Pros & Cons
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- Low cost.
- Durable.
- Plenty of pockets and compartments.
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- Shoulder pad is too thin.
Call it a man purse if you must, but I don't go anywhere without a laptop bag holding all the essentials: a water bottle, umbrella, NYC guide book, and whichever other book I happen to be reading. On some days, however, my load is fairly light, so the bag's weight is always noticeable. At 1.6 pounds, the LowePro Messenger Factor M ($30 street) is perfect for such occasions, yet durable enough to also support a full load.
Like other notebook bags I've tested, the Factor M's padded compartment does not extend to the full width of the bag. While the bag appears to be wide enough to hold 17-inch notebooks, LowePro claims that the laptop compartment is limited to 14 inches, though I was able to fit a 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with little effort. The Factor M uses relatively little material, which helps keep the bag light (while keeping cost down)—there's just enough padding to protect your notebook from contents in the bag's main compartment, which is really all you need.
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