Recommendations For A Good Laptop Bag? 824
YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT writes "So, I was jogging to the bus stop this morning when suddenly - snap, the weight of the laptop on my shoulder vanished, and I heard the dull thud of my powerbook bag hitting the pavement at a wince-inducing speed. The laptop seems to be alright, but the bag (a WWDC giveaway) is completely knackered. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, impact resistant laptop bag that won't come flying apart under stress? Perhaps it's not too late to guilt work into buying me one for a late Christmas present."
Jansport (Score:3, Informative)
My XMas present (Score:1, Informative)
Willow Design maybe? (Score:5, Informative)
They're relatively heavy-duty and not too bad-looking, although they could be better.
I have recently purchaced this one... (Score:1, Informative)
I find it to be very sturdy I'm sure I could drop it and the laptop would be fine, unfortunatly it can be rather pricey.
I find it important that it does not look like a normal laptop bag and therfore does not attract thieves
Crump-lah! (Score:2, Informative)
Plus you can't beat the names of any Crumpler bags: Wack-o-phone, McBain's Lovechild, etc.
http://www.crumplerusa.com [crumplerusa.com]
thinkpad standard bag (Score:3, Informative)
I recommend Targus Bags. (Score:5, Informative)
It's very sturdy, has a very strong shoulder strap & handle, and has enough room to carry my documents, my powerbook, iPod, iPod Dock & headphones, iPod & Laptop adaptors, extra power cable, and digital camera USB cable. It does everything I need it to, and it was pretty cheap too ($65 at Best Buy, IIRC).
And if you want to know if it's strong enough...I let my friend carry my powerbook in the bag. He tripped and dropped the powerbook, only to then land on top of it. Everything inside was just fine, and everything outside is fine too; barely a scratch on the bag itself.
Brenthaven (Score:5, Informative)
It was a bit on the pricey side compared to what I was thinking (about $100), but it's a really nice, well constructed bag and the padding will pay for itself if you ride the train like I do and would otherwise bang up your laptop.
http://www.brenthaven.com/products/index.html [brenthaven.com]
ThinkGeek: Sutf for Smart Masses (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/
Timbuk2 (Score:3, Informative)
San Francisco's finest: Timbuk2 [timbuk2.com].
They do a bunch of different bags, including commuter and courier bags with padded laptop sleeves. I got one after lots of friends steered me in that direction. Had it for a couple of years; it's bombproof. And also waterproof.
Pelican cases (Score:5, Informative)
If you don't know where to find them near you, check with surveying supply shops, and electronics parts supply (the commercial type, not Radio Shack)
try Spire (Score:5, Informative)
I've been using an Endo for a few years now, super rugged.. even survived the washing machine when it got super stinky once (another tale for another time) with no ill effects. Looks good enough for meeting rooms, rugged enough to handle travel, and slings across the back for bicycle/motorcycle rides or just to get the hands free.
The wife uses a Volt pack. Both come with padded sleeves for your laptop and the usual sets of pockets and storage.
Well worth the money.
Re:Brenthaven (Score:5, Informative)
Tech-air (Score:2, Informative)
~Pev
Sleevecase + Messenger Bag = Perfection (Score:3, Informative)
I use a sleevecase [sfbags.com] for my powerbook. The sleevecase fits the powerbook like a glove, and does a great job of protecting from bumps and scratches.
Slip the powerbook into the sleeve, and slip the sleeve into a messenger bag [timbuk2.com] (or better yet, a leather version)... Perfection!
Timbuk2 (Score:4, Informative)
Mine is a Bolo with a few goodies and a center divider. I made mine with waterproofed canvas (unfortunately, they don't offer that fabric anymore), and I also have a sleeve for the 15" PowerBook as well. It's the best bag I've ever owned, and if I ever get another PowerBook I'll just make sure to buy a sleeve to fit. The sleeves have handles, too, for a little extra protection.
Timbuk2 also makes the best iPod holders, as well - and they make a handy case for a 1900-series iPaq handheld, too, along with a couple of SD cards. And their custom bags are US-made, which I find to be a nice bonus.
Kensington Saddlebag (Score:2, Informative)
Tom Bihn (Score:3, Informative)
Tom Bihn [tombihn.com] makes and sells backpacks and shoulder bags for all kinds of laptops. They're made in the USA of nice materials.
Many of the bags that don't have built-in laptop support have snaps that can be used to hold a ``Brain Bag'' (available in various sizes) for a laptop. The Brain Bags suspend the laptop in a cradle inside a box with hardish sides.
Nice bags. Nice people.
Timbuk2 all the way!! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A backpack! (Score:5, Informative)
To say the least, I'm very pleased. Its got a lifetime guarantee, and is very very strong. I once nearly got in a fight with a kid who had an attitude big enough to fill the Grand Canyon. I just walked away, but he came in from behind and punched at my bag repeatedly. In my bag was my laptop, and a few books. I was worried that he had damaged the laptop, but there wasn't even a single thing wrong when I checked it out.
The bag is also large enough to hold three laptops in relative safety.
Their website is www.techair.co.uk
The exact bag I have is called a New York Black; http://www.coluco.com/tecair/product.asp?ProductI
Hope thats helpful enough.
NeoThermic
Spire (Score:3, Informative)
Seriously dude...Spire...
J
One Case to Rule Them All (Score:5, Informative)
A little pricey, but worth being acting nice all year for. Well hard protection for your preciouss.
Holiday Cheers, Jouni
Re:A backpack! (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.targus.com/us/cases_notebook_backpac
Roll your own, cheap and easy. (Score:5, Informative)
The ideal situation I found was this: Fill a cheap walmart school bookbag with 16 inches of foam. I used a mattress-enhancer [lots of foam for around 12 bucks, and in convienient sheet form]. Cut as appropriate and fold the sheets in a coil, until the entire bookbag [get a smaller one, obviously], is almost bursting at the seams with excessive foam load. Leave just enough room for your laptop [and don't forget foam on the bottom and a few layers to fold over the top. I once dropped this down a flight of stairs. It just bounced happily to a rest, no damage to the laptop.
Plus, it looks crappy enough you can take it anywhere without it being a target for theft, like as a swanky specialized laptop case would be.
Spire (Score:3, Informative)
I'm a satisfied customer.
Re:I recommend Targus Bags. (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, they keep the laptop pretty dry in heavy rain. I've been caught a few times having to walk a mile in unexpected heavy rain while carrying the laptop. Only once did the laptop show any signs of being wet, and at that it was only very very slightly. I let it dry and didn't have any problems.
Re:Jansport (Score:3, Informative)
The best bet if you go the backpack route is to get one of those spiffy outdoors-hiker-sportsman-mountain-climber-looking backpacks that everyone seems to have simply because the straps are far stronger than the traditional get-your-books-to-school kind of bags.
Brenthaven is the best! (Score:3, Informative)
A good bag is like insurance... after all, if you spend $3000 on a laptop, shouldn't you shell out $200 for a decent bag to protect it?
The best prices I've found online are at Irv's Discount Luggage [irvs.com].
Aluminum Case from Think Geek (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/5a4f/ [slashdot.org]
Costco! (Score:2, Informative)
I got an expanding shoulder bag from Costco that has got a padded independent laptop sleeve. It's a Kirkland bag (seems to be Costco's own brand), and it's absolutely brilliant. It's been around the world with me and still looks brand new. The only slight concern is the weight. It's very tightly made though, so you have to expect some bulk. It's about 2kg on it's own I think.
Timbuk2 (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, and they also make a neat little iPod case that'll go on the strap of the bag. (As well as a cellphone case, radio case, and strap bag. Totally handy stuff.)
backpack (Score:2, Informative)
i'll prolly spring for a brenthaven next time around, but when i was in the market, there were very few laptop-backpacks which would fit a 15" tibook. i think market demand for carrying bigger screen laptops has changed that though.
don't be a dumbass ;-) get a new bag to protect your gear(and your livelihood)!
Tom Bihn (Score:2, Informative)
Extremely durable, and the absolute best combination I've seen for students. The site has a wide variety of different bags in many different styles though. Has a guide for which size case will fit which laptop.
Pelican case!!! (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Spire (Score:2, Informative)
As a bonus, and as has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, it doesn't look like a laptop case - a huge plus when traveling.
Just my opinion obviously, but if I ever need another laptop bag, I'll never buy anything else.
Re:Tom Bihn (Score:2, Informative)
You get what you pay for... (Score:2, Informative)
shinza.com zeroshock sleeves....WOW (Score:3, Informative)
Targus (Score:5, Informative)
Re:try Spire (Score:2, Informative)
I second this one.
I got a 2000-model Spire for a PowerBook G3 [apple.com], and it has been absolutely perfect. Good materials and construction, lots of pockets, comfortable to carry. When I switched to a PowerBook G4 17-inch [apple.com] this year, I couldn't bring myself to retire the bag. The aluminum monster fits with the padded sleeve removed. I was initially concerned about possible damage to the laptop, but after more than half a year of daily bus rides, the machine is in perfect condition. It's really a fantastic bag.
Best Bag I've Ever Had ... (Score:5, Informative)
But, the fact of the matter is, you get what you pay for. Tumi spends an incredible amount of time & money researching typical usage patterns, wear & tear damage, and the types of storage compartments that people actually use.
I'm currently on Tumi bag #2 in my lifetime (I switched from a backpack to a saddlebag two years ago). All the pockets seem to be in the perfect place, there's no significant wear to speak of... the bag looks great & protects my laptop very well. I'll continue to buy Tumi for all my luggage as long as I can afford it.
Do yourself a favor & spend the extra dough.
--Mid
From an equipment expert (Score:4, Informative)
1) Backpack Brandname 'Lowe'. They've got one called 'Megabyte' and it's made of some super-extra-hyper thick cordura stuff that looks like Flakwest material. Indestructable, looks cool, costs a little.
2) Eagle Creek. With them I like the bags more than the packs. They got a set that look unobstrusive, yet are specially polstered for laptops. In case you drop it again. Again this is reference grade quality and will cost appropriately. These you can take out to serious business meetings and you won't get queer looks.
3) Big Warehouse inhouse noname brands. Honestly. If you (can) trust your judgement, this is a secret tip. Most brands, exept for the ones I mentioned above, have gone seriously cheapo within the last few years, so it actually is worth a try. My current laptoppack is a no-name from "Horten" (german Warehouse joint), it cost about a third of the brandname stuff, doesn't look to flashy but is of top quality and has some neat extras. Here you have to be carefull and triple check for sloppy seams, cheap material, cheap zippers and brittle cheapo-plastic fastex-rippoff buckles. Keep an eye on all that and you might find a real bargain.
Spire USA (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Targus (Score:5, Informative)
Great for travelling too - fits in the overhead locker a treat. When I travel it's laptop + bathroom in the rucksack, everything else in checked luggage.
Re:Hemp! (Score:3, Informative)
For paper, kenaf is better than hemp. It produces more fiber per year with little effort.
Cotton is certainly better for most clothing (we are far too used to the texture) and rayon is quite nice for high end stuff. Nylon and polyester can both be derived from corn oil if we really wanted to and nylon is certainly tougher. Several types of spider silk are much, much stronger and plain old silk is, well, silkier.
Hemp does have the benefit of being the best natural waterproof substance, but now with our nifty nano-textiles we have materials that really really repel water.
Soap from hemp is ok, but the exotic blends we have now are far better.
Further, the process to industrializing hemp isn't exactly cheap. We have hundreds of billions of dollars invested in processing petro, cotton, silk, trees, etc. It would take decades before you saw any major shift (which is the prime reason why kenaf isn't the prime source of paper right now).
Hemp is sort of like the peanut. Sure, we've proven there are 10,001 uses, but few are any better than what we have already.
Maybe it would be taken more seriously if its most vocal supporters were also for the legalization of marijuana. I mean the money it costs to patrol farms for hidden crops of marijuana right now is extreme... with the added problem of having to find them inside a crop of hemp would be down right impossible.
courier bags are made to handle abuse (Score:3, Informative)
while laptop bags are made to look okay in a boardroom. I use a Timbuk2 [timbuk2.com] messenger bag with a padded laptop insert that I removed from some Targus PoS when it died. It's lasted through five years of Fight Club-level travel, and I'm confident it could handle five years of Arthur Dent-level travel too.
The bag is also large enough to accomodate some tools, a book, and up to two days of clothing, meaning that I haven't checked baggage for a business trip in a long, long time. The smoothness of your travel experience is directly related to your ability to get from one end of a major hub airport to the other in the ten minutes between getting off of plane A and plane B's planned departure. If there are trams involved, this sort of trick is very likely to result in the death of your classic laptop bag's shoulder strap.
Re:A backpack! (Score:3, Informative)
I've had a Kensington Saddlebag [kensington.com] for about 8 years now. It's awesome. The best part is that it doesn't look like a laptop bag, so it's less of an inviting target for miscreants, and makes a great briefcase even when you're not carrying your laptop. Kensington has a version that is more like a sport backpack, which might be better suited to your lifestyle. In any case, Kensington's product line is leaps and bounds better than Targus.
Multiple choices (Score:3, Informative)
1)A Domke satchel - Jim Domke designed what is probably the most used professional camera bags back when. These are the bags pros use for their "working" bags, (Not storage/shipping cases). You see almost every TV crew with a bunch of them. Well, they make a satchel....
2)Someone else mentioned Eagle Creek - not bad, mine held up
3)You might want to look at what Blackhawk Industries, Eagle Industries (NOT Eagle creek - different folks), Tactical Taylor, LBI etc offer. I know Blackhawk offers a briefcase, I don't think Eagle does. Folks, if it's made by one of this last group, they are built like your life depends on it, frankly because, for most of their customers, it does (They supply "after market" stuff to various military and police units - the ones that say "We'll spend our own cash on better than issue") You can find links via Lightfighter.com
Spire Bags (Score:0, Informative)
Their backpacks are VERY comfortable (the straps won't strain your back or leave marks even if you have a heavy laptop with lots of accessories).
The backpacks are comparable to military grade backpacks - very durable and wont tear up over time if you like to stuff it full of heavy stuff.
This is their webpage [24.174.81.26]
Re:I recommend Targus Bags. (Score:3, Informative)
Comprehensive List (Score:4, Informative)
Some of them are geared toward the Apple Powerbook, but most are general purpose ones that would work well with any computer.
Make it Bomb-Proof (Score:5, Informative)
Historically, I have found Eastpack to be a better quality backpack that Jansport. But that may have changed after Coleman bought them several years ago. Guaranteed for life... maybe longer.
Re:Timbuk2 (Score:4, Informative)
Even sneaker companies like New Balance [newbalance.com] have some of their shoes and products made overseas, despite their strong pro-US manufacturing philosophy. The economics are pretty harsh. If you service a mass market, you're likely to send at least some portion of your business overseas - it's a sad reality of a global economy.
The flip side of it is that companies like Timbuk2, New Balance, and others have at least a stated goal to keep as much manufacturing here as feasible, along with the business aspects of the company as well. New Balance employs a lot of people here besides the ones in China, and a good number of the people here are making shoes. I can live with that. And I buy New Balance's shoes.
Re:A backpack! (Score:2, Informative)
I recommend it highly.
Kensington Saddlebag (Score:3, Informative)
I got a Kensington Saddlebag in '98, and I've still got it today. It's ballistic nylon with thick suede re-inforcement, and it has a buckled flap rather than a zipper over all the inside compartments. Completely indestructable, mostly weatherproof, and not that expensive. It works well either as a shoulder bag or backpack (with hide-away straps included), or can be toted around like a briefcase. It's taller than it is wide (you slip the notebook into it sidewise), and this makes it more maneuverable than courier-style bags.
Your friendly neighborhood Apple Store will have a black-on-black model with an embossed Apple logo in black on the flap. CompUSA will have the more prosaic models... I have the black-and-tan, but my next one will be the black-and-grey.
I've got a hyuuuge Targus backpack that's been holding up well, but it's overkill unless I'm carying around all my Java books, and the zippers leak in the rain. The belt strap is a nice touch if you're walking long distances with a ton o' junk, tho.
SoupIsGood Food
STM - Australian Laptop Bags. (Score:2, Informative)
I ended up going with the STM Alley, a messenger bag type affair. My bags go through alot, as my hole ridden previous backpack would tell you, yet thus far my STM Alley has not a single scratch. The Alley comes in two sizes, one for 12"s and one for up to 15.5"s. My 15.2" Mitac 8060b (sexy, sexy laptop) fits snugly inside along with some thin books, adapters, mouse and a CD wallet in the other compartments. However, if you need to carry any uberfat manuals and such around, a backpack would very likely have more space and be kinder on your back. My laptop is 2.7kg, and I find the combined weight of laptop and bag is fine for me.
STM also make backpacks and laptop inserts, as well as products to store/carry iPods, cameras, etc. Their website is standardtm.com.au [standardtm.com.au] . Plus, they're Australian made if that matters to you.
If you're not in Australia, or looking for a larger backpack, I think the Ogio Metro looks very nice.
Kelty Payload backpack (Score:3, Informative)
padding most important factor... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:A backpack! (Score:3, Informative)
Now for the bad news: I got it at the Bean outlet, and have never seen one since either in a store or online. But if you can find it...SNATCH IT UP! It is the best bag ever, and it will pain me when I have to part with it (the 12" iBook i want won't fit snugly enough).
Re:Make it Bomb-Proof (Score:5, Informative)
In any case you don't want to simply put a laptop unprotected in a regular backpack.
Re:try Spire (and bagreview.com) (Score:3, Informative)
When I was shopping around for my Powerbook bag, I found bagreview.com [bagreview.com] to be a great resource. He reviews many different kinds of bags, loads them up with a laptop, iPod, CD, cables, etc, and puts them through their paces. Definitely worth checking out.
$60/Month Colo'd Linux Server [aktiom.net]
Re:Targus (Score:3, Informative)
Dell Kenneth Cole Leather bag (Score:2, Informative)
Don't recall how much these guys run if you buy separately; I'm sure it's not all that cheap, but I'll never want another laptop bag again.
EMS backpack (Score:5, Informative)
Then again, it's not as stylish as an actual bag. But I work at a university, so I fit right in.