Pelican made a name for itself making tough cases for the military, firemen and other hazardous sorts who generally place their delicate gadgets in harm’s way. Now they’ve taken their extreme-environment case technology and built four new backpacks around it — two of which have crushproof/waterproof compartments.
The four new ProGear Sport packs have user-unfriendly model numbers, so bear with me here: the laptop-carrying S100 Elite Laptop Backpack ($270) and tablet-carrying S140 Elite Tablet Backpack ($240) are the flagships packs with the sealed compartments — the 100’s compartment is large enough for a 17-inch MBP and also comes with a compartment that can fit a tablet. The S140 is suitable for tablets and small netbooks, and looks like it can, at most, swallow a 10-inch MBA. Both bags come with “top-loading TSA-ready main storage compartments,” which presumably means you can leave the Mac or iPad in the bag when goign through airport security.
The second pair is much less expensive, as it lacks the watertight/crushproof hoopla, though it looks like they still afford a degree of extra protection, with a rigid front-plate. They’re also much prettier, dropping the previous pair’s dreary black for happy colors, and about half the weight. Most importantly, they’re much cheaper; the S105 (for laptops) is $140, while the S145 (for tablets) is $110.
