About a month ago I began a search for a laptop bag for my 15.6" Dell laptop. I had no idea it would turn into a quest to find just the right features, and how rare some of these features are. Since I plan to be traveling I wanted to make sure the pack was large enough to carry two laptops and an overnight change of clothes. Because I wanted a fairly large pack, it needed to have compression straps also. This eliminated the wildly popular and functional Wenger series that I had been eyeing. Although they had great capacity, and the ability to stand independently, they lacked a few other essentials. That was a big letdown because those are nice bags. I particularly liked the steel cable handle they put on the top. The other essential feature I wanted was the ability to attach a carabiner, d-ring, or s-biner. I carry a rain shell instead of an umbrella and like to attach it to the outside of the bag. I considered a waist belt optional but if it had a waist belt it had to be more than a half-inch strip of fabric AND it had to be stowable.
The ONLY bag I found to satisfy all of this criteria are the bags made by Spire USA. Even the bags made by North Face, Mountain Hardware, and other "real" packs lacked several features. If they had the features, they didn't seem to be well oriented for IT-related use. The Spire Torq seems perfect for me. Initially, it was hard to transition from a messenger bag, but I have persevered.
The stuff from Spire isn't cheap, but it's worth it.
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