thanks for that info.

What kind of laptop do you carry? I have a 15" macbook pro. Will it be held securely in this thing? One thing I love about the Brain Bag is how with my Brain Cell the laptop is as secure as it could possibly be. I could drop my backpack from any angle (sideways, upside down, whatever) from 15' up and it would be fine. Most backpacks I've seen do an ok job of protecting the laptop from the bottom and the sides, but are anemic from above.

I was in an airplane waiting to disembark and someone was pulling their carry on out of the overheads and dropped it on top of my pack which was sitting on my seat as I stood next to it. In some packs that could've damaged my laptop, but in the Brain Bag, no problem.

That said, I'm very interested in the Concept, for the reasons brp1264 outlined above. I could be happy with the Brain Bag for years to come, but could I be happier with the Concept? For bag junkies like us, that's always the question. Until finding the Concept I was content with my backpack, but I may just have to give the Concept a try.

I have the HP EliteBook 8460p which is a 14" laptop. I have always felt that the laptop was secure and protected in the bag. It has plenty of protection on all sides. The most vulnerable area is probably the back because it is right there but even if luggage fell on the back I don't think the laptop would be damaged. Maybe I'm a little more casual because it is the company laptop :)

I've never dropped my bag or had an accident happen to it so I can't say the padding has ever been "tested" but it seems more than adequate to me if something were to happen.

I was able to get this Bellino Matrix Plus Scan Express Bag

http://www.ebags.com/product/bellino...uctid=10252767

It was on sale for $35. I called to Good Hope Bags and spoke with a nice man about the bag and he answered my questions. I only paid $2 in shipping. The bag goes for $67 normally.

I will write a review once I test it out.

re the Bellino bag, at that price point, you can basically guarantee it's made with very cheap materials and poorly stitched. It's a disposable bag, would likely come apart under most of our usage scenarios in short order. I'd guess that the manufacturer's cost for materials alone for either the Brain Bag or the Concept are more expensive than that bag retails for.

Not sure how the Bellino bag adds this to thread...just looking at the pictures the construction and zippers are cheap.

Anyway...conejo23 still on the fence or ready to pull the trigger? I can answer any other questions you might have.

yeah, the Bellino bag is in a completely different class of bag. All those bags in the category of things like Swiss Army, Wenger, Targus, etc.... Poorly or generically designed, cheap materials, cheap methods, using cheap labor. For a product I'm going to use every day to haul my life around and help organize it, no way I'm using crap like that. For me, some things it makes sense to skimp on, some to invest in. A bag like this is something to invest in.

Not ready to pull the trigger on the Concept. I've had an interesting few days. I was looking at all their products and then started getting interested in their premium briefcase, then looked at their video and thought maybe I'd like that even more, then realized it had nowhere to put a thermos or water bottle other than awkwardly stashing it inside a compartment. But that made me do a few things.

First, I did some reorganization with my Brain Bag. Took everything out, organized in a way that made a bit more sense, and now I'm appreciating it a bit more. It really is an incredible bag. And there are things about it I really like that the Concept can't do. For example, fishing files out of a backpack is not always the easiest thing to do. But with the Freudian Slip, when I get to my office I pull the thing out and hang it on a hook on my wall next to my desk and now I have perfect, easy access to all my files. When I'm done for the day, I just pop it back into the pack and away I go.

I've also got a Tom Bihn Super Ego, their largest messenger bag. Like a combination of a briefcase and a Brain Bag, and can hold a water bottle. The water bottle holder is important. Every day I make 16 ounces of Bulletproof Coffee (google it, it's changed my life) and put it into an insulated travel mug and bring that to work. I need a handy place to put that. And I have a horizontal brain cell and freudian slip for the Super Ego. So, this weekend I'm going to empty the Brain Bag and move my stuff to the Super Ego and see if I prefer that.

Right now I'm feeling pretty good about the Brain Bag. The Concept is a VERY attractive pack, no doubt. I do like the scalability of the Brain Bag, though. For day to day carry, I put the Freudian Slip and Brain Cell in the same compartment and cinch the pack down so make the second main compartment relatively small for just any odds and ends I want to throw in there. Then if I'm going on an overnight trip, I open it up and throw my clothes and toiletries in there with room to spare and away I go.

My sense is that the Concept is a more structured bag with more intrinsic organization, but the downside of that is it becomes a less flexible bag in terms of usage scenarios and adaptability.

I'm going to play around with what I've got a bit more, but I'm still keeping my eye on the Concept. It's a beautiful bag.

I completely agree with your assessment that the Concept bag is more structured while the Brain Bag is more modular. When I was deciding among the Everki, Brain Bag, and Tom Binh one of the reasons I went with the Everki is because it is structured and I was only going to be using it for work. There wasn't any possibility of using for other purposes like day trips and such. For that, I already have a modular system (Kinesis Gear) for photography / travel so I didn't want to go the modular route.

And so we continue to look for a more perfect bag... :)

and that's what keeps attracting me to the Concept is that structure. Before I got the Brain Bag I had a Tumi ballistic expandable laptop briefcase, made back when Tumi used to be a good brand. That was a pretty structured bag and I liked it but after many years of very hard service it finally broke down, and thus started my quest detailed here. I started looking at structured bags, almost got the Briggs and Riley bag but felt it wouldn't protect my laptop enough (plus some other deficiencies).

I may still order the Concept to check it out, but my interest in that bag has caused me to really reflect on how I use my bag and what's important. I'm a practitioner of David Allen's GTD methodology and I keep a set of several files in my pack at all times and use them through the day (Action/Inbox/To Home/To Office). If I had to dig into the pack to use them it would be decidedly less convenient than being able to pull the freudian slip out and access them that easily.

That does beg a question about the Concept: can you put files in horizontally, or is it too narrow and thus require inserting them vertically? If the former, then the Concept is still viable for me. If the latter, then the Concept won't work for me. That's a non starter. I have to be able to put files in their natural orientation.

One feature I always look for is whether it will fit over the handle of my carry-on so I don't have to struggle with the backpack when it's not on my shoulders. With some of these bags, because of the lumbar padding, there may not be a way to slip it over the handle.

neither the Concept nor the Brain Bag have a 'pass thru' sleeve for slipping it over a carry on, which I'm ok with but I understand that's a problem for some.

The Travelon bag bungee is a reasonable way to attach a bag to a roller As an added advantage, it will also securely hold a winter coat.

I just tried out putting 8.5x11 paper horizontally and it works. It's definitely a little on the tight side...you have maybe 1/4 inch of wiggle room on each side.

So I moved everything over to the Super Ego (The Tom Bihn large messenger bag) and I'm actually digging it. It's got the organization I was looking for from the Concept, and I'm finding that I still really like the idea and usage behind the Tom Bihn Freudian Slip. I have the vertical one in my Brain Bag and the horizontal one in my Super Ego. I love being able to pull it out and hang it from a hook behind my desk and have such ready access to my stuff, especially my files.

I'm keeping my eye on the Concept, but at this point I'm using the Super Ego as my EDC and will be using the Brain Bag when I travel, although I was also re-appreciating the Brain Bag as I was really assessing how I use such a bag and if the Concept was the right one for me.

I also LOVE the Tom Bihn Brain Cell to protect my laptop. I haven't found any laptop bag that comes close to the protection this affords. I like not having to worry about cramming it into an overhead space or under the seat in front of me on a plane and not worrying about putting my feet on it, something falling on it, etc... I can literally throw my bag into the car, throw stuff on top of it, no problem. Most bags, looks like the Concept included, do a great job of protecting the bottom of the laptop, an ok job protecting the sides, and a mediocre job of protecting the top. I'm sensitive to this issue as I had a bag years ago that didn't protect the top of the laptop very well. It was actually a Tumi ballistic briefcase. I set it on my trunk while I pulled some stuff out of my car and it tipped over and fell to the ground, upside down. I heard this sound that wasn't good. Opened the bag and one of the corners of my laptop was dented. Ticked me off. And most of the laptop backpacks I've seen have this vulnerability.

My Brain Bag or Super Ego with my laptop in my Brain Cell? That thing could not be any more safely protected. And given that I have one computer and run my life and my business on it, protecting that thing is the #1 priority from any bag I use.

Gregory Border 25
 

Check out a Gregory Border 25. It has everything you're looking for. I got one for my wife for exactly this use case after doing a bit of research. I have a Gregory bag from 20 years ago that's still going strong, though it doesn't see as much use now, it saw daily use for about 10 years w/o failing at all, so I'd say they're built to last.

http://gregorypacks.com/GM306_cfg.ht...efault&start=2