Review Best Laptop Backpacks

Best

Wenger SwissGear Synergy 15" [amazon.com]

Wenger SwissGear Ibex 17" [amazon.com]




Runner Up

Ativa Mobile-IT Backpack (Office Depot) [officedepot.com]


The Wenger Swiss Gear Synergy is the best value for the money and tops without considering price. Lots of padding. Great zippers. Lots of useful compartments for organizing gear, most zippered. Water bottle side pockets. Fanstastic steel cable top handle core. Thick waterproof bottom. Airflow back padding. The clincher for this bag is that it has structural integrity, and so it keeps its shape and stands upright even when empty. Easy in and out of the laptop into its thick padded sleeve, almost effortless. You can physically check these out at Staples.

Ibex is very similar but with larger laptop capacity of 17". But its quite a bit larger than the Synergy which is kind of large itself. But if you are a 17" laptop person, this is a very good bag.


Office Depot's house brand Ativa Mobile-IT Backpack is a close second. It has even more zippered compartements. The zippers arent quite as smooth as the Wenger though. Lacks the strong top handle. It also does not hold its shape quite a well when empty, though better than many other bags like those from Targus and Oigo. Also it has a side loading zipper compartment for the laptop....which is not as convenient. More small pockets for MP3 players and the like than the Wengers. Still worth consideration. You can physically check these out at Office Depot.

I recommend you find these bags at a local shop to physically inspect them before making a purchase. You really can appreciate the stiffness and shape integrity of the Wenger Synergy.