A notebook backpack for the XPS2 that wont make me look like I'm going camping - Page 3

I bought this Mobile Edge backpack from dell when it was on sale for $30 and been very pleased. It needs some cushioning in the bottom, but easy to throw some eggcrate down there. It's large inside, but not too large to look goofy. It has a Dell logo (dumb, screams notebook inside), but I pried mine off with a screwdriver (just 2 tabs hold it in, easy to take off).

Very well built and seems durable (1680 ballistic nylon). Lots of pouches and comfortable straps. Cell phone holder on one strap, headphone/earbud port, specific space for a cd/mp3 player. Well thought out. Large enough that if you could fit 1 set of clothes and the laptop (9300) and take it on a plane and not have to take anything else on.

No, a I9300 or XPS Gen 2 will NOT fit in the Swiss Army Maxxum backpack.

My wife got me one for christmas this past year, and it worked fine for the old Dell Latitude C640 I had from work, but when I upgraded to a personal I9300, it fit in for width and depth, but not for height...

Also, my bag had started to really come apart, with one of the 'suspension system' straps coming totally undone. It's got a lifetime warranty, but you have to ship it to their repair facility...

I'd advise against the Swiss Army for the larger systems, but it's not bad for more human-sized laptops like the I6000.

I ended up with the O'GIO 'Boss' bag... it's not a backpack, but is a decent-sized messenger type bag and has a ton of storage and is very well organized with lots of labeled pockets and such... took it on a couple business trips so far and it traveled very well. Even fit under the seat in front of me! I'd look around Ebay for one, as i found a dealer in Tennassee that sells new ones cheap thru their store. I got mine for like $75.00...


Edit: I'll try to get some pix online of the I9300 not fitting into the Swiss Army backpack, and also some of the sub-par stitching that was coming loose on the box.


-Greg

Haha, it sounds like (to me) that they just wanted you to spend more money, but it sounds like you might have caught on to that. I'll be sure to update you guys when it comes.

BTW, I thought this was the sharpest looking (and smallest looking) bag available. That's what compelled me to buy this one over all others. I'm not a fan of messenger bags, and the crumpler bags are too expensive. I'm happy with my purchase, and I'll let you guys know if I still am when I get it (with pics, of course).

I bought the Countour from Amazon. They had the lowest price from what I found and if they don't they'll match it.
However I have not been 100% pleased. After having it for a week I noticed the stitching along the laptop compartment was coming undone.
Fortunately it has a lifetime warranty and Kensington is good about replacing it, however it is on backorder until the end of September from them so I get to wait 'til October for the replacement
Lucky me gets the reject one. It is however a very comfortable backpack. The lumbar support is kind of nice and it doesn't look hideous as many dorky laptop backpacks.

Ya, I didn't trust the Booq Customer Service advice.

The Crumpler bags are expensive and the sleeve on the Beer Back seems a tad short for the XPS2.

I just bought a Nixon Professional Backpack (LINK). Its has a neoprene sleeve (awesome!) and padded bottom. It can fit 3+ big books in it. But, I just don't know. It seems like a nice bag but it falls short of the SUPER HIGH QUALITY Brenthaven or Timberland bags I'm used to (yes, I'm spoiled). If Timberland offered a 17" backpack, I'd be all over it as they make really high quality bags for their price point!........

The bottom of the bag is padded and is somewhat ridged. It doesn't deform when set down, it keeps shape regardless of how it is positioned. This makes it hard to keep standing up on its own, you must prop it against something or it will fall over.

The laptop slides into a completely separate compartment and stops about 1.5" from the bottom of the bag -- suspending it in air for extra cushioning. The back (and all sides for that matter) are all very thick ballistic nylon and not a thin rip-stop style. The material is almost unwieldy, but exactly what I wanted in a bag -- something that doesn’t deform based on the contents. In fact, you can't tell if the laptop is in the bag or not it always has the same shape.

The 9200/9300/XPS2 fit snugly in the compartment and doesn't move at all once inside. The zippers come close, but I have no wear on the corners as the laptop sits down inside a small recess in the back of the bag. You do have to pay attention to learn how to close it, but once you figure it out it’s a mindless operation.

As I said, the laptop fits into a separate area in the back of the bag. The area in front of the separate compartment is large enough to hold another laptop of the same size, however, it makes the bag heavy and makes carrying a power adapter pretty impossible without putting it on the front pouch (and at 2 lbs that XPS brick is a pain anyway). Spend the $29 on the spare AC adapter if you go from home/work with any of these machines.

Also as I said, the bag is a hard ballistic nylon that will likely prevent any damaging instruments from getting into the bag. It is still as rigid as the day I bought it (I bought two in case I wanted to pack up both laptops, the second is just in storage in case they discontinue it). It's an excellent case, but it doesn't fit into the storage compartment in my tiny car (MR2 Spyder) -- it has to be my passenger.

I highly recommend checking out this bag. Oh, they carry it at Office Depot most of the time in stock so you can see it first.

im pretty picky when it comes to the looks of my backpack so i just purchased a regular jansport backpack. it's pretty nice has these "airlift" straps and all that. im probably going to order a laptop case from vyper (not sure if the 17 inch one thats advertised with the powerbook fits) and place that into my bag, or i'll just get a messenger bag to accompany my normal backpack, lol who knows.

Only problem I have with sleeves in a backpack is that the lappy is floating around inside unless its butressed by books or other things. In addition, the shocks are higher to the lappy every time you set it down since it hits the ground immediately since it isn't elevated.

To me, there's no substitute to a stitched in sleeve that's elevated from the bottom of the pack.

I just bought a Targus City gear Chicago laptop backpack. My local staples store had one so i took my laptop in to see if it fits and it's a PERFECT snug fit, and the bag looks good too, it's not huge. Not only is it a perfect fit, but it's protected on the bottom and sides very well. even on top it's protected, but it's such a tight fit it doesnt move. and there's a whiel extra pocket for books etc.

Im very happy with my purchase.

The booq Vyper XL sleeve won't fit. The EXTERIOR of the sleeve is smaller on most dimensions than the XPS G2. Took 30 seconds on google to find the dimensions of the XPS G2, the Vyper sleeve, and compare the two. Come on, now.

One more time: THE 17" POWERBOOK IS 1" THIN. ANYTHING TAYLORED FOR IT WILL MOST LIKELY NOT FIT THE XPS!!!

On the other hand, booq's only larger sleeve, the Powersleeve XXL, would have your XPS/9300 SWIMMING. It's too damn big. The dimensions for the XPS/9300 are elsewhere in this thread, so you can compare that to the dimensions in the link.

Hey Ranger, I was looking at getting a Boss bag actually myself. I have an OGIO IONIK bag currently (left over from my college days.) It works decently, but I was looking for something more specifically made for a laptop.

My big question is if a standard size keyboard would fit in the Boss? I could fit the keyboard easily in the IONIK if I had a laptop sleeve to keep things "unscratched." Just weighing my options, and couldn't pass up first hand knowledge on the Boss. Thanks.

yea after i posted i checked the dimensions... silly me lol. thanks for pointing it out though, i wish booq would make one that fits our laptop. i saw a couple other ones online, i gotta make a purchase soon.

Yeah, I wish booq would make a slleeve/ backpack combo that we could actually use.

ARE YOU LISTENING, BOOQ?

I got the 03 Boa.XL today and it fits like a dream. It slides in easily, and I can fit my Vantec cooler, MX518, AC adapter, an extra shirt, pair of socks, and boxers, toiletries, keys, and a couple magazines in there NO PROBLEM. It maintains the thin profile displayed on the booq site.

I'm very happy with my purchase. Details and pics coming soon.

post those up asap 8086ed

Cool. Please post pics! (lots of them, all angles) It's a must.....

Do the "how many college textbooks can it fit?" test and demonstrate how close the zipper comes from hitting the corners of the lappy....

Lemmie go try that out... I commute from home (where i just use the 9300 on my lap (go figure)) to work, where i toss the 9300 on a old latitute docking station monitor stand next to the 19" sony/dell that i use as my 2nd display, and i just leave my normal mouse and keyboard (both usb) there... but i'll go grab my keyboard and stick it in my Boss bag. :-) <brb>

Edit: Yup. I have a Microsoft Internet Keyboard and it'll fit, even with the extended palmrest on. I had to move a bunch of stuff out of the way, as the middle area in the Boss is pretty large, so i had my digital camera (canon a75 in case), external hard drive (and ac adapter) and a bunch of other junk in there too...

Excellent bags being posted, thanks everyone.

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts might be on this little number: http://www.ebags.com/columbia_sports...m?modelid=9586

I recently purchased an i9300 and I am now looking for a bag. I'd like something with a little bit of style, a.k.a. something that isn't a big black brick on my back. That Columbia bag might be too small, but the dimensions look like it might fit. The notebook might sit weird in there, but I don't need to put anything else in the bag either, so it might work out. Little worried about the padding, but I'm not going to be tossing it around or anything, I mean it's my baby...

If that one doesn't work, might be looking into getting that High Sierra Magnum bag since it has a laptop slot already. Wish there were more color choices though

It's too hard to decide....

I love this bag. The only thing is the zippers get stuck more than I'd like. Nothing terrible has come from it, though.

Sorry for the shitty quality of my camera phone. It's all I had.



My XPS in front of the bag.



Laptop compartment w/o laptop.



Laptop deep in the bag. There's a lot of padding on the bottom.



The zipper clears the lappy by a LOT.











Zipper closed; SMALL amounts of velcro secure the flap over the zipper for the laptop compartment. It's the perfect amount.





Middle compartment. There's a LOT of padding between this and the laptop compartment.



There are two pockets in this compartment.



MP3 player compartment.



Rio Chiba. I couldn't find my iPod in its Showcase, but it would have fit WITH the Chiba in the pouch, with room to spare. It was later found across the room. There is NOT enough room for a CD player. It is wide enough, but not deep enough.





Headphones coming from the headphone port. I personally wouldn't put anything of value in that pocket while it was raining, but then again, who goes out with a laptop backpack in the rain?



The front compartment. Sorry about the quality.



The XPS power brick and plug, MX518, and Belkin mousepad (the kind with the wrist rest, rolled up).



Everything but the MX518 (added in next pic).





Everything zipped in the pouch inside the front pocket.



There are 2 pockets (1 lg, 1 med), 2 mesh pockets (1 med, 1 sm), and threee pen holders, along with a key holder at the top right.



Everything I just showed zipped up into the bag.



Moved the Max PC magazine to the magazine pouch in the back (There's little padding between this and the laptop, but it feels better on the back. Magazines fit better sideways in here.).



Added overnight clothes.



Bag with added clothes.



Took everything out except the laptop and added these. Cal Poly Pomona starts late next month, so I don't have any real college text books, but I thought these would do.





With the books.



Swapped the C++ in 21 Days book for this one (it's thicker).



Fits just fine. 3 books and the laptop wouldn't fit.



A few more:









The pics that convinced ME to buy are here:

booq's site.

Click the arrows beneath the picture to display more pics.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

8086ed,
Thanks for the detailed review.

Your bag looks black. I thought you got the 2003 Boa.XL burgundy color?

DId you upgrade to the 2006 version?....