The original briefcase-style bag that came with my laptop one year ago was finally so torn that I decided to buy me a new bag. My criteria were the following:
it must be a backpack. I’m sick with having something on my side
it must be professional-looking. An amazing quantity of backpacks are ok for laptops but also sport flashy colors and such. I was to be able to walk in a pre-sales meeting with my bag.
it must be a small as possible. No more annoying people and myself in the Metro.
With all this, I was set on a Case Logic 15.4” Computer Backpack (depicted on left), but it proved near-impossible to find anything even remotely close in the usual Parisian stores (that is FNAC and Darty).
Out of despair, I visited Surcouf, the self-designated ‘computer fair’. I avoid going there usually, as there is a bit of walk from the Metro station, and they are a bit expensive. But they do have a *lot* of choice.
They didn’t, however, have the Case Logic bag of my dreams. What they did have were Samsonites. I considered them, and saw that they were good. So I got myself the smallest model (depicted on right), just enough to fit my laptop (the guy in the shop was sure it wouldn’t fit, but I had my laptop with me anyway). And a lunch box, though a bit squeezed.
Now, for a little ranting:
Surcouf only had 2 models: the ‘small’ and ‘large’. According to the vendor, they were going to stop selling the small type, for no good reason.
Samsonite actually offers 4 variations (the others being ‘basic’ and ‘expand’). However, they do not sell online (this is so 1995) and while they give addresses of resellers, they cannot tell whether those particular bags would be available in those shops.
They don’t even tell what laptop sizes would fit in their bags. Not that you can trust those figures: according to the vendor, the bag I got was for 14”-screens (my 15” fits perfect), while the larger version is supposed to fit 15.4” (my laptop had at least 2 cm spare space in them).
Finally, the price on Samsonite’s website is 55 euros, while I paid 70 euros…
About Eric Lefevre-Ardant
Independent technical consultant.
I ve got exactly the same bag, it is comfortable, small and cute, the only problem is that wide screens dont fit inside! otherwise it is quite elegant!
Yeah… I think I would have preferred the slightly bigger model (“basic”), but I fear it is not sold in France (Surcouf seems to be the only reseller of Samsonite ICT gear — I guess that ICT means Information & Computer Technology)… I couldn’t even find an online reseller.
To check if a backpack holds my laptop I usually go to http://www.ebags.com (they have a dedicated tools which knows the dimension of most laptops, you don’t need to look for them yourself)
I never ordered directly over there though yet, but the choice is huge. (you can search by brand, features and they have usually many pictures of each bags.)
Yes, I’ve used eBags before. That’s how I got to find about the Case Logic backpack. Their search engine is not perfect, though: it does not seem possible to do a search based simultaneously on size and type of laptop bag. So you still have to browse through hundreds of bags to find one you like.
Strangely enough, they do not seem to carry the Samsonite bag series that I got. They do sell one that seem good (Samsonite Pro-DLX) but at a price of 180€.
Apparently, they do not ship from the US to Europe. And their UK branch does not ship outside the UK (?!).
Eric, your rss feed isnt working :s
Fixed the RSS feed. I had added smt in the main index page and that appeared in the RSS feeds as well.