Everki Beacon or Alienware Orion Backpack

Well I'm stuck between these backpacks which seem to be the best. Aside for the Slappa products, though they are too bulky for my taste. Both backpacks are around $120 here in New Zealand.

I want the bag to fit my Asus G73 of course they both do. But since I'll be using the laptop for school as well i want to also carry the charger, mouse, lunch, and maybe 3-4 books minimum. I would prefer to carry 6-8 books because I'm too lazy to prepack the required books for school.

I'm leaning more towards the Orion because it seems less big since the screen size is up to 17" while the Beacon can fit 18.4". I'm not too concerned about weight or airflow. But i want some form of padding in the laptop compartment as i do tend to run to the bus stop usually every morning, either because I can't be bothered waiting till i get there by walking or I'm late.

But i guess the most important thing is i don't want the bag to make me look like I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or that I'm backpacking through Europe.

 

Alienware Orion for sure, if those are your choices.

I was looking at the Everki Beacon vs a Swissgear 17" vs Mobile Edge Fastscan 2.0, the Beacon was not that great.
I took a good look at all 3 for around 3 hours. (2 seperate days).

Everki Beacon:
Less padding then the rest, materials didn't feel very sturdy at all, felt like typical nylon. Linings on the pockets for holding phones etc were a nice touch but the stitching was average, and fit/finish were sub-average for a backpack in that price range. Overall a let down, considering my $17 Everki backpack had the same fit/finish as the more expensive Everki Beacon, it is clear they are just sticking more pockets making it bigger for a small charge to their manufacturing and selling it off as a more expensive backpack.

Swissgear 17"
Great padding, only issue was it was missing some on the sides/front which was a huge no no considering I am carrying a heavy 210w power adapter, and will be carrying books etc. Fit and finish was the worst of the three. Fraying of the material, poor stitching were all present. While the material did feel sturdy and solid with good padding, the over all fit and finish was disappointing. Great backpack though, nice and big Swissgear style.

Mobile Edge Scanfast 2.0
Way better fit and finish then the other two backpacks, great solid materials and good padding. Made from Dupont Serona, so it is eco friendly and durable. The design of the backpack it self is quite nice, all pockets/storage options are well thought out so that one pocket conflicts the least with another pocket. Each "divider" between the pockets of the backpack are padded. Nice wide and padded shoulder straps, it's quite comfortable and I forget I am carrying over 10 pounds in weight.
This was my choice. It was a tough decision between the SwissGear (more space) over the Mobile Edge but the quality of the Mobile Edge was just too much of a factor against the Swissgear poor fit/finish.
Maybe I will do a review later today for the Mobile Edge Scanfast 2.0 if I am not busy today at work.

 

good job with the reviews.

+1 rep.

 

I just found out that there seems to be 2 different Alienware Orion backpacks.
This one is shown on the Dell website:
http://common1.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/26/0,1425,i=269313,00.jpg

and i just googled this one:
http://cdn1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/185/648/324/9ZjZ.jpg

If you look closely it seems like the googled one only has 2 main compartments. It seems like it doesn't have a handle and i can clearly see the pocket on the side where you would store say a drink bottle.

I'm assuming the googled one is Mobile Edge's version while the other one is a rehashed version Dell thought of?