Kensington Contour Computer Backpack for 16" Laptops (K62238B), Black

I purchased this backpack October 2010, about 5 years ago. Since then, it has traveled around the world with me, been used as my luggage during quick trips around the country, and supported daily use during undergrad and one year of grad school. I'm happy to report it is still in great shape and is one of the best purchases I have ever made. As a male of average height and build, this backpack is the perfect size. It is not bulky, but has enough space that it can easily serve as your single source of luggage for weekend (or longer) trips. It is also very sturdy, and I have never had a problem packing it to the brim with heavy items when the occasion calls for it. It does not come with a waist strap, but the lumbar support is a phenomenal way to ensure it sits securely and ergonomically on your back. One final thing is that the backpack looks very sleek. I use it in school, for travel and even to go to work sometimes. It looks professional and is adaptable enough that it looks appropriate for all of these different occasions.

A sore back and a sore shoulder forced me to search for a better means to carry my laptop. I took a month to research laptop backpacks and finally settled on the Kensington Contour. I didn't want to buy a Kensington. I wanted a backpack making company with a name I knew, like Jansport,or Kelty. I've been a backpacker and was familiar with their products. I settled on the Kensington because it had the qualities I was seeking: comfort, quality materials and design, water proofing, laptop padding, urban black, rugged exterior, sophisticated appearance, lots of pockets, adjustable lumbar support with back padding and a water bottle pocket. I write and work in media for a living. Mostly I work at home, but once a week I travel to cities. This pack does exactly what I want it to do - have places for everything I need, protect my precious laptop, and look hip.So now it is a few months later. I still like my pack, but twice now the hardware has broken. The first time it was just the zipper-handle on the little outside pocket. It fell off. Kennisington immediately replaced the pack for free. Last week at the airport the tab that holds and adjusts the left shoulder strap-- broke when slung the pack across my back. I haven't contacted them yet.

I have a bit of a reputation as a "bag" person. It's not uncommon for me to take up a considerable amount of trunk space when going out of town with separate bags for my clothes, workout clothes, laptop, etc., but I always have one special bag that travels in the front seat or within arms reach in the back seat during all road trips. It's sort of my "emergency/boredom bag" and has been known to carry everything from Tylenol to Sudoku books to a Leatherman.In the past, this bag has commonly been a backpack, until about a year ago when I upgraded to a leather briefcase, yet still continued to carry my backpack to accommodate whatever excess that would not fit into my briefcase. Needless to say, neither the backpack or the briefcase could completely carry everything, not to mention the inconvenience of digging around in the bottom of the pockets trying to find what I need. Not exactly safe behavior when you're behind the wheel of a car.I purchased the Kensington 62220 last month after much research and after my leather briefcase was ill equipped to handle the wear and tear from my excessively toting it around. Thus far, the Kensington briefcase has been, by far, the best "bag" I've ever owned. Not only does it have enough room to hold my laptop (Dell Vostro 1400 with 14" widescreen), Bible, laptop mouse, laptop adapter, inhaler, glasses case, Leatherman, MP3 player, small contact lens solution, and assortment of other small necessary items, but it also has several compartments and pockets to keep it all separated so I can find it in a matter of seconds. That's not to mention the ergonomic comfort of the handle and curved back of the bag. I would definitely recommend. I constantly brag about the bag to my wife, who isn't so excited considering that she bought me the worn out leather briefcase as a gift for my new job :)

The redesign of this bag is a huge step back and I can not recommend this bag for purchase:I purchased this backpack several years ago and it held up pretty well. The mixture of ballistic nylon, custom zipper pulls, and other high quality materials made this bag really stand out.Over the years the zipper pulls started to shear off so I took Kensington up on their lifetime replacement guarantee this year. Their replacement process was painless, they shipped me out a new bag and told me to keep the old one.The replacement bag I received looks nothing like the old bag (the image Amazon displays on this product page is the old bag.) The zipper pulls are cheap stamped metal, the ballistic nylon and leather-like material is the considerably cheaper looking now, the waist-strap has been removed, and overall the bag is much smaller. The bag is very uncomfortable to wear as it sits higher on the back, the straps are too thin, and the width of the bag has been shrunk.Very disappointing to see the direction this bag took with the redesign.