carry-on, either packing the bulkier case and PSU into checked luggage, or just buying those at the destination.

I didn't have much trouble getting two laptops plus flat panel into a couple other developing countries; however, I don't think they had a similar law. Going without the 2nd laptop really isn't ideal, but huge trouble at border control would be much worse. So, if the desktop and one of the laptops are indispensable, it sounds like the best bet may be to go with those two; I think it's pretty defensible that desktop vs. laptop have different uses. Would that approach mitigate the "asking for trouble"?

"As a Westerner (which I presume means you're Caucasian)": That is a racist presumption. Literally hundreds of millions of non-white people live in western countries.

@GregMartin It's the OP's own term, and they themselves called it out to emphasize that they do not have an African appearance.

I don't know much about Uganda, but I think I remember reading in an volume of "The Book of Lists" where it was listed as using rape by trained dogs as a method of punishment. Maybe those days are past, but with that history 'overthinking' isn't the worst thing that could happen.