Swiss Gear SA1923 Black TSA Friendly ScanSmart Laptop Backpack - Fits Most 15 Inch Laptops and Tablets

I bought this backpack for school. After an exhaustive search online, in local stores and across campus, I can definitively say that this is hands down the best laptop backpack you can buy! Pros: 1. Tons of space and usable compartments: - 1 padded laptop compartment - 1 thin compartment that can be used for papers and folders - 1 main compartment that contains vertical dividers to keep things organized, a smaller interior mesh pocket, and an ipod/cell phone pouch that leads to a slit in the top of the backpack for a headphone cord - 1 decent sized pocket on each side (I use 1 for my laptop charger and accessories) - 2 stretchy water bottle pockets big enough for the big 1 liter bottles (good for umbrella too) - 1 small pocket on the top front - 1 pocket on the bottom front that contains a bunch of small organizer pockets found in every backpack that nobody ever uses 2. Comfort: padded, shock absorbing arm pads, padded back, and a comfortable handle on top. 3. Appearance: In my opinion, this is one of the best looking backpacks out there, but I cant argue with taste so if you have one of those ugly backpacks, thats fine with me. 4. Price: Phenomenal deal! ($50 when I purchased it) Would have gladly spent more (dont tell amazon) Cons: (there really are none... Im nitpicking here) 1. The opening for the laptop is on the side (not the top) which makes it a little awkward to get in and out. Not a big deal though. 2. I would have liked a little more padding underneath the laptop. The amount of padding is pretty similar to most other laptop cases though. You just need to be careful about setting it down to hard. 3. The size was perfect for my 15.6 widescreen. I havent tried a 17, but Im guessing it would be too big (if you could get it to fit inside, it would be VERY tight)

Used laptop backpacks since 1999, and I have gone through several brands. When I found SwissGear, I stopped changing brands. Pros: 1. Toms of pockets, slots and a HUGE main compartment. Place for mp3 player, batteries, Kindle and all the related electronic stuff you cant live without while on the road. 2. This backpack is significantly lighter than the previous two SwissGears packs Ive owned. 3. Airport security friendly. Leave the laptop in the bag, unzip the back, fold it flat and send it through the x-ray. 4. Comfortable on the back, and easy to hand carry when needed. Cons: 1. The light weight seems to translate into lower quality in a few places. One of the side grommets caught on a seat belt and was pulled out with no effort. 2. Zipper does not go down all the way on the bottom front pocket. 3. There is no divider in the huge center compartment, and small items tossed in there fall to the bottom and get lost. 4. The zipper sections in the main compartment are small. Given the room available, they could have been much bigger. The final comment is not really a Con, but the bag holds so much that you can actually make it too bulky to fit under the seat in front of you on the plane, and make it too heavy to comfortably carry on your back. Now you really can carry all the junk you want to carry with you!

Best backpack. I bought this backpack in 2015. Its 2021. I use it for travel on an almost weekly basis. It doesnt have a scratch on it. Your back will not sweat wearing it either thanks to the mesh back. Cant recommend it strongly enough. Only thing I wish it had is a sternum strap.

The reason I bought this backpack is that I wanted something that could be useful to be for many future traveling trips. We will see about this. I took it on a trip recently. The back portion worked perfectly. I have laptop on one side, tablet on the other - zipped it open to run through x-ray security, zipped it back up and went on my way. It was great! My goal was to see if I could fit a weeks worth of clothes so I wouldnt have to take a carry on suitcase. I fit a pair of jeans, 7 shirts, bed clothes, and one set of workout shorts and pants. It was super tight but all of it fit. I wanted to see if this would really work for a 3 day trip or a week vacation where Id be wearing board shorts and t-shirts everyday. It worked. I even took a light jacket, rolled it up and strapped in onto one side, water bottle on the other side. Looks like its made to last. Thumbs up here!

Swiss Gear backpacks last forever. The one my daughter has been using daily for 7 years had no issues other than her water bottle did not fit well. This one is more than a school backpack, with thicker/sturdier material. A bit heavier than I hoped. It is a wider backpack, but doesnt look weird on my slim daughter. I ordered slate and got a blue, which is part of the reason I knocked a star off. Not going to go through the hassle of exchanging though. The other reason is that it is really difficult to understand how much a bag weighs by itself online - Id like that to be included in the specifications.

Fantastic backpack. Ive been wanting to upgrade my backpack for a few years now and have had my eye on this one for a long time. It is what you would expect from a SwissGear pack, nice and big for holding items but not feeling overly large, with good, solid and wide padded straps that really make carrying the thing feel easy. In fact, that is the biggest change in my upgrade, the fact that I can have more items in my bag (i.e. heavier) and yet it feels more comfortable and lighter to carry. Things I love about this pack: Like I mentioned above, solid SwissGear build. Little things like the rubber handle on top and the padded straps really make a big difference. A side zipper for access to the laptop area. While I actually use it for my tablet (and have tons of free space because of it), simply accessing my device from the side zipper is really fast and convenient. Gone are the days of the oh man, I have to get that out of my bag feeling. The ScanSmart seems really cool. I have not used it yet because I only travel a couple times a year at most, but it seems really convenient to zip the backpack down and fold out flat. I do question if that will be accepted in some of the finickier airports, but like I said grabbing the laptop from the side pouch is really fast so if so I dont think it will be a hang up in the security line. The main inside pouch is deceptively large. There is a flat divider in there making 3 compartments, yet I really only utilize 2. Basically I use one for my portfolio book, and the remaining space for my miscellaneous items (i.e. bag for lunch, pouch of personal care items, etc..). However, I can see this as being really well organized if I had more items, say some folders/files for work, or some school books if that is your usage. There is an inner pouch that I put some infrequent use items in. The outer pouch has some dividing pouches for pens and the such, but I put all those items in some containers (hot tip, you can use old glasses cases to hold pens or usb cables etc...) and I can fit 2 large cases in there with room to spare. Some of the items dont fit in the conventional way I would have done them, but far from badly. Its just an adjustment from using the same backpack and organizing things a certain way for years. There are a couple things I dont like about the backpack too though. They are definitely minor in comparison, but I think they are worth mentioning. The water bottle holders on the side are really small. They can hold a typical 12/16oz bottle of water (the smaller kind) no problem, but the netting should come up higher than it does. If you happen to really pack your bag full to the point where the sides dont give at all the water bottles can pop out. There are also side pouches to the bag. I love these. I actually keep a set of prescription sunglasses (in a case) inside one side pouch. However, if you use the side pouch, the water bottle pouch is less usable. It isnt impossible, but like I mentioned above if there is too much in there they conflict with each other. So my typical pack is glasses on one side and bottle on the other. Since this bag has the ScanSmart ability, the place for the main zipper (the middle of the pack, behind the top handle) is for that feature. Therefore the zipper for the main compartment of the bag is forward a little more (in front of the top handle). Not a big deal overall, but because the zipper line runs toward the front of the bag (you can see the line of it in the picture) you need to open the bag pretty far to get big items out like a portfolio or books etc... No big deal overall, but then that leaves the bag very open. The way/places I use my bag I like to open it and leave it open. But that leaves all the other contents sort of out in the open so to speak. Its a hard thing to describe, and it sounds really stupid as I type this out, but it sort of makes me feel like the contents are overly exposed. So I tend to zip the zipper up a bit now so the bag doesnt hang open. Just a weird idiosyncrasy of the bag and a change from how I handle it. Im probably mental or something, but it just feels weird to me. It really isnt a big deal. UPDATE: After using the bag for over 6 months, what really strikes me as negative about the compartment set up is where the weight is distributed. If you dont actually have a laptop in the bag, then filling the other compartments places the weight primarily at the front of the bag. It makes it tip forward all the time. Again, not a deal breaker, but it really is annoying. I just want my bag to sit upright like it should. Overall, I love this bag. I wish I had bought it sooner. The critiques I have are minor and would not stop me from buying it again. My only other critique would be the price point. Since I have been watching this bag for a few years, I have seen the price fluctuate up and down. I grabbed it for about $45 but have seen it as low as $40. I have also seen it as high as $80. That is just crazy to me. If you grab it at the $40ish range this is a good deal. If I had spent more than that I would have felt it should have come with a robot to carry it for me or something.

Love this bag very strong and well built for rain resistance as well with two side water bottles holder

Got a great deal on this back pack! After seeing a similar model in a big name office supply store and refusing to spend over a hundred dollars for a back pack, I was happy to find this a few weeks later on Amazon while scanning the daily deals. My son is in eighth grade and we are hoping this lasts till senior year. Well, I hoping it will. He will probably be asking for a new one in another year. It is sturdy enough to survive a teenage boy who believes backpacks are meant to slung across the room and left in the busiest pathway until it is time to leave the house to catch the bus. Goodness only knows what happens to it in school. I love that it is black and does not show the dirt and grime the way his former red back pack did.

I was skeptical about this purchase with the myriad of complaints about quality in the reviews. So far this pack has held up well to both urban and camping usage. I can carry a decent amount of weight in it without strain. I loaded 35 pounds in it and took it on a 4 mile hike with my dog - no sweat! It has LOTS of compartments that are well designed for all the various electronics used today and various items I like to carry The straps are comfortable and easy to adjust. The handle is sturdy. And so far, every bit of it has held up to some abuse. My only complaint is the zipper design. They are all curved in a way that is pleasing to the eye and helpful in how much you can open each compartment. BUT because of the curves, its been impossible for me to close any of the zippers with one hand. I get annoyed when I reach for something and then want to close it back up and have to set things down so I can use both hands.

I bought this bag to replace a travel carry on I had. Funny how once I got to the airport that I noticed 50% of the travelers had Swiss Gear backpacks. Good sign. I bought this bag for my GF who is a Flight Attendant and she loved it. Anyway, it has pockets to keep all your stuff separate and organized. Everything is pretty easy to get into. The handle on top is great. On the left shoulder strap it has a band that you slide your sunglasses into to hold. That was the coolest. Why I didnt give 5 stars. It has a bit of weight to the bag even when empty. But, that is because it is a good quality bag. Just sayin. My only suggestion is to put your own tag or ribbon on it because everyone has one of these bags and they all look alike.