Looking for urban/messenger laptop bag

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a laptop bag for a 14" widescreen (13.5" x 9.5" x 1.5")notebook in the "urban"/messenger style rather than the standard "notebook case" style (if that makes any sense). I'd also like it to be big enough to hold an adapter, a couple of books, a change of clothes (for like 2-3 day trips), a bottle of water etc. I currently have a brenthaven messenger bag (purchased last year but not currently listed on their site) that works well enough but is a little small to carry more than a day's worth of stuff.

I've looked online at crumpler, timbuk2 and manhattan portage but haven't been able to get a good sense of space, etc.

Thanks for your input

PS The Brenthaven bag (messenger bag with inside pocket designed for 15" powerbook g4) is for sale if anyone wants to buy it. It's red cordura, is in like-new condition and has a life-time warranty. I bought it for $85 and will sell it for $50+shipping if anyone's interested.

 

Targus.com has a line of messenger bags you might want to check out, not sure if any of them will hold all of that though.

 

By urban I assume you mean something that looks 'cool', something that sticks out.

I'm guessing you're looking at more colorful bags?

 

"urban" is the description ebags.com gives for these sorts of things. basically I want a cordura-type messenger bag with a built-in laptop sleeve. Basically, I'm looking for something to replace my backpack as the vessel for all the crap (books, notebook, lunch, gym clothes, etc) I usually take to work. My 10-year old backpack works great in this regard, except that (a) it has no internal laptop sleeve and (b) it is too small to act as an overnight bag for a weekend trip (laptop included).

I'm looking for something that doesn't look like one of those black-leather notebook cases. Targus has some other ones, but they are all very square. I'm definitely looking for something in the vein of timbuk2 and crumpler

 

Looking 'cool' and 'sticking out' aren't really my first concerns. That said, I'd rather get the jeans-and-a-t-shirt version of a notebook case than the white-shirt-and-a-tie version.

It seems like most notebook cases are first and last notebook cases. I'm looking for something that will first and foremost be a messenger bag (or backpack) but also provide a nice home for my notebook.

A second, but less pressing, concern is security. If you carry around one of those "notebook cases" then people know there's a notebook in it and you are at increased risk of theft. Heck, it's pretty easy to even spot most backpack-style notebook cases.

 

If there is a solution to what you want... pm me when you figure it out, because I may want the same bag.

 

I have a timbuk2 medium messenger bag that I use for what you are describing, and it works well. Everything from crumpler either seemed too large or too small, but their website is so horrible it's hard to tell. They (crumpler) are also jerks about sending out bags to reviewers, so there are pretty much no reviews out there either. I checked out the manhattan portage's in their store, but they didn't seem as well-built as the timbuk2's.

Unfortunately there just aren't good reviews or pictures of messenger bags out there. Just don't get the commute from timbuk2, it's too small.

 

I'm thinking I may just take my notebook to REI and check out the timbukt2 bags they've got. They also have these space-filling bean-bag sort of things that could mimic the rest of the crap I wanna haul.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=56118&highlight=messenger+bag