Many of us carry some form of a bag to work. Over the years I have tried many a different type and packed them with everything I needed to get through a day. Newspaper, books, magazines, laptop, charger, notepad, pens, passport, wallet, documents and the list goes on. Even with only carrying the essentials one can see that the bag might weigh you down. However, as tech has improved and as more content is available online and electronically that list of items has shrunk year on year to enable me to move to a bag with what I believe is the perfect size, at least for now (and of course for me)!
From the above pic you can see some of what I carry on a daily basis:
- iPad and Logitech keyboard (which replace my laptop, newspaper, book, magazine)
- Evernote Moleskine Notebook and pens
- Battery to charge my iPad and iPhone if I run short on power (prefer a battery compared with carrying chargers and needing to look for sockets!)
- Passport
- Other items often thrown in include wallet, iPhone and sometimes lunch or the odd book that is not available on Kindle.
I normally spend about 3 hours travelling daily. That entails a mix of transport types – car, train, bus and finally a little walk on foot. A few days a month depending on where I am working those travel times may be 8-10 hours. There are many like me and many that travel more. Thus the smaller and lighter the bag the easier the journey, if only a little. The Moleskine bag firstly is water repellant which is very important considering the value of the electronic, water sensitive, items inside. It is very light. It has a rigid base that both protects contents and allows it to stand even when empty which facilitates very easy loading of items into it. It has a zipped pocket inside. The strap is long enough to go across the body. The bag is small enough to fit comfortably at your feet on train or plane which I prefer to overhead. Also while small and neat, if I really need to, it comfortably fits a laptop (granted of the smaller types and up to 13″). The middle pic below is of a 13″ MacBook Air that fits snuggly with lots of room for charger, notebook, etc.
So while the bag is not exactly a tech item it does help facilitate my tech life! For what it offers and the quality of the product I think its excellent value for money. Anyone out there considering reducing the weight and size of what they drag around daily should take a look at this bag (and the tech ;-) I highly recommend it!
Which battery do you use?
Its a Proporta 7000 mAh battery but dont have the exact model to hand and it gives me a few charges on my devices so its very very handy especially on long days!
Forgot I wrote a blog post on it.. :-) https://feker.ie/2012/03/04/the-need-for-more-power-and-the-recharging-dilemma/
Thanks, that’s very useful…
Great review! I fully agree with the need to minimise the weight of a daily commute. A solid bag goes a long way! I recently purchased (and reviewed) the knomo Kilkenny, which I a fantastic. However, due to the high price tag, I reserve it for specific events.
I have been considering this Moleskine reporter. What are the dimensions of the internal zipper: can it fit an ipad mini?
Great review! I fully agree with the need to minimise the weight of a daily commute. A solid bag goes a long way! I recently purchased (and reviewed) the knomo Kilkenny, which I a fantastic. However, due to the high price tag, I reserve it for specific events.
I have been considering this Moleskine reporter. What are the dimensions of the internal zipper: can it fit an ipad mini?
Andy
Thanks, the internal zipper is small and would not fit an iPad mini but is fine for pens, keys and some change!
Fintan
Ah, well… that’s a shame. Was eyeing the bag for a while as I love Moleskine notebooks. However, this bag seems to have limited potential to carry my daily gear. Thanks for your reply.
I’ve been trying to find a bag to fit my Macbook Air and stumbled across your blog post. And see that you were able to fit your air inside. But when I checked out the dimensions, they seem to be too small to fit a macbook air….Were you able to close the bag no problems?
Yep could close it no problem(well it’s a little tall for the bag but the flap closes just fine). Regularly carry it and charger without problem
I’ve heard this bag doesn’t last a month?
I use mine daily for about 18 months now and aside from a small bit of wear at one of the edges it’s perfect! Definitely recommend it!
It’s really very complicated in this active life to listen news
on Television, thus I just use the web for that reason,
and obtain the most recent information.