Best Laptop Bag?

[schuss]

Looking at the Commute 2.0 from Timbuk2 due to the TSA convenience, but wanted to ping people on what the best general bag is for them.

My Uses:
Carrying Laptop
Carrying assorted crap (IE papers, pens, possibly magazines+travel stuff)

[The Dad]

My wife and I both have Timbuk2 laptop backpacks, and verily they rock.

[Name Redacted]

I got a swiss army laptop bag and it's great. Tons of pockets and room but doesn't seem hudge when it's empty. Designed really well IMHO. Zippers are pretty bomber. Don't know about timbuk2 though

[Crass3000]

I got a swiss army laptop bag and it's great.

2nded... They make some nice laptop bags with tons of room for paperwork, etc, for when you are on the road. A nice feature is the wheels. When you need to carry a bunch of extra boxes, etc they seem to balance nice on top of the bag so you don't have to physically carry them.

[advres]

I just use a padded sleeve and put it in my backpack for day+ trips or my messenger bag for tooling around town. I have a real nice Dakine laptop bag that's got all the compartments for pens, ID's, this, that and the other but it is big and awkward so I prefer my comfortable Seagull Black Bag with the sleeve on most days.

[iceman]

I have the Axio Fuse, it's been great and it's taken some hard hits. Not sure if that exact model is still in production but their products are bueno.

[Name Redacted]

I just use a padded sleeve and put it in my backpack for day+ trips or my messenger bag for tooling around town.

I thought about doing this just to reduce the chances of theft. If someone is carrying a bag designed for a computer then there's a good chance there's a computer in it. If they are carrying just a normal backpack, the thief might end up with my dirty gym clothes.

[LightRanger]

I have a Timbuk2 bag as well. Love it.

I came into an Osprey laptop bag (the Atom? or something) and that was sweet too. Brother has it now.

[jaobrien6]

I just use a padded sleeve and put it in my backpack for day+ trips or my messenger bag for tooling around town.

I do that sometimes, but I also have a timbuk2 messenger style laptop bag. For going through the airport, the timbuk2 is way easier because of the built in sleeve. I have a separate padded sleeve to put the laptop in when it's in the backpack, and I know now you can just put those padded sleeves through xray without taking the laptop completely out. However the problem I run into is that when my backpack is packed full of stuff, it's really a pain getting the padded sleeve back in the backpack ('cause it fits best when it's the bottom-most thing in the backpack, resting against my back).

So, for around town, the padded sleeve in any old backpack works fine. For flying, something with a built in sleeve is much more convenient for me. Something like the newer commute 2.0 that you're talking about with the zip off compartment is probably even easier to deal with. Even without that feature, I really like my timbuk2, and it's held up great. It's probably about 6 or 7 years old now, and I've had no problems with it.

[Hugh Conway]

patagonia critical mass ($60) or half mass ($50) On sale now at Patagonia:
http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/shop/web-specials/?k=ga

[Lloyd Braun]

mountain hardware enterprise here. good pack

[Chowda]

patagonia critical mass ($60) or half mass ($50) On sale now at Patagonia:
http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/shop/web-specials/?k=ga

I use the half mass and like it a lot. It is a tight fit for my 15.4" though, and it doesn't fit in the built in sleeve. Not a problem for me, but worth mentioning.

[wawul]

I have an older Messenger from Ogio and couldn't be happier. The only bad thing is that several times i thought I had lost something only to find it later in one of the bag's many pockets.

http://www.ogio.com/shop_ogio/product_info.php?cPath=39_57&products_id=1012

[agent j]

I just picked up a patagonia 'critical mass' through the sale for $60. Fits my 17" laptop nicely and plenty of room for anything else. Pretty psyched about it. Sale ends the 20th. Definitely worth checking out for the price. Replacing old Timbuk 2 that wouldn't fit the new laptop. New Timbuk 2s are nice but pricey. If you can't get a deal on them I would check out the patagonia product because of the sale and they are solid.

[mmmthmtskier]

I like my Targus laptop backpack. Very nifty for organizing and lots of areas for anything computer related.