Well, in a world where orange is black, maybe it would look fantastic.

Briggs and Riley. Only Andiamo comes close and it is more expensive and harder to find. In addition to the Briggs and Riley warranty the thing to consider is the material. Most if not all high end luggage is made from threads of ballistic nylon. Like a shirt, or sheets for a bed, the material in luggage can be woven at different thread counts, or thread densities. The higher the density the tougher, more, well, dense, is the material. At the time I was choosing luggage a few years ago the thread count on B&R was nearly twice what it was on Tumi if I recall correctly. The downside of that is that they are a bit heavier. I had planned on getting Tumi, but between that and the warranty I went with B&R and have been very happy. Have 5 of their bags and each is a gem.

For the OP's stated needs (exept for the backpack aspect), I'd strongly recommend the B&R U-21NX expandable uprght, together with the B&R BB104X expandable computer case.

The upright, in its normal configuration, meets airline sizing standards. When you need more space and will be checking the bag, a built-in expansion (enabled by an integrated zipper) will give you extra room.

The computer bag also expands, in the same fashion - it gives you extra room for either additional computer gear, reading material or even an exra shirt or two in this bag that will bring into the aircraft cabin with you.

With this combination, US to Europe trips of 7-10 days are very do-able.

I just picked up three pieces of the Tumi T3 Blue luggage at Nemin Marcus Last Call for 800.00, great deal and it is bran dnew in a box. Can't wait to use it myself this week going to Alaska as the other people in my party got to use it to take their cloths home on their flight. My 9 yr old Samsionite died a painfull death on this trip but it served me well over the past 9 yrs and has logged prob close to 700k, who knows I might go and get it fixed and use it as a back up.

~icorproadie