Protective case for Compal HEL80 + 9cell advice

Hello NBR friends - I recently purchased a Compal HEL80 that will have a 9cell battery. My problem is that I can't find a messenger/shoulder bag that will fit this laptop + battery for under $70 USD. I've been confused as to what is decent after visiting newegg and ebags - we all want a shield around this thing - e.g. being able to not worry when you put it in the car / on the ground / etc etc... at the same time, I wanted to find a bag that would hold a few textbooks + a small dvd or external hdd... If any NBR members have such a case that allows them to use it on a daily basis from point A>B>C please let me know. I already spent quite a bit on the notebook and know that a case is an investment - but I'd like to keep it under that budget - thanks for reading and giving your opinions in advance!

 

Kensington has some nice offerings right now under the Contour name. Also, if you search in the Compal Forum a little, I know there have been a few discussions about bags for the HEL80.

I personally use a Victorinox Parliament brief with a Victorinox CS2 17" sleeve (the included 15" one was too small).

 

Hi chris - I did go through a few threads in the compal forum - most were backpack enthusiasts - and I did notice you purchased and gave a few links to a couple worthy sites - all which are a few hundred dollars out of my budget BTW - your review also helped back my decision on purchasing this compal - thank you very much sir!


I initially wanted to buy either of these two bags from newegg - but I think it's TOO small/unsafe w/ the 9 cell -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834998102

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834996106

I'm fairly upset with many of the bags out there for the poor construction - for such an investment - I figured < $70 usd would be worthwhile.

 

In case you haven't checked ebags yet, they have a nice little laptop bag finder feature, that will help you find notebook bags based on the dimensions of your laptop.

(14.25x11x1.5 dimensions to include the battery)

Some I liked in particular:
http://www.ebags.com/samsonite/xt480_notebook_case/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=57727
http://www.ebags.com/kensington/contour_cargo_messenger/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=79178

I'm also glad to hear my review helped with your decision. Good luck with the bag hunt.

 

hey chris ,can you point me to the hel80 backpack forum? i really want/need one, the better quality of the build is paramount (don't wanna lose my 2200 lappy over a crappy seam or something) or some websites that you think are good?

thanks!!