Mountain Hardwear Paladin Laptop Backpack

Pretty well thought out.
Bad stuff first- it's too small for books. I have a friend with a Guardian (the "smaller" version of this bag, I think it's 22 Liters and the Paladin is about 30 Liters) and he has a lot of room for books so you can hit campus for the day and take what you need. I bought the Paladin because I wanted more room for an extra layer and so I could have external access for my laptop. The extra 8 Liters of space in this bag is almost unusable (and I don't know where it is to be honest you can't tell by opening it and looking, that the bag is "bigger"). It's long and narrow and lacking depth (which goes to show buy a bag based on a volume measurement- I couldn't find the actual dimensions anywhere, just the volume). Which would be fine, if it weren't a school bag. I don't think they did anything useful, like measuring a text book, before they designed this thing. You can fit a lot more "school" stuff in the Guardian. Also, the internal side pockets are almost useless, because they make it even harder to get text books in, as does the accessory pocket on the front of the bag. Some of the interior organizer pockets are also useless (they're too thin for anything of value to fit in them (a single magazine doesn't count)) . However, It is a true Mountain Hardwear product once you get past the fact that it's no good at carrying books. It's very well made (tough, good seams) and some of the details on the bag (organizer lid, water resistant zippers, daisy chains, water bottle side pockets) are well done. I do like the external access to the laptop, and I really like the fact that the bottom of the laptop compartment is suspended off the bottom of the bag quite a ways so that when you set the bag down, your computer never hits (I've always looked for this and nobody does it with their computer bags, it seems like a no-brainer to me). To sum up, it's a well-made product, and it'll be tough, and it has a few really nice details, but they obviously never actually tried to use it as a school bag. The proportions make it completely unusable if you have to carry more than a couple of paperbacks and a binder less than 2" thick.

Pretty well thought out.
Bad stuff first- it's too small for books. I have a friend with a Guardian (the "smaller" version of this bag, I think it's 22 Liters and the Paladin is about 30 Liters) and he has a lot of room for books so you can hit campus for the day and take what you need. I bought the Paladin because I wanted more room for an extra layer and so I could have external access for my laptop. The extra 8 Liters of space in this bag is almost unusable (and I don't know where it is to be honest you can't tell by opening it and looking, that the bag is "bigger"). It's long and narrow and lacking depth (which goes to show buy a bag based on a volume measurement- I couldn't find the actual dimensions anywhere, just the volume). Which would be fine, if it weren't a school bag. I don't think they did anything useful, like measuring a text book, before they designed this thing. You can fit a lot more "school" stuff in the Guardian. Also, the internal side pockets are almost useless, because they make it even harder to get text books in, as does the accessory pocket on the front of the bag. Some of the interior organizer pockets are also useless (they're too thin for anything of value to fit in them (a single magazine doesn't count)) . However, It is a true Mountain Hardwear product once you get past the fact that it's no good at carrying books. It's very well made (tough, good seams) and some of the details on the bag (organizer lid, water resistant zippers, daisy chains, water bottle side pockets) are well done. I do like the external access to the laptop, and I really like the fact that the bottom of the laptop compartment is suspended off the bottom of the bag quite a ways so that when you set the bag down, your computer never hits (I've always looked for this and nobody does it with their computer bags, it seems like a no-brainer to me). To sum up, it's a well-made product, and it'll be tough, and it has a few really nice details, but they obviously never actually tried to use it as a school bag. The proportions make it completely unusable if you have to carry more than a couple of paperbacks and a binder less than 2" thick.