luggage

I gave Gizmodo editor Leslie Horn a hard time on Saturday (see 'archives') over a shoddy review of laptop bags. Horn turned in a slightly better piece of homework this week. That piece is a straight reiewvertisement of some new bag from Incase. I'm sure the bag is fine. Portions may have been lifted from a cardigan review, though, as she claims:

this new line will have you all set for the chillier months

What? The bag doesn't include a Space Blanket for emergencies. It doesn't have loops to hold your mitten string. I've never heard of a winter laptop bag. To be fair, the bag and strap look as if they were fashioned from a pair of Ann Taylor pants with matching belt. The pants had probably originally been intended for fall before they were remaindered.

Rather than dwell on the fashion coverage over at Gizmodo, I prefer instead to point you to
today's "Something for the Weekend, Sir?" piece at the Register. Alistair Dabbs demonstrates the proper technique for laptop bag review. Note the pictures including laptops in bags. Read the rest of Dabbs' work while you're there. I think he's one of the masters of narrative in contemporary gadget review.

I carry one of the more modern TSA-approved laptop messengers from Timbuk2. I've been carrying a Timbuk2 laptop messenger since the time of the Titanium PowerBook G4. I upgraded to the new TSA bags after I accidentally melted the neoprene back of its predecessor on a cooktop in a small Paris apartment.

Dabbs laments the lack of good bags with padded compartments for both laptop and tablet. The Timbuk2 has a separate laptop compartment with a padded divider. The separate compartment is actually zippered through about 270 degrees to allow the bag to be spread flat on an X-ray belt like a split chicken breast. It is through these acts of valistic supplication that the bag makes itself suitable to the authorities. The panel that appears to be a padded divider is, in fact, the outer skin of the separate laptop compartment when the bag is splayed. I find that it works well for an iPad and a very slim laptop. The contents of the rear compartment can fall out if you allow the zippers to work themselves completely open. I don't.

The newest incarnation of my bag finesses this detail and includes a dedicated tablet sleeve in the rear compartment. By the time I wear out my current bag, dedicated tablet pockets will probably seem as quaint as men's hats, watch pockets, and bicycles with only one speed.

An added perk, for some, of the Timbuk2 is that many of them are not made in China. My current bag was made in the Philippines. Some are made in San Francisco. In the fullness of time, the Chinese authorities will surely realize the advantages to creating an administrative region called 'San Francisco'. For now, though, this San Francisco is probably the one in California.