The trouble with 17" laptops
Friday, August 24, 2007 at 01:35AM Finding a laptop bag is not meant to be hard; there are more obscure pieces of technology that take an entire scavenger hunt to locate. Take for example, my laptop keyboard's control button. That puppy popped off and I thought I would never hear the happy tap of my "Ctrl" button again. But, thanks to some friendly powncers, I acquired a new one on eBay.
As I have discovered in the past few days in Seattle, finding a case which holds a fresh flashy laptop can be difficult. My uncle has a spanking new 17" widescreen HP which requires a bag that can protect a laptop of that size, preferably with wheels, lightweight, and under $50. I looked at online retailers, as well as on foot at Fry's, Circuit City and Office Depot. A few bad salesmen later, no luck.
The search finally ended at Best Buy. I found a lightweight Targus messenger bag for $25.99, on sale for half price. The compartment for the laptop has a good amount of padding, though the shoulder strap could use a little more. The bag also features an accessory organizer and cell phone case. No wheels, but it's still not a bad buy for 25 bucks!
Big screen laptops are here to stay. I think it's time that bag makers get with it and provide more wide-load friendly gear with a smaller price tag.
Reader Comments (6)
The applesacs are $29.99, and darn sexy. I have the desktop mac, but if I had a laptop, I'd get that one.
http://applesac.com/
Targus makes a pretty good bag. I like STM (what I currently have) and also Booq (my last bag before the STM). I have had Targus bags in the past though. Now I'm mostly a backpack guy.
Gawd, i have an Acer laptop (20") and i had to tug that thing along in a big shopping back for about half a year....they only started (targus) to make 19/20" bags only recently...
but
no wheels....
it is incredibly painful to carry a 20pound(!) laptop bag with the strap around your shoulder...
http://store.mozilla.org/product.php?code=MZ34014&catid=10
It's what I have and I love it.
I saw and followed your post on Pownce to here,
I too am on the hunt for a new laptop bag, but I'm looking for more of a sling type (one strap) bag. I've looked at the Sling Pack from incase and a Belkin sling type of bag too. I don't need to carry much, just the laptop, power-cord and extra mouse. So for me, a sling is the way to go.
Dred242
www.Dred242.com
www.DigitalDred.com
Pownce User: Dred242
Laptop bags are so hard to buy. Of the ones I have I keep returning to my Crumpler bag. It cost a small fortune (£120, so about $220) but it has room for loads and loads of stuff. Its been dropped countless times and never damaged my computers once.
I did, for a while, manage to transport THREE laptops in it with ease. The only problem is that it is massive! And I'm not that big a guy.
Right now, I have a £30 ($60) slip case for my MacBook Pro and I then place that in a while plastic drawstring shoulder bad that Apple give away in their retail stores - god help me when I drop it...