Cat Man Do

As others have mentioned, it would help to know exactly what your needs are.

Do you have other bags to check in? Will this be your only carryon, main carryon, or a personal item?

Some have recommended backpacks that are just about the maximum allowable size, which would be fine as an only bag, but overkill for the sort of incidentals you might carry in a personal-item type bag.

Personally, I use an Osprey Daylite pack (currently clearance priced USD 34 at REI) as a daily carry. It is also small enough to be good as a personal item. it is 13 liters capacity, but is very light and folds up to pretty-small. Two side mesh water bottle type pockets, one top zip pocket, top zip main compartment containing an unpadded laptop slot, two compression straps, and the big one for me: an external hydration bladder pocket. I don't actually use it for a hydration bladder. This is where I put my laptop (Macbook 12", other similarly-sized would work) if I'm not out in the rain. That leaves the rest of the internal volume available for other stuff.

This works for my needs ranging from daily laptop-and-IT-tools carry, to two-week trips in non-cold weather. I do pack very lightly - two to three merino t-shirts and underwear, a pair of shorts, trousers, laptop, phone, kindle paper white and chargers, minimal toiletries, and some odds and ends.

For a longer trip or cooler weather, I've taken other bags. The Osprey Porter 46 turns out to be too much bag - it's heavy and holds too much. (Anyone want one?). When traveling with my Brompton, I'll take the C-bag instead. It holds all I need. Rated at 26 liters, but I think that may be overly generous a bit.

I do use either packing cubes, or my latest favorite, a few dry bags, to keep things organized for easy access.

If I had to choose one bag now, or if I were to just buy one anyway, despite not actually really truly needing the damn thing, I'd upsize a bit. That would cover my needs for cool weather as well. Osprey finally started making the bag I want - it's almost exactly the Daylite, but sized up to 20 liters. Daylite Plus, unfortunately exclusive to REI. It looks like it still has the bladder pocket I can still use for a small laptop, and also has a flap on the back to hold jacket / hat / etc.

CMK10

This one right here saw me through three years of law school and two dozen trips so far with no signs of stopping:

https://www.caselogic.com/en-us/us/p..._-_217_-_black

pnt1

if you want to carry around small things (no laptops), I recommend that fjallraven mini. It's lightweight, easy to carry, and if it gets dirty, you can just throw it in the wash.

MicWebb

I've used each of these on my own flights:

I've got my eyes on the Patagonia 20L Anacapa, Paty's smallest pack but dual mesh bottle pockets, a phone or sunglass lined pouch, a laptop slot. Just $59. It looks like a good "local" bag if you like daypacks instead of messengers for that purpose.

Only you can decide what works for you, but I think the ones listed above are worth checking out. All fit seat-side, under your legs or under the front seat, and satisfy "personal item" sized carryon requirements on my strict Asian carriers (international flights).

My rule of thumb is: my seat-side bag should also be suitable for local every day carry use. That sometimes conflicts with choosing a bag that is big enough to hold all my seat-side essentials (neck pillow; down jacket; water flasks - Platypus; iPad Mini or similar for inflight reading and videos).

One caveat: for some reason ticket counter agents look askew if your carryon luggage is close in size to your carryon personal item. No one has ever told me my personal item was too large, but they have said they are the same size (when my luggage was relatively small and my personal item was relatively big). It's not a problem if you just lug one item on board, but if you carry two, make sure the luggage is markedly larger than your personal item, or choose a smaller carryon item, or be prepared to negotiate at the ticket counter.

Since I carry an 11.6" laptop, an iPad Mini or similar sized Android, and two phones (my departure phone and a phone to kit with a local SIM when I arrive), I need an appropriate set of slots to fit them in. The water bladder slots in the Paty Linked 16 and in the Flash 18 are actually both large enough to hold an 11.6" laptop, despite the fact that these two bags are the smallest daypacks listed - the thin back foam on the Linked 16 and Flash 18 protect the laptop just fine (so when you see "water bladder slot" you should also be thinking "tiny laptop slot" too). Of course I don't need a laptop at my seat, so I pack the laptop in my overhead bag and save the "water bladder" slot for my tablet.

I hope this gives you a jumping off point for inventorying your own needs and for starting a plus/minus checklist.

BUT to be honest I prefer a cross-body, messenger-style bag for my seat-side, personal item. Why? Remember using it locally as one of my criteria? I don't like daypacks locally, motorbike thieves drive by and wrench single-shoulder carry daypacks off tourists all the time, and often injure the tourist in the process. In addition, I don't like single shoulder straps sliding off my shoulder, nor do I like trying to access a daypack with a single free hand.

So my personal preference for both personal item on the flight, and local edc, is a messenger style bag. I like the ones that can be carried across either shoulder - Chrome bags and some others are uni-shoulder carry. Red Oxx has the unusually large Rock Hopper (which isn't ambidextrous, unfortunately); Patagonia has the regular Mini Messenger and the Black Hole Messenger both of which have an abundant array of built-in organizing slots and pockets and even an external bottle slot; and then Rickshaw Bagworks goes minimalist with its "Zero" line, with the Small Zero hitting the perfect middle spot, for me, of being large enough for the flight and small enough to carry around town. The Small Zero is a no-frills (single Velcro strip for closure, twin front panel drop in slots but no further organization in the main compartment, ultra light, ultra compact when folded and stowed into your luggage and the kicker - weighs just one pound).

I use the Rickshaw Small Zero in xPac crinkly sail fabric, since it sheds rain and, more importantly, doesn't soak up any of my tee shirt sweat. I can rotate it to the front of my body for security on the subway (and anytime for access), and switch shoulders to limit one-side strain. Even if I opt to carry a daypack on the flight, I will pack the Small Zero in my overhead or in my checked luggage for use on the ground when I arrive (the LLBean combined with the Small Zero are a good team-up - the LLBean is larger enough to handle a weekend getaway, the Small Zero is easy to sling front-body).

Let us know what you settle on. Sometimes the cheapest, quickest alternative is whatever you've already been using around town.

GoRavens

Ogio Metro. On my third one - I get a new one every 3-4 years. They don't wear out, but eventually everything starts to show a little wear and tear. Best laptop bag IMO. Heavy materials, strong stitching, heavy duty zippers.

I also like that I can easily remove the stitched on logo and make it look a little more generic / utilitarian.

Leah Noblitt

I actually am in the market for an Osprey Porter 46!

Charlottes

I'm looking for a back bag for everyday use. For example, I can take the laptop, my iPad. Any suggestions?

Charlottes

Can you give me suggestions about which brands of back bags?
i need to take my laptop of MAC book air , iPad mini and books.

freecia

Timbuk2 and Incase make some nice everyday carry backpacks for laptop & some papers. Most are fairly slim compared to school backpacks and have decent cable/accessory organization.

Tom Bihn Synapse 19, 25 and Smart Alec are very clever and well made. The price reflects that. The Brain Bag is on the larger side if you need to carry a lot of books.

Osprey also takes care with their backpack organization and materials. Their usual design leans more towards utilitarian and outdoors than minimalist or urban.

Here's some urban everyday laptop carry options: http://www.carryology.com/bags/backp...professionals/

Cat Man Do

If I can find mine, I'll PM you. I suspect I may have loaned it to someone. Now if I remembered who...

gobluetwo

Plenty of bags out there. Any particular style, price range, organizational features, how you'll use it (office, client meetings, school, leisure travel, bicycle commuting, hiking, etc.), size (really big, as small as possible)?