We all have that skinny friend with the appetite that belies their profile. No matter how many times you’ve sat across the table, you marvel and ask yourself, “Where do they put it?”
The Superslim, a laptop bag designed by booq for the rollout of the new MacBook Pro, is kind of like that friend.
Best List: Superslim 13, Black-Tan by Booq
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
It looks like a sleeve with handles that couldn’t possibly have room for even your MacBook’s charging cord.
I tend to be brutal in the edit of my daily carry. Only the essentials. But when I pulled the Superslim 13 (there is also a Superslim 15 for a 15-inch MacBook Pro) from its box, I wondered what I could possibly say about a bag that doesn’t hold much.
Surely the words would come to me as I began to pack it. They just weren’t the words I thought I’d be writing.
Holds its own against bigger bags
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
I put my 13-inch MacBook Pro in the main compartment. It is an older model and, thus, thicker. Yet, I found leftover room to stash a document folder or a magazine.
In an open side pocket, I tucked my loosely rolled charging cable and, again, found room to spare. On the opposite side, a slim zippered pocket welcomed a notebook, pen, keys, iPhone, earbuds and a rather chunky CF card reader. There is also a fourth pocket, which, with all I had already packed, could still fit my iPad mini.
Slim with plenty of padding
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
OK, comparing the Superslim case to that skinny friend with the high metabolism is a slight exaggeration. You may have a day ahead that requires you to carry more than the Superslim will handle, but it is more accommodating that its appearance conveys.
Unlike the skinny friend, the profile will expand a bit depending on the bulk of the items you carry. But there is ample padding to protect slightly protruding objects from those micro-collisions a bag experiences on crowded walkways, trains and meandering steps in and out of public buildings.
That padding made me change another early impression. The Superslim is indeed a bag and not just a sleeve with handles and a shoulder strap. Love the hip charcoal color of the exterior, but wished booq had not lined the interior with a jarring checkered print of black, tan and white.
My everyday shoulder bag is the booq Shadow, also the kind of bag for minimal carries. What I like about both bags is they manage to stay put on a rounded shoulder that tends to let other bags slip off.
If the booq brand is new to you, the company makes a variety of tech bags and cases of all sizes and needs. While the products may vary in size and assignment, all are designed with simplicity and an understatement to avoid style clash and to keep the profile of your items under the radar.
Each bag has a serial number for the user to register in case it gets lost. A metal plate with the number also gives the finder a way to report it missing to the company.
Price: $60
Buy from: Booq
Booq provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See Cult of Mac’s reviews policy; and check out more stuff we recommend in our Best List reviews.
