laptop bags

Enter to win a high-end backpack from Harber London [Cult of Mac giveaway]

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Stylish, sophistication on the go.
Stylish, sophistication on the go.
Photo: Harber London

We’re giving one lucky person the chance to win a lavish Commuter Backpack from Harber London in this week’s giveaway. This spacious, 17-liter backpack retails for $234.

Available in three magnificent colors — olive, black and mocha — it’s a fantastic place to store your beloved electronics and personal belongings. And it’s even nicer if you win it!

WaterField crossbody bag carries a MacBook and iPad in Portrait Mode

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WaterField Designs Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief
The vertical carry better distributes the weight.
Photo: WaterField Designs

A new MacBook Air or iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard deserves protection that smells good.

Hear the name WaterField Designs and the part of the brain connected to the nose instantly recalls the rich scent of full grain leather.

One day after Apple announced its two newest products, the small-batch San Francisco manufacturer unveiled the Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief, in two sizes with two padded compartments for both an iPad and MacBook.

Elevate your carry style with this roomy roll-top backpack [Review]

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backpack review
Rosen is ready to find room for himself in a well-packed Moshi Captus backpack.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Moshi passed a critical first test as I opened up the box containing a review unit of its new roll-top backpack the company calls Captus.

My wife liked the looks of it.

Over the years, she has seen me review backpacks and messenger bags and while I reach nuanced conclusions for each, her evaluations are consistently blunt – most bags skew masculine.

This battle-tough backpack looks killer, too [Review]

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Thule Crossover 2 backpack
Ready for the world, the Thule Crossover 2 backpack.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

If you’re going to be seen carrying the same bag every day, its look and style are as important to many commuters as the bag’s ability to protect its contents.

Many shoulder bags and backpacks excel in one area and underwhelm in the other. Not the 20L Thule Crossover 2 backpack. It can be reviewed with just two words — ruggedly handsome.

Pick the perfect bag for traveling with your MacBook [Deals]

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This pair of laptop bags offers great choices for carrying your gear comfortably and in style.
This pair of laptop bags offers great choices for carrying your gear comfortably and in style.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The great thing about laptops is that they can go anywhere you do. But not every bag is best for carrying your MacBook in a way that’s safe, comfortable and stylish. So we’re excited to share this pair of bags from RIVACASE, a backpack and a carrying bag, each perfect for stylishly traveling with your most essential gear.

This backpack makes lugging life light work [Review]

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Shift Pack
The Shift Pack by Alpaka.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

My closet floor resembles a bullpen. But instead of pitchers, it houses a rotation of backpacks and bags ready to be activated for work, day-long excursions or extended travel. Depending on the week, I could shift between four or five bags.

But when Shift Pack recently arrived for a tryout, it threatened to retire a couple of my veterans. It is a single backpack that aims to cover all the bases, work, play and travel or all at once if necessary.

Baron Fig packs max features into minimal bags

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Slim, yes, but this bag can haul your daily carry.
Slim, yes, but this bag can haul your daily carry.
Photo: Baron Fig

Baron Fig, the brand that achieved a cult following among designers and artists with high-quality notebooks and pens, has come up with a thoughtful way for you to carry their tools.

Its new line of bags is called Bags for Thinkers, but the thought put into the function of each bag – a backpack, messenger bag and tote – goes beyond a clever name. How each works was created after soliciting the input of the fans of its other products.

This laptop bag’s a lifesaver — it stops bullets

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This shoulder bag protects your laptop - and body in case of gunfire.
This shoulder bag protects your laptop - and body in case of gunfire.
Photo: Force Training Institute

We plan for when our batteries run low, packing our shoulder bags with laptop cords and external batteries for our smartphones. But should we also plan for an active shooter?

Believing it is better to be safe than sorry, the Force Training Institute has created a bulletproof laptop bag that instantly deploys into a 3-foot shield to defend against gunfire.

Has it come to this, that we have to carry a bag called the MTS, short for Multi-Threat Shield?

The booq bag that keeps your tech gear in a Shadow

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The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
Photo: booq

A shadow is a form of great substance that keeps its details hidden. Such was the inspiration for the designers at booq with a new messenger bag aptly named for what it does not reveal – your expensive tech gear.

The Shadow, available in gray and black, is elegantly spare in its look, which is part of its m.o. to discreetly carry your computer and other valuables.

After 25 Years, Timbuk2 Finally Updates Their Ancient Classic Messenger Bag

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No one but actual, honest-to-God bicycle messengers had the authority to wield a Timbuk2 messenger bag. If you were an iron-assed hard case living life on a bike, you’d probably earned the right; though you might still have found yourself the target of diluted messenger disgust.

That was the pervading vibe 15 years ago when I bought my first Timbuk2 bag, a Bolo (back then, each size had a name; the Bolo was the large version). Make no mistake, these were Messenger Bags: simple, voluminous, virtually indestructible black holes, able to swallow an inordinate amount of awkwardly dimensioned deliverables, specially stabilized for use on the bike exclusively. The only grudging nods to civility were a couple of pockets sown onto the outside of the bag and an optional padded shoulder strap.

And apart from a few minor changes, it’s stayed that way. Like the coelacanth, the Classic Messenger has remained a living fossil, unchanged, while other Timbuk2 species have evolved and developed around it. Until now.

Acme Made’s Clutch Is The Best Bag For The Best Laptop I’ve Ever Owned [Review]

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One of the things I have always found interesting about bags is the way they are defined by their intent. There is more to them than their fabric and stitch. To judge a bag, you need to look beyond what it is to what it aspires to fill itself with. In other words, bags have souls, and like people, you can’t judge them just by what they are. You must also consider what they want to be.

The Acme Made Clutch is a bag that aspires to be as sleek as the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that it is designed to fit. At that, it succeeds. Those looking for an all-purpose laptop bag to throw anything and everything into should look elsewhere, though. The Clutch is as minimalist, meticulously organized and with as much eye to fashion and form, it’s as if Jonny Ive had designed it for Steve Jobs himself. But Steve never was a guy who needed to keep a lot of things in his bag.

HEX Recon Is A Minimal, Stylish Messenger Bag For Your MacBook And iPad [Review]

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I’ve had the pleasure of using the HEX 13-inch Recon Messenger Bag ($80) for the last couple of weeks. We at Cult of Mac love bags, and I was excited to try such a good-looking messenger bag for my MacBook.

The HEX Recon differs from many bags in its class by offering a pouch specifically designed for holding and offering quick access to an iPad. With it’s top-notch build quality and minimal design, the Recon bag is an attractive option for everyday use.

Arnald Work Bag Cradles Your Macbook with a Modern Touch of Vintage Style [Review]

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Arnald Work Bag


If you’re someone who has even the smallest regards towards fashion, then you’ve probably given some serious thought as to which bag to use for toting your precious MacBook around. What you wear says just as much about you as your MacBook does. If you’re looking for something that looks great for casual occasions but can also feel dressed up enough for business meetings, then you need to consider the Arnald Work Bag from The Property Of. We were lucky enough to receive a bags from the Amsterdam based company and here’s our take.

The Crumpler 8 Million Dollar Home is a Rugged, Charismatic Rogue of a Camera Bag [Review]

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There’s nothing like traveling with several thousand dollars worth of expensive photo gear to kick up the ‘ol stress levels: Will I be able to pack all my stuff, and will it ll be easily accessible? Will any of it break? Are colleagues or clients going to laugh at me because it doesn’t look pro enough? If it does look pro, will it make a tempting target for thieves? Can it fit into the overhead bin or under my seat on a plane? And what the heck am I going to do with my laptop?

So it’s always a welcome relief when a bag answers those questions soothingly, in a way that sets the mind at ease — which, except for one or two of those questions, Crumpler’s $172, ruggedly adventurous 8 Million Dollar photo/laptop bag does.

The Alix Leather Laptop Tote Is One Big, Beautiful Bag

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If you’re a packrat like me, and you need a really big bag for your MacBook plus everything else, you should seriously consider the Alix Laptop Tote Bag from J’Tote (pronounced zhe-tote).

I have been toting the Alix around for a month now. I have to say that this bag is my new favorite. It can take a beating and still looks great. If passion is your fashion, this bag is your match.

Buy Your Lovebug This Cute Doodle Bug Laptop Bag [Review]

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The Multitasker Large bag from Hadaki is an adorable messenger bag suitable for any girl — teen and up.

The bag seems especially  popular with parents who buy them for teenage daughters to take to school. Indeed, my  fourteen-year-old daughter, Nadine, has been using the Multitasker bag at her high school for several weeks.

Weighed down by algebra and biology books this sturdy and stylish bag has held up remarkably well, unlike her poor back!

We’re Amped About These New Charging Bags From Voltaic, Powerbag [CES 2011]

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Jeff Crystal, COO of Voltaic, with their new Spark Solar Tablet Case.

If a bag is on display at CES, chances are excellent it’s got some kind of snazzy tech feature. Newcomer Powerbag caught our eye with its line of four handsome bags that all include batteries for charging iDevices (or other peripherals); Voltaic —  we featured their OffGrid backpack in our Holiday Gift Guide — just launched an iPad case with high-efficiency solar cells slathered all over one side.