Stylish 15" Clevo Backpack

I recently lost my faithful laptop backpack in a taxi after 8 years of excellent service, and need something to comfortably carry my Clevo P650HS. I don't want to go with the typical bulky Clevo-carrying beast, since I'll only really be carrying one machine at a time. Otherwise I carry textbooks and papers back and forth and pack for short trips, so something mid-sized with good capacity would be ideal for me. What do you use, why do you like it, and why do I want it?

My current contenders are the Crumpler Orbital Flight and the Booq Cobra Squeeze, though I'm not sure if the sleeve on the Squeeze will fit my laptop.

 

For anyone wondering, I went with a Tom Bihn Synapse 25.

Very quickly, pros:

• Fits everything I want to put in it, including my laptop
• Robust construction, seams and details all flawless, feels very well-made
• Removable sleeve means I can buy a smaller one if I switch to a smaller computer
• Lots of pockets, mount points for other pouches and add-ons from the brand
• Fun colours available (I went with an olive 525 exterior/purple 200 interior)

Cons:

• Laptop sleeve not included
• Expensive--the backpack, separate sleeve and shipping came to around $255 total
• Chest strap and thigh belt are messy out of the box

More involved:
The company's bags don't have an integrated sleeve but contain two fabric rails on the back of the main compartment, for use with their Cache brand of sleeves. I bought the 15A Cache model, which fits my Clevo pretty snugly but still covers the whole machine with no stress on the zippers. The rails keep the sleeve stuck to the back of the backpack, and let the sleeve slide out quickly for fast laptop removal/easy TSA checkpoints/general warm and fuzzies. Here's a video (not by me or the company) showing how it works. Otherwise the bag feels at least as well-made as my Crumpler backpack, with no signs of sloppy stitching or damage at the seams and glued points. This doesn't mean much without seeing how the bag holds up over years, though. At the very least, it seems beautifully made and very pretty out of the box.

The hanging chest and hip belts were a little annoying since I never use them, but you can keep them tidy with O-rings, hair ties, or some cheap aftermarket additions if you're feeling fancy. All in all it's lovely to use, stores all my stuff and has enough space for short trips. We'll see how it holds up over time, but consider this an endorsement from a bag-obsessed Clevo owner.