Eventually I stumbled upon Crumpler bags and decided I'd pick up the 12' Skivvy to hold my iBook. It's a little smaller than I would have liked, but it fits the laptop snugly and I feel that it's adequately protected. The usual array of other accessories also fit into it with the subtraction of a few lesser used objects. It has a quality feel to it, with tough stitching and a large velcro piece on the flap that overlaps the bag generously and keeps everything in without the fear of it coming undone. The padding is about a quarter to half inch thick around the main laptop compartment and I have a feeling (not that I'm going to test it) that if it drops form waist/table height minimal damage will occur to contents. The accessory compartment has a nice thick zipper on it that opens/closes easily enough and it doesn't feel like it will get caught on anything. Finally the entire bag is water resistant, and even with the little rain we get in Southern California it seems it will keep everything fairly dry. The only complaint I have about it is the large patch of velcro is quite loud when you open it, but that's not a major issue.
During my search I came across some listings of what people carried in their bags which fascinated me for some bizarre reason. I guess it was some sense of dorky voyerism and I wanted to do the same thing. My old bag has a lot more in it, but most of it I never used and the new crumpler made me minimize some:
- 800mhz G3 12' iBook with 256mb RAM and 30gb disk space
- Mead composition Notebook
- Pilot Gel Pens
- Moleskine Pocket Notebook
- UCSD ID and Bus Pass
- 512 USB Memory Stick
- Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens
- Costco Acid Reducer Pills (boooo heartburn)
