Review: Crumpler’s Considerable Embarrassment Laptop Bag Is Small But Spacious
11:59 pm, October 20th, 2009, Traci Dauphin
Is Crumpler’s oddly-named Considerable Embarrassment messenger/laptop bag an embarrassment? Hardly.
The bag has a quirky name — as do all of Crumpler’s products. I won’t even try to understand what it means. What I do know is that looks are deceiving. Meaning that it can hold a ton of stuff, despite it’s slim profile. It doesn’t look like it should.
The Considerable Embarrassment is very stylish and sturdy without trying to be too trendy. I tested out the green bag. Love, love that it is all green without any other contrasting colors. Most of the five other colors available in the Embarrassment line — from black to blue — have contrasting colored side panels. Not this one.
The bag is water resistant, made from a tough, rip-resistant nylon shell and lining. Crumpler has a reputation for making tough bags. They last for years, making them a good investment.
The fully padded laptop compartment comfortably fit my 13″ MacBook with ease.
The six pocket organizer easily accommodates pens, a small wallet, my cell phone, lip gloss, aspirin and the battery charger. It has a small zippered section that can hold change or USB flash drives without the worry of losing them.
The three internal front pockets hold a water bottle, a plastic sandwich container and an iPod Touch. It also has a seperate zip pocket which nicely stashes magazines and files. All of this when closed weighs in at 10lbs and with the adjustable removable main strap and shoulder pad, little pressure was put on my shoulder from the fully-loaded bag.
There are a few annoying features. I dislike the velcro. It always sticks to the clothes on my arm. Velcro is also super loud when opened. I realize that there isn’t a messenger bag made that doesn’t have velcro, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
In addition to the two velcro strips, the bag has two clasps that close it, but they are slightly hard to open. The bag is lacking an outside pocket that would be useful for cell phone or iPod storage. Slightly annoying but I can see how it would add extra bulk.
The Considerable Embarrassment messenger/laptop bag retails for $95.00 and comes in black, blue, green, brown, red and grey.
There are two other messenger bags in the Embarrassment line. The Dreadful Embarrassment bag fits the 17″ MacBook Pro and all the machines in Apple’s PowerBook series. It retails for $100 and comes in five colors. The Moderate Embarrassment bag fits 13″ laptops. It retails for $90 and also comes in five colors.
Overall the Considerable Embarrassment is a slimming bag that looks inconspiciously stylish and holds way more than it should. I think it takes ten pounds off my overall appearance!
Company: Crumpler
Model: The Considerable Embarrassment messenger/laptop bag
List Price: $95.00
Compatible: All 13″ laptops
Buy Now: The Considerable Embarrassment messenger/laptop bag is available from Amazon for $95.00 with free shipping.
Posted by Traci Dauphin in Laptop Bags, Reviews | Comment on this article
Traci Dauphin is married to Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac, and is the mother of four beautiful children. She hates computers. 
I love Crumpler dearly and have the same model you just reviewed. It’s singularly awesome.
However I have found a bag without the noisy velcro – I have two now and they’re made by Rickshaw (http://www.rickshawbags.com/). They’re made from a fabric produced from recycled Coke bottles and they use a magnetic overlay strip on their velcro patches to allow you to open your bag all sneaky-like.
I switch between my Crumpler and my Rickshaw depending on how much extra crap I’m lugging around.
Stephen Collins, on October 21st, 2009 at 3:32 am
Man bags are always an embarrassment, especially anything that’s not black.
Ron Carlson, on October 21st, 2009 at 8:40 am
Worse still, the guy carrying this gets beaten up by the guys carrying Hemp bags.
imajoebob, on October 21st, 2009 at 11:38 am
Got one, daughter uses it. It’s been bomb-proof so far, but weapons-grade velcro is truly noisy. I’d recommend the bag to anyone, though, as it has taken a beating and still looks good.
Erin's Dad, on October 21st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I’m looking for a useful and comfortable bag and this review looks great! I did have a look on the crumpler website and found another bag named the “hee goer”, looked pretty much the same but for an extra $60 it is fully padded.
Lee Smith, on October 21st, 2009 at 2:26 pm