I recently purchased the B&R vertical computer brief (BB107, retail: $175) and thought I'd add a brief review to this thread.

I've had the bag for a little over a month now, and I've used it on a few trips. In short: I'm quite impressed by the bag and highly recommend it. Essentially, it is a nylon computer bag that converts between an over-the-shoulder style tote and a traditional backpack. The bag has three zippered compartments: up front is a compartment with myriad smaller pouches and pockets. I won't go into detail about these, but I will say I was surprised by their smart design and usefulness. The middle compartment carries your laptop, which sits in a zippered, removal, lined sleeve. There's room for my T61 power supply as well, but YMMV by laptop. The rear compartment is designed for documents, with three sections that resemble (in design) an accordion-style file folder. Finally, there's a smaller pouch near the front handle that's designed for tickets (it works great for my ticket/passport holder).

The shoulder strap has a padded section, which has 'grip' material and stretches slightly. This makes it quite comfortable, and it stays on your shoulder. The backpack straps attached with a large clip near the top of the bag and two smaller clips near the bottom that 'hide' when not in use. The straps have marginal padding, but I find the bag comfortable in this mode (YMMV, I store clerk I talked to say many people didn't like the feel of the backpack straps). There's a zippered storage pouch for the straps when not in use, and (on the front) a retractable name tag. The bottom of the bag has small plastic feet, and it sits upright on its own.

I'll sum up with some overall pros and cons:

Pros:

• Very smart design, with a host of useful features and few useless ones
• Excellent build quality, including metal components in many places
• Compact size; fits easily under airline seats with room to spare
• Ability to switch from tote to backpack quickly and easily
• External ticket holder
• Value (see 'price' below, but with the B&R warranty, this could be affordable in the long run)
• B&R no questions asked warranty (see my experience here, post #5)

Cons:

• In backpack mode, the bag can be difficult to put on
• Weight (reasonably heavy)
• Price (see 'value' above, but this is not an inexpensive bag)
• Lacks a dedicated water bottle holder
• Papers 'snag' on the document separators when being inserted into the bag
• With the backpack straps in their storage pouch, it's difficult to put the bag over the handle of a rolling bag

As I said, I recommend this bag. It's not the most stylish, but for me it was a nice compromise between looks and functionality.