Swiss Gear SA1908 Black TSA Friendly ScanSmart Laptop Backpack - Fits Most 17 Inch Laptops and Tablets

The need for this: I am a computer technician for my local hospital. I service the outlying clinics both local and afar. I had to come up with a solution to carry my gear in an all-in-one bag. This SwissGear ScanSmart Laptop Computer Backpack has more than met that need. Notice how full the bag looks in the image. Well, mine has the same shape now.What it can carry: Yes, there is a slot at the back to insert a 17" laptop, and that I do. The zipper goes half way up the side. The next zipper allows you to unzip fully, folding the back outward, and revealed is the see through material that allows airport staff to see your laptop. That feature I don't really need, and now-a-days you have to take your laptop out and power it on before getting on board a plane. In this compartment is a sleeve to house paper work. I do that for sure. In the remaining area of this compartment, I house a 2nd laptop - that one is 15". The top zipper you see in the image is the deepest pocket if you want to call it that. I have a surge strip standing tall in there that I carry around, a dual hard-drive cloning box, tools, network cabling, and more. In this compartment is a small sleeve, designed for an audio device. I use it to house my portable hard-drive, well at least one of them. I use that drive 100% of my work day, and all I have to do is barely unzip that area and retrieve my drive. With the USB cable for that drive bound up and rubber-banded together with the drive, both fit snugly in that pouch. In the middle front zipped compartment, I carry various USB charging cables, smaller tools, gloves, a 2nd hard-drive that I keep enclosed in bubble wrap, batteries, and other necessities. In the lower most zipper compartment, I keep two of those 8 pack jeweler screw driver sets. I access them a great deal, and that's the best compartment to put them in.Durability: Note that I mentioned I sometimes carry two laptops. Yeah, that adds weight, but think about that for a moment. I typically walk with just the right arm strap over my shoulders. That's a lot of weight for one strap to support. It's going on a year I've used this backpack, and I use it 5 days a week, always on the go from one clinic to another. The sewing job on this backpack is simply outstanding. There are no signs of stress being applied to the strap where it is adhered to the backpack. The handle on top has had it's work out too. I typically ride with this pack sitting in the passenger seat of my pickup truck. I use the handle to both place the bag and retrieve the bag as I'm getting in/out of my truck, and this bag goes inside with me per location I have to service the computers off. I've been in pouring down rain with this back on my shoulder, and I don't think it was a quality listed, but it deflects water rather well.Tip: With this bag heavily loaded as I carry it, for longer walks to a location, use both straps. You have balanced the load, and the bag all the sudden feels lighter. Other bags I've used in this manner, my back would tend to sweat on quick walks to a location. This bag provides ample air flow between your back and the bag itself - no more sweating on my back area.Summary: Whatever your job is, this bag will help you keep all your commonly used items throughout your day, in an well organized manner. I don't even have to dig to find an item like a woman would do to find something in a purse. The compartments fully unzip, minus the one designed for the laptop, revealing all of your contents per compartment. I would say the half-way zipped computer compartment is a safety feature to keep your laptop from falling out if there had been two zippers and they were to become loose at once. Laptop insertion is simple. It's almost like placing a library book in between two other books, slip it right in. I then place my wireless mouse on top of the laptop's edge at the top, and zip it up. This purchase is not only a great one for the quality of the backpack, but it will improve your work flow when it comes to access commonly needed items on a daily basis.

I just received the backpack a few days ago, so no field experience yet, however I can mainly comment on construction, design and so forth. I have an OGIO backpack that I usually carry, and the padding is no way nearly as thick compared to the padding that this Swiss Gear provides for the laptop compartment. I travel frequently, and I usually take my Samsonite Messenger E-Z Scan with me on trips because when you're traveling around in a suit a backpack just doesn't look right (in my opinion). However, I do travel with my backpack just as often because I don't always have meetings on the same day as my flight which means I dress casual. When I travel I take my work laptop (which I usually stuff in my checked in suitcase...because it is pretty much a paperweight that I must take with me on trips to check my work email) and I also take my personal laptop, which is a Sony Vaio 16.5 Gaming Laptop. I have to say that I was concerned that this bag might not fit my laptop, but I had no problems and putting it in there, and I even put a sleeve around my laptop to provide extra padding, and the bag zips around it fine. So if your laptop is bigger than a 16.5 widescreen I think it should fit in cause I got a little extra room. There is also no need for a sleeve in this case because this backpack is very well padded (unlike my OGIO which I had to add the sleeve). There is also a strap in the laptop compartment that will allow you to adjust the compartment to your laptop somewhat. I also believe in an earlier review someone said they put there 17" laptop with no problems. That being said, the scan smart makes it convenient to zoom right through the security lines (and trust me this is an amazing feature because I never take my laptop out of my samonsite and it just checks right through after you unzip the middle), and you never know when you're going to drop a heavy laptop taking it out & putting it on a tray and back in to your bag. Aside from the laptop compartment and the ez-scan zip, there is an additional zip that you can add a lot more stuff, and it seems like this bag can handle the weight because of the padding. In front of that is two small zips one on top and one on bottom, perhaps great for sunglasses and phones. So again more room for more stuff which is always a plus (and maybe a back ache later).The only con that I can say so far is that the zip is on the side for the laptop and it does not zip around the top, so you have to load your laptop from a side angle. This might be a pro for some of you but for me I would rather have it go over the top so I can load it without having to put the bag on the side. This is definitely not a deal breaker for me as of the moment because I am satisfied with the overall construction and quality of this bag. I am traveling next week, and then again the week after on an international trip, and I have no doubt this will hold up just fine. When purchasing this bag it was between this and an X-Large Targus backpack that I was considering. The deal breaker on the Targus is that it looked way too gigantic in the pictures, and I highly doubt that you could count it as your personal item and bring another carry on along with the Targus bag because it does not look like it could fit under the seat of a plane. I usually only carry one item as a carry on item anyways, but on short trips it's nice to know you have an option of carrying a roll on bag also with a personal item. There should not be any problems fitting this Swiss Gear under your seat on a flight (granted you don't overpack it). Overall great bag and highly recommended!Will update next month sometime after the bag hits the field!