Not Recommended
- Trying to carry more than one container on the subway at rush hour. Now that I have my Macbook Pro, in all its gleaming perfection, I’m lugging around a laptop bag in addition to my purse and occasional bagged lunch. Just a couple days of this has convinced me that it’s about time to return to the giant messenger bag method, so I can combine at least two of those things into one item, and preferably all three. I’m not sure I want to bring back the actual bag I used for lugging textbooks in college, as it’s not very laptop friendly and is beginning to fall apart, so I’m in the market for a new one if you’ve got any suggestions. I want something that is extremely light when empty and very comfortable to wear for an extended period of time. It’s also got to have a padded laptop sleeve (suitable for the widescreen 15″ Pro) and an abundance of small pockets for the rest of my shit – cell phone, wallet, keys, iPod, DS Lite, novel, notebook, and so on. Go forth, and find me such a bag!
- Trader Joe’s Organic Trek Mix. This one only really applies if you happen, like Chris, to have a slight problem with whole almonds. And by “slight problem” I mean that after eating a couple handfuls of this stuff yesterday he spent the rest of the night on the couch, curled up fetal-style and moaning. He suggested that maybe he could eat the trek mix if he separated out the almonds, and I suggested that if I reached for a handful of trek mix and found myself with a handful of almonds instead that bad things might happen.
- Vitamin Water. I drank this stuff for years and loved it but it turns out I don’t really need to be chugging down crystalline fructose with my water. I’ve switched back to plain old water for the most part, or Hint when I’m craving a little flavor.
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There’s probably a Crumpler bag for you:
http://www.crumplerbags.com/
(They are awesome despite the insane website)
You’re actually the third person to recommend Crumpler since I got my laptop, but I find the site so unusably bad that I think I’m going to have to see the bags in person before I pay them much attention.
I’ve tried several messenger bags in the hopes of finding the perfect one. I’ve owned both Timbuk2 and Chrome, and tried my friend’s Crumpler and this other one that I can’t remember the name of which obviously doesn’t help much.
After trying them all it wasn’t even a contest, Chrome is far superior. It was more comfortable than the rest, more durable, cooler looking. More spacious when it needs to be but compact otherwise. It conforms to the body well. When it’s full it still feels light because of the way it’s designed, and when it’s empty it’s like it’s not even there.
Chrome does make bags with a padded laptop sleeve built-in, but those are more briefcase-ish. I went with the regular Chrome bag and a separate padded laptop sleeve (I like Axio). Hope that helps.
This has worked very well for me. http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=149730D6&nplm=TJ114Z/A
Namaste
Definitely go for the chrome bag. I use this model (http://www.chromebags.com/products/bags/show/14/) with a separate internal laptop sleeve (Chrome can provide one, or a third party, whichever works for you). It’s got a lifetime guarantee and is basically disaster proof. And you can get one like mine, in bright orange and black, for extra Halloween stylings!
http://www.tumi.com/backpacks_messengers/messengers/category_search/large_capacity_expandable_messenger_bag/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=41681
In black. (“Smoke” is not the new black.) May be a little small for you, but works for me.
Hi Emma,
Thanks for linking to my post on crystalline fructose! That post has become quite popular (I wouldn’t have thought it when I wrote it) and yesterday I went to the store to research these “health drinks” in person. I also did some research online and came up with a list of 23 that contain crystalline fructose, as well as some other goodies (aka: “natural” flavor).
I started writing it last night and have finally finished it. If it sounds interesting to you it’s at http://www.thefitshack.com/2007/04/26/23-health-drinks-that-contain-crystalline-fructose/
On your bag issue, would it work to use a wheeled bag on the subway? I bought an ergonomic bag from ebags.com. I fit my work laptop in it, 6 bottles of water, and a bunch of other stuff. I mainly wanted it because I tote around so much water and I didn’t want to carry it on my shoulder. That bag is a real “back saver”.
I’ll check back here and if you want the link to the one I bought I can find it.
All the best,
JoLynn
If you’re open to standard daypacks (as opposed to messenger bags), I’d strongly recommend The North Face’s “Bandwidth” pack: http://www.thenorthface.com/opencms/opencms/tnf/gear.jsp?site=NA&model=AE5V.
They’ve redesigned it slightly since I bought mine about four years ago. But the key features are still there — viz., a padded laptop compartment with mesh “craddle” for added protection and padded contoured shoulder straps so that the straps hug your shoulders rather than digging into the joint when you’re carrying a particularly heavy load. Oddly, the latter feature isn’t explicitly mentioned on their website, although the shoulder straps in the picture do appear to be identical to the shoulder straps on my pack.
I’m not sure what exactly is different about the new version, although one obvious thing is the angeled bottom of the main compartment, which is actually quite a desirable feature. And I say this as a former boy scout who learned early on that it’s generally a good idea to put heavy stuff on top of the pack to avoid lower back strain by maintaining a high center of gravity. I think this is basically what the angled main compartment is supposed to achieve.
However, even if it doesn’t make a huge difference, I would still say that this is an excellent backpack. Like I said, I’ve had mine for almost four years now. It received very heavy use during the duration of my time in college, and it held up like a champ. And, no, I’m not an employee of The North Face and I don’t own stock in the company. I just really like the backpack.
I used a crumpler bag for my daily bike commute for the better part of two years, and I’d rate it at ‘alright, i guess.’ It did the job well enough and was comfortable to ride with and carry, but when I was involved in a particularly nasty spill, I discovered that the padding on the internal pocket isn’t quite all it could be and ended up with the corner of my Thinkpad staved in. Fortunately for the person that hit me, I was too busy bleeding to notice this before they made their escape.
Also on the downside is that the material they make the bags out of is increadibly tough, right up to the point where it carves a great swath of pilled fabric across the back of your coat where it rubs and a lot of their range seems to be vexingly devoid of internal pockets, so your stuff all just ends up gathering in the Dark Pit Of Granola Bar Crumbs with your headphones unable to resist the the loving embrace of your cellphone charger cable and your iPod getting jiggy with every sharp cornered object it can find in there. And there’s also the fact their website is truely, truely awful.
Now I’ve got a MBP, I’ve been looking at the slightly more sober and functional bags at Spire (http://www.spireusa.com/products/EN6.htm), which look rather too like something you’d get from Targus for my taste, but seem to get rave reviews everwhere and have a build quality that suggests there’s a large constituant of people out there who enjoy scaling the north face of K2 while carrying a powerbook.
If you want something unique and sewn together by Hippies rather than 12 year old Malaysian girls, there’s the beautiful custom bags made by http://reloadbags.com/ – they’ll literally do anything you want if you’re willing to pay for it, from $120 up to $1000+. It’s a lot to spend on a bag, but I challenge you to look at thier gallery (http://reloadbags.com/bags/list.php?t=old&m=1) and not fantasise for a couple of minutes about what you might order.
i bike commute with my laptop every day, and i use a timbuk2 bag (http://www.timbuk2.com). they’re built really well. and are affordable. my medium sized bag with a padded laptop sleeve built in was 90 dollars. it’s water proof, high visibility (if that’s important), and just overall really tough. i fit my laptop, nalgene, camera, ipod, laptop power adapter, book or two, leatherman, bike tools, keys, bike lock, ipod cables, and sometimes a sweatshirt in it. granted, i pack tightly, but it all fits. i looked into chrome bags, as i know a lot of people that use them. however, they are more expensive than timbuk2’s, especially when you add in the $35 dollars for the laptop sleeve that isn’t included in the messenger bag style.
To add something different, not familiar with the messenger bag offerings but i’ve had Tom Bihn’s Smart Alec (tombihn/page/001/PROD/300/TB0103) for about four years now, paired it up with the then-available Monolith notebook sleeve, and it’s been awesome with the PB Ti (the too-flexible PowerBook). It’s exceptionally lightweight and very secure (all zippers face the wearer’s back and are tucked away). It’s been to metal concerts, the back of my car, bike trips, etc. and has held up flawlessly. Also, the site seems quite usable and tasteful so recent meals should stay down nicely. :^)
I’ve found that, for me, the bag that “a simple buddhist” recommends to be too small to hold anything more than the laptop itself.
I would highly recommend my previous case (an Incase Attaché) were it not too small for 15″ MacBook Pros. I recently ordered a Brenthaven shoulder case as a replacement for going to Japan. I have not yet used it (it is at my home, and I am at college still) but when I ordered it I was looking for similar features to the ones you are, i.e., room for DS Lite and the rest of my crap.
Here is a link to the Brenthaven case, good luck.
http://www.brenthaven.com/catalog-metro-deluxe.html
Timbuk2 makes really good messenger bags – like, ones that are actually used by real live bike couriers. Their laptop bag stood up to all the abuse I gave it in college, and if I needed the space I’d still be using it.
fellowes makes a beautifully useful neoprene zippered laptop sleeve that i love. i can throw it in my backpack and not worry about scratches or dings. they make one for 15″ and 17″ and it fits my powerbook very nicely. i got mine a lot cheaper at my college bookstore, somehow.
http://www.fellowes.com/Fellowes/site/products/ProductDetails.aspx?Id=97761