Notes

BYOC (Bring your own computer) is $40 per person for the weekend!
Link to purchase is: http://www.showclix.com/event/3898769
You may purchase individually or up to 5 together.
You can have either a 3-day pass or 3 individual 1-day passes. If you screw up on that part it will probably suck for you.

There is a community wiki page outlining what this is all about here: http://wiki.paxcommunity.net/paxwiki/BYOC
LOTS of good info there
I (Emily) will not vouch for the accuracy or up-to-dated-ness of its information, but it should be alright. Sometimes they change policy year-to-year

Seating is first come first served unless you have set up group seating ahead of time (which we plan to do). Minimum is 6 people for a group.
I'm planning to set this up with a girl who is part of an online community I am also part of that's related to PAX. She's super involved and way more knowledgeable than I am and is also super nice PLUS she sells lots of badges to people at cost). She'll probably also be working the BYOC check in desk! By collaborating with this girl we already have enough people for a group.

I've never done BYOC before so my information is second hand but also super useful (Any "I" or "we" is with regards to the girl answering my questions, not me):

-You can't share BYOC spots, badges are linked to your legal name-ish (you give it at check in at PAX, and get a barcode for your BYOC badge and barcodes for any expensive gear, which they ...kind of... check. you also can't get in the area without a BYOC badge, even if accompanied by someone who has one, for security purposes.
-You can charge things, have your own seat, and can usually end up only buying 1 meal/day at PAX if you stock your spot with snacks and drinks.
-I wouldn't just leave a cellphone or 3ds out willy-nilly, I'm more than comfortable sticking it into a tote that I can lock/unlock and that someone would have to actually fuck with to get into (rather than nonchalantly walk by and sweeping something into a pocket).
-You don't have to bring a gaming rig or PC at all for that matter, a laptop or nothing at all is totally fine!
-if you're there "with" people, it's not all that great unless everyone pays for BYOC - can't hang in there together if one person lacks, but it's still a good locker/lounge area.
-you can maybe come out ahead, pricewise, from BYOC swag. example from one person: this past year i got a decent mouse, and an xbox controller
-you can typically get checked in early enough so that you can get to the expo hall at 9 on Friday
-Friday it can be a bit of a clusterfuck, you usually are supposed to get in at 8 but sometimes convention center staff can be... prickly. you get in, you check in your equipment and set up, and then you can stay in that area or head to any queue to line up. you probably are best waiting for the extra entrances to open up if you want into expo, probably just as quick TBH... it can be a bit slow to check in to BYOC, so get there ASAP after eight - but they are trying to optimize this and speed it up as much as they can
-If you do a group it doesn't matter when you check in on Friday, your seat is assigned regardless
-They highly recommend that you lock laptops. the security of BYOC is mostly that you can't break locks and such without being noticed - even a flimsy laptop lock is good i leave everything/anything in BYOC, but I also have a plastic tote or backpack that's locked closed and locked to the table.
-one thing is that if you're NOT into PC Gaming, BYOC contests are for you! photoshopping, scavenger hunts, charades, high score of rainbow unicorn attack or speed tetris, that's how BYOC rolls. Other than last year (when I was too busy enforcing to participate in much of anything) I've always "made" the cost of my BYOC badge back in prizes...
-On a trivial note, we usually have swag bags for byoc attendees so you don't have to brave that line.
-If you get overwhelmed by crowds, attendance is such (what with people coming and going) that you have one of the lowest densities of people at all of PAX.
-my personal opinion is that if you plan on sitting there for even an hour a day, it's worth the $40.