HP Backpack review (pics)

EDIT: I got the laptop, the photos are a few posts down!

Hello guys,

I have recently ordered a Zx5000 laptop, and because I will be a college student in the fall, I sprang for a backpack to carry it. those regular briefcases are so.. old school .

Because my backpack arrived before my laptop, I decided to do a little mini-review. I realize I am not able to actually stick the laptop in it to be sure it fits, but at least I can highlight all the different opennings in it, if anyone was curious what it actually looks like.

Cost of backpack: 50 bucks with free shipping. Should fit all screens up to 15.4 w/ ease, and a snug fit for 17 inch screens.

Here's an overview of the backpack, with a book next to it to help guage size.



as can be seen, it's the size of a standard school backpack, and could easily be substituted into a regular backpack when your laptop stays at home.

At the front, you have a little stretchy cover, useful for putting putting items in on the go without having to unzip the main compartments.



From here, I'll be going from the "front" to the "back". we started off with the stretchy cover, and now comes the first small zippered compartment.



as you can see there's a mini folder for batteries and whatnot, as well as flaps for pens and pencils. The next layer are transparent plastic divider tabs, but they only go as deep as you can see; I personally do not see much use out of it, except perhaps to store business cards? Finally, there's an even deeper conpartment at the back, which goes all the way to the bottom of the notebook. it would be easy to put a notebook in there. Although I didn't take a picture, the Dummies book that I have used for the initial screenshot will fit in there entirely, without the top poking out of the compartment cover.

Moving on to the next set of zippers, we get this:



a huge array of flaps and barriers useful for including anything under the sun. The back compartment reaches all the way to the bottom, again allowing you to add any number of "long" items such as books into the backpack. The webbing can be used to seperate items, such as maybe a waterbottle, Diskman, your calculator, soil samples, etc. The side webbing pockets are ingenious; they close up when you zip up the backpack. If you put something there, you will be able to find it without having to dig through the rest of the backpack. the only downside is that it is not zipped up completely; if you turn the backpack upside down, any small items in those webbings WILL fall out.

Another picture of the depth of the compartments:



On to the main folder!

Here is where the laptop lives:



It's a 100% laptop environment, very similar to what you will see in those specific laptop tote bags. You have a small outside pocket for wires or a mouse, a bigger outside pocket for the AC adapter, and then the inside pocket for the actual laptop. The boot area is nice and thick too, should do a good job of protecting the laptop:



However as I do not have a laptop to measure the fit, I cannot give a detailed review. But from the looks of it, it should be pretty sturdy inside that compartment for the laptop. The compartment is secured by a thick strap with velcro, so that if you turn the backpack over the laptop won't fall out.

Here I'll explain some of the other features of the bag:

Along the sides, you see these mini-pockets. the one I took a picture of has a hole at the top which you can see in the picture:



This was designed to let you put an MP3 player in there, and then thread the headset wires through that slot. how cool is that! There is even a little headset icon on the flap so that you won't forget it's purpose. This is not entirely waterproof, as it is a circle with four flaps cut in. but provided you don't walk in a downpour, the MP3 player should stay relatively dry.

There is another pocket on the other side of the laptop; same size, but no slot for a headset. if you open it up, it's tall enough to fit in a .5 liter (16.9 oz) bottle. It's a snug fit, but doable.

On the shoulder straps, you get a cell phone holder, as shown:



It's a bit of a snug fit for my thick fliphone, but any non-flipping phones should have no problem fitting into that pocket. a cool idea to free up space in your pants or purse.

The shoulder straps themselves are nice and thick, and should provide comfortable wear for long periods of time:



The handle at the top is also filled with foam, so you should be comfortable carrying it either way.

Without a laptop it's hard to get to the "meat" of a laptop backpack, but as soon as I get mine, I will take some more pictures and add on to this review.

Overall, so far it's a recommended buy. plenty of pockets for anything, what looks like a secure notebook environment, and soft straps for carrying it around. The backpack itself is actually manufactured by Samsomite, it's just labelled with HP's logos. You get a 15 month workmanship warranty included.

some cons that I didn't like: the HP labelling. This is a small bit, but to prevent theft I would like the backpack to be more indiscrete. There are also mini logos stamped to the inner nylon fabric, but that's not visible to the outside world so it's not that big a deal. But the big offset HP sign on the cell phone strap, and on the "front" of the backpack will give it away to potential thieves.

I also didn't like the fact that there is no center cross-strap, to go across the belly like in hiking backpacks. with at least 9 pounds worth of notebook to carry around, plus any other schoolbooks and whatnot, it would have been a definite plus to have a cross-strap to ease the load.

Otherwise, the backpack looks modern, has plenty of pockets, and for 50 bucks, a good deal. With the pockets, I do not have to buy a seperate backpack for school; I can just leave the laptop in the dorm, and carry my books in this HP backpack.

If you're looking for a notebook backpack that has a variety of possible uses, and you're getting an HP, this is recommended. I am not certain if you can order this backpack seperately or not, I haven't checked.

Any questions, feel free to ask. I will update this review as soon as the laptop comes in.

 

Thank you [ ]

 

LOL - This marks the first time ever a backpack has been reviewed before the notebook even shows up. Great work though!

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

ha! great review, I'd love to hear how the laptop actually fits once you get that. This must be a form of torture to be receiving the bag before the laptop though!

 

amazing review, I want to buy it already, and my laptop doesnt get here until moday![8D]

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Taylor
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thanks spet, I am also thinking of buying a backpack, I have zt3000 received today in portland.

I've been searching for a while for backpacks in Bestbuy, circuicity etc. One thing that I noticed is that the foam at the bottom of the backpacks. at the bottom part, the foam may be thick or thin what about this HP? Also, again in the bottom part, some backpacks has good prevention at the corners of the bottom, while some others are not preventing corner parts. In some backpacks, you can see that there are thick foams in the corner as well as thick foams in the bottom, but unfortunately in some of them, there is even no foam prevention at the corners. And since the corner part of the back is very likely to hit some surfaces, corner may be more important than even bottom foam thickness.

 

I just checked the backpack for you; the foam is the same thickness all the way around, top and bottom. there is a strip of foam along the sides, and of course the outside with the straps is padded as well. the corners seem to be roughly the same thickness as the rest of the foam. but since most people would keep the backpack closed, I would assume there's good protection for it.

once I get the actual laptop, i'll stick it in and see how it feels...

 

Excellent Review. Can't wait for Part 2 when the Laptop arrives.

 

The laptop came!

as I mentioned prevously, it's the Zx5000 model.

here's what it looks like:


And when you stick that thing into the backpack, it turns out like this:




Now obviously the entire laptop doesn't slide into the foam boot, but a good portion does. the stretchable velcro strap keeps it in there pretty tight. and the bag zips up and everything as well, with pretty much ease. Upper corners are not really protected, except for the foam padding near the shoulder straps. so try not to turn the backpack over and smash it, as that probably WILL damage it. however the bottom feels pretty secure.

The power brick takes some wrestling to get into its pocket; it's too tall to fit upright, so you need to manhandle it sideways. it does fit, but the power cord that's attached to the brick will get bent in the long run. I would suggest putting the power brick in one of the other compartments in the laptop.

This is the only picture that I took; if you need more or of certain angles, just ask.

Carrying the laptop is pretty easy (nevermind the 10 pound total weight of everything..), but again I do wish for a chest strap to be included.

Otherwise, I like this backpack! a seperate laptop review will be coming.

 

would you mind showing more views of the zx5000?
heh, cuz I have been looking at the zx5000 for a long time...
and now, with the $100 coupon, I really consider buying it![ ]

------------------------
I really wanna buy a zx5000...

 

sorry, I'll do a laptop review w/ pictures ASAP.. I am awaiting more RAM to come in, review should be done by end of the week.

 

Uh..damn. I wish I read this review before I placed my order. Anyway, I too ordered the zx5000 for college starting in Fall (that's what we all say..hehe). I could order the bag, but I think I would have to pay shipping & handling. Maybe I could call them and add it to my order???

Well, very nice review. The bag looks great. I was never a big fan of those black leather/nylon brief case-looking laptop cases anyway. Too business like

 

Thanks a lot, spets!
I'll wait, hehe, so don't rush~[:I]

I think it's a really nice backpack after reading the review
I'm going to order a zx5000, too
I'm thinking if the HP logo will be a downside for me...
or should I look for the similar one with samsonite logo?...hmm[:0]

I've been struggling for a long time...
I love zx5000 in many ways, but the battery life and the non mobile P4 have concerned me for quite a while...i wish they had the mobile P4 back...but it doesn't seem like it
so I have considered zt3000, too...but with a higher price and a less competative video card, i turned away; the better battery life and slim and light case drag me back...
but I really like the zx5000....T_T tough decision...

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I really wanna buy a zx5000...

 

Hey,

2 thumbs up on the review.[ ] I ordered a Compaq R3202 notebook this past Friday and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. I'm also looking for a notebook backpack or sling to carry it around at school. I was considering this HP backpack when I was going to buy an HP or Compaq notebook from hpshopping.com, but, then I found this great deal elsewhere on the notebook and so now I'm looking for a backpack seperately. I've been looking over a few different ones on Ebags (www.ebags.com) and trying to read every review I can.

Does anyone know if the Compaq R3202 notebook is the same size as your HP?

I was kinda leaning towards this McKlein backpack on ebags, but, its $89.99... [V]
http://www.ebags.com/mcklein/tech_lite_side_entry_computer_backpack/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=14588

this HP backpack is available by itself as well. no free shipping tho. so, its $49.99 + 4.99 shipping = $55 (sales tax is collected in certain states, not here in florida [ ])

i found a 15% off coupon for ebags which brings the $89.99 to $76.49 but, then you gotta pay $6.99 shipping = $83.48
i also found another coupon for 10% & free shipping, so it comes to $80.99 total that way (the better deal)...

oh what to do, what to do... theres also like 1200 results for 'laptop backpack' on ebay... its just a backpack after all, right? ... obviously not, if i cant make a decision [} ]

 

hey guys, it's me again.

i found the hp backpack for $34.50 on techexcess.net and i found a $3 off coupon (wolves) bringing it to $31.50, then there was this $1 handling charge and $10.40 for shipping (ups ground) ... all in all, it came to $42.90 shipped -- a little hefty for a backpack in my opinion, but, better than the $55 shipped from hpshopping... and it wasn't much of a decision anymore when deciding between this $43-shipped hp backpack and the $80 mcklein backpack... ;-)

theres one on ebay that starts at $19 with no bids, but, the guy wants $20 for shipping and theres 4 days left... theres also one on pricetag for $33.50, but, with the $3 off coupon, techexcess.net was the best deal.

hope it helps
later,
-mike

 

Spets,
Thanks for the in-depth review of the HP backpack. I now have decided to buy the backpack for my HP Pavilion ze4427. I was thinking of buying this Samsonite backpack which costs 88,000 won ($80.00) here in Seoul Korea. The HP backpack costs 50,000 won ($45.00) and you mentioned that this was actually made by Samsonite. Since they are both manufactured by one company, I'll save a lot of money if I get this HP backpack.
Thanks again,
lpzamora

 

I just orderd this backpack through dell. Its a bit pricey at $99, but it comes with a wi-fi finder, mouse and a security cable. Ill probably and up using the wireless logitech mouse i orderd with my notebook. But dell said it would guarantee a fit for my huge ass 9100. But we'll see.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0364202&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5436&page=external

Inspiron 9100- 3.2ghz P4 HT - 1gb RAM - 100GB HD - 4x dvd/cd burner -128mb ATI 9700. RoX0r mY coX0r!

 

I ordered the student bundle when I ordered my v4000t. Like the person who started this thread, my HP backpack arrived before my laptop (yet to arrive).

I've been using this backpack for a full week now and I must say that it is the best backpack that I have ever owned.
The straps are thick and very cushioned, so you can carry quite a bit of weight around without it leaving any marks on your skin. The zipper handles are made out of a metal, and seem very strong. The back of the backpack (the part that touches your back) has a thick cushion on it (about 2 cm), and makes the backpack more comfortable to wear when carrying a heavy load. Though I think the *real* purpose of the cushion on the back is to absorb shocks from brisk walking or running.

Pros:
1. Big metal zipper handles, best zippers I've seen on a backpack in years.
2. Very comfortable to wear, even when carrying a heavy load. I carry more books with me now than I did before, AND it is more comfortable than my old backpack.. Exactly how they did this... I have no idea... But I think its in the thick wide padding on the straps. It also seems to distribute weight very evenly, with my old backpack, when I put in a lot of stuff, I felt like I was going to fall over backwards. I can put MORE stuff in this backpack, and while wearing it, I don't feel like its trying to pull me over backwards. How they did this, I have no idea... I'm starting to thing this is a "magic" backpack like in one of those MMORPGs.

3. Part that rests on your back is thickly cushioned.

4. Lots of pouches: Keeps you organized.

Cons:

1. Lots of pouches - This being the first week that I've owned it, and me being a rather disorganized person... I've had a bit of trouble with "losing" things in my backpack. What I mean is that I know I put it in one of the pouches, but I'll be darned if I can remember which one I put it in.

2. Its black and dark grey - My v4000t that will arrive soon is "silver". It doesn't match! But I don't really care, because I like dark-colored backpacks, and have always had one.

Summary:
Definitally worth every penny. You'd have a very difficult time finding a backpack of the same quality in a retail store with a lower price tag (I was shopping for backpacks 2 weeks before I bought this).