Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Hannah of Proporta for providing the product for this review.
Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.
Visit Palm Discovery’s Proporta affiliate store here. Use coupon DISCOVER for 10% off! Thanks for supporting Palm Discovery!
Are you still carrying your laptop or notebook in the backpack you got back in high school? Do you ever find that the bag you’re carrying your laptop in doesn’t offer enough pockets to carry all those wires, batteries, cables and they’re all tangled up and everythere? Wouldn’t you want a bag that can not only carry your laptop and accessories but fully protect it from shocks and bumps AND give you the choice of how it’s carried around. Yes, it’s entirely possible! Read on!
If you have read and watched my previous Proporta Gadget Bag review, you’ll know that Proporta offers great designs in their bags. This protective laptop bag is another great example. Similar to the gadget bag, this bag packs a lot of features in an otherwise ordinary looking laptop bag.
This protective laptop bag offers cushioned protection all around and inside to help protect your laptop from bumps and shocks. There are ample pockets inside to carry many of the devices, chargers cables you may need to bring along. It also offers a choice of ways to carry the bag. You can use the supplied handles and carry it like many other laptop bags, or strap on the supplied shoulder strap and carry it on your shoulders. Unzip the back of the back and strap on the rucksack (backpack) straps and now carry it as a backpack. Or, carry it with the handle on the side.
For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary
The Proporta Protective Laptop Bag not only offers a protective cushioned bag that will hold your laptop securely and safely inside but many pockets that can hold all the accessory, gadgets, cables, chargers etc that you may carry with you, all organized and neatly stored. In addition, similar to their gadget bag, this protective laptop bag also offers grommits or slits as I have called them which enable you to thread your headphone or charging wires or cables through from one compartment in the bag to connect to elsewhere inside the bag. This is an amazing idea that enables you to not only charge your mp3 player while it’s in different compartments of the bag, but also thread it out so that you can listen to it while it’s charging! All the while, everything stays where they are, safely intact. Ingenious!
Aside from the grommits, you also have the choice of ways to carry the laptop bag. You can carry it with the handles at the top, or strap on the supplied padded shoulder straps and carry it on your shoulders. Alternatively, you can strap on the normally hidden rucksack (backpack) straps and carry it like a backpack or carry it with the single handle supplied on the side. That’s 4 ways to carry a bag! Can your bag do all that?
The bag is made up of two main compartments. One of the compartments, near the back of the bag is designed to fit your laptop computer. At one side of the compartment is a full length pocket that can store flat shaped materials like documents, folders, etc. At the other side of the pocket are three additional pouch pockets that can fit decent sized items like PDAs, small notebooks, etc. These pockets are all held together or closed with velcro.
The other compartment is where you can store the various gadgets, wires and other accessories. There are a pair of carabiners for hooking on your keys or similar items, a decent size elastic loop near the top to hold a cell phone or other similar slim objects. There are a pair of pen loops to hold your pens or stylus, three elastic pockets to hold gadgets or objects similar to the Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger, and at the end is a larger flat pocket designed to hold small notebooks, books, or similar objects. There is also a decent sized ring hole/grommit at one end to enable the threading of wires, cables to connect your devices in this compartment with the other compartment. At the other side of the compartment is a full sized mesh pocket, again designed for flat surface objects. The entire compartment can be fully unzipped open to show the entire compartment and spread it out like a book. Or, with the side snap tabs, you can opt to keep the compartment to semi-open, to avoid items from falling out. This can be especially handy when you’re on the plane and wish to access items in the compartment but don’t want to open it up completely. Again, Proporta really has taken a lot of care in the design of this bag.
As mentioned already, the bag is cushioned on all sides to protect against shock and bumps. You may also be pleased to know that Proporta has also added plastic protective feet at the bottom of the bag to further protect against shock, especially when you’re placing it on the floor.
Here are more details of the bag (taken from Proporta’s website):
Description
Protect your laptop while on the move with Proporta’s Protective Laptop Bag. This bag is made from tough Cordura® material to protect your laptop at all times. Padded lining protects your laptop from bumps and impact damage caused on the move from everyday travelling. The numerous individual compartments of the Protective Laptop Bag allow you to keep each of your devices and their accompanying accessories separate for quick and easy access
An optional fabric hinge prevents the laptop bag opening completely for added security – keeping your contents well hidden from prying eyes and stored away in their individual compartments.
The main compartment of the Protective Laptop Bag has a plastic 20mm grommet (aperture), allowing you to feed through cables from the front compartment into the main bag, enabling you to charge your laptop whilst on the go with the useful Proporta Portable Laptop Battery*. A second grommet is situated at the base of the bag enabling you to feed through headphones so that you can listen to your MP3 player whilst it is safely concealed and protected in the bag.
The Proporta Protective Laptop Bag comes complete with a shoulder strap and neatly hidden away rucksack straps, enabling you to carry your Laptop Bag whichever way you find most comfortable.
Dimensions:
External = 411 mm (16.2 in) x 300 mm (11.8 in) x 110 mm (4.3 in)
Compartment 1 = 375 mm (14.8 in) x 280 mm (11.0 in) x 35 mm (1.4 in)
Compartment 2 = 375 mm (14.8 in) x 280 mm (11.0 in)x 80 mm (3.1 in)*Maximum weight capacity 8kg
*The Portable Laptop Battery is not included as part of the Protective Laptop Bag and may be purchased separately.
Key Features
* Protects your laptop against bumps and impact damage
* Numerous compartments for cables, paperwork, pens/styli & mobile devices
* Cut out leather pocket for Proporta’s Portable Laptop Battery
* Small, secret pocket for money or cards
* 2 x plastic gromits to listen and charge on the go
* 2 x bright coloured karabiners – high visibility for keys
* Shoulder strap, or discreetly hidden away rucksack straps – choice of comfortable carry options
* Strong rubber feet to prevent shock absorption when making contact with hard surface
Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture
Slideshow of the above pictures
Product Video
Alternative video link: Video at blip.tv
Here are my observations:
This is another amazingly well designed bag that has the Proporta name. Not surprising considering how I loved their gadget bag. Again, I was blown away by the extra little things that Proporta has put into the product that make their products stand out from the rest. First, I love how they have the grommits or holes/slits inside the bag to allow easy threading and connectivity between the various compartments of the bag. This can allow me to thread a charging cable to my Treo and connect it to the Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger AND my own headphones so that I can listen to music while it’s charging inside the bag. The bag is cushioned all around including the inner layer to protect the two main compartments or pockets from bumps and shocks. The protective handle wrap is an extra plus that most (myself included) appreciate since it helps protect my hand from blisters that may form after hours of carrying the bag. The padded shoulder strap is a similar idea that is also well thought out. To further protect the bag from possible shocks and bumps, there’s a set of plastic feet at the bottom of the bag to help cushion and absorb shocks when the bag is placed on a hard surface. What really amazed me was the ingenious design of the hidden rucksack (backpack) straps that can easily and quickly be taken out and strapped on and transform it into a laptop backpack bag. That’s amazing!
The only complaint (if I can even call it that) is the lack of color choices. My favorite color is always black so I would have preferred that color. On the other hand, this color does keep the bag from looking old and dingy after a few uses, which with other colors, may happen. Again, this isn’t much of a negative but more my opinion.
I would prefer if the top elastic loop could be bigger to accomodate the Proporta USB Mobile device charger or other similar sized objects. Also, it would be great if the laptop compartment also has grommits or slits since there are a few pockets in the laptop compartment where I could put in my mp3 players or other similar devices. Again, I really can’t find any fault with this bag at all, except it to be slightly bigger so that my Vostro 17 inch laptop computer will fit much better. Right now, I have to spend a bit of time maneuvring the laptop for the zippers to close.
Proporta’s Protective Laptop Bag is a very well designed bag that will not only fit and protect your laptop/notebook computer but also provide ample pockets for all your wires, cables and accessories. However, I am most impressed with the subtle design enhancements that make this an outstanding laptop bag. First, the grommits or wire slits that can be found at various areas in the bag make threading wires inside the two main compartments of the bag so easy. Not only can you set up your devices to be charging inside the bag, but you can also be listening to or using the device while it’s being charged! Simply thread the wires and or cables through and out the grommits or slits and you’ve got access to your devices from the outside! Second, the handle wrap cover is a special extra that make carrying the case that much more enjoyable, preventing blisters from forming after hours of carrying the bag. You can strap on the supplied shoulder strap with the padded support (again, another subtle enhancement), or take out the rucksack (backpack) straps normally hidden inside the back of the bag and strap it on. Now, you’ve transformed it into a backpack laptop bag! Lastly, the extra plastic feet at the bottom of the bag is another way that Proporta ensures that your laptop and contents are protected from shock. The bag is fully cushioned along the sides of the bag plus the inner lining to prevent one compartment from bumping the other. This is certainly one basic looking but extremely functional laptop bag that I recommend as an essential laptop bag that I think everyone should get! Although with a lot of maneuvering, I am able to fit my 17 inch Dell Vostro laptop, it certainly isn’t easy to fit it in. But for my 15 inch Dell Inspiron 8100, I had lots of room for more items in the laptop compartment.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Proporta ( visit our affiliate store here. Get 10% off with coupon DISCOVER) and purchases made with the affiliate links in this post and throughout the site will help keep Palm Discovery running as paying for future giveaways offered from time to time. Thanks to your generosity, $20 was donated to Plan Canada (formerly Foster Parents Plan International) in 2006 and $85 was donated in 2007.
Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery
Get 10% off with coupon DISCOVER
: archives categories hardware-review reviews proporta laptop-bag proporta-protective-laptop-bag bag gadget-bag
