Proporta Protective Laptop Bag
Every budding gadgeteer needs a good Gadget bag, the hallmarks of which are an extensive array of pockets, padding, portholes for headphones and a great deal of flexibility allowing it to carry everything from medium-sized laptops, to netbooks, mobile phones, PDAs, portable and/or full-sized games consoles and more.
The Proporta Protective Laptop Bag goes a long way toward being an ideal sturdy, flexible Gadget bag but, alas, doesn’t quite resemble perfection.
Unlike what you might expect from the ultimate Gadget bag, the Proporta Laptop Bag is a little short of external pockets, having only two main compartments with various elasticated and ordinary internal pockets. The lack of pockets on the outside means you have to open up the bag and risk a crap-a-lanche in order to grab a gadget. However, if you have less junk you want to carry around you’ll probably appreciate the cleaner look and slightly more secure design of this bags internal pockets.
Despite the lack of external pockets, I managed to perhaps-not-quite-so-comfortably fit the following within its amply padded, cozy confines:
- Samsung NC10 (10″ Netbook)
- 15″ MacBook Pro 2007-2008 style
- A 5.5g iPod Video
- A Sonim XP3
- A “fat and heavy” PSP
- A Ricoh CX1 Digital Camera
- A Proporta emergency charger
- A small cache of cables, adaptors, USB memory sticks, a SteelSeries Ikari Lazer mouse and other small gizmos, odds and ends.
All of this fit with a substantial amount of bulge but, alas, power adaptors for all of the above had to be stashed away in a separate Proporta Gadget Bag (these make a good pair, incidentally) where the nasty metal prongs of plugs could do no damage to laptops.
Both the MacBook Pro and Samsung NC10 were also in slip cases; a generic Neoprene case for the former, and a Proporta Maya Leather-style case for the latter. So, that’s a fair miscellaneous haul of gadgets consigned to a single bag!
What makes the laptop bag a pretty nice choice, however, is not how much assorted junk I could stuff into it but rather its inherent flexibility.
The Proporta Protective Laptop Bag offers several options when it comes to choosing how you’re going to carry it around. You’ve got the classic, straight forward laptop-bag-style handle which is a great choice for moving it from the boot of your car to an office. Then you’ve got an over-the-shoulder strap which is good for short-distance walks, or when you’ve got a reasonably light load. Then, for an over-stuffed bag you can unzip a pocket on the back, pull out, and secure two shoulder straps that let you wear the bag as a backpack; perfect for a heavy load or for long, gadget-carrying walks.
I plumbed for a sort-of hybrid arrangement, opting to attach only one of the backpack straps and wear the bag over my shoulder. The straps feel exceptionally secure and I was comfortable wearing the haul listed above on my back with just one of them in place. The extensive padding on the bag ensured that none of the gadgets squeezed between my laptop and my back were uncomfortable, and being able to accommodate a neoprene case around the laptop meant that the “naked” PSP and Camera didn’t scratch its lid.
Overall it’s a sound purchase as far as bags go and I wouldn’t rush to change anything about it. However, for those of us with more gadgets and paraphanalia to carry around it would be nice to have a more pocket-adorned option of the same bag, in a variety of colours to boot. I’d personally love a more neutral black or grey colour, and a deep red really goes without saying.
I liked the Proporta Laptop Bag enough to have it added to our affiliate store, where it’s an absolute steal for £19.52. The price on the details page seems to show at £24.95 at the moment, but adding it to your cart will reveal the saving. Quite a steal!