The man bag and the laptop

I've been told off before now for bringing up Man Bags - so I thought I'd do it again. This time I've been looking at some laptop bags.

The one I'm using at the moment is the Be.Ez LE Reporter bag, this one specifically for the Macbook Air 11in. Waterproof, bump proof, a few compartments and pockets and very slimline, very chic, it's the smaller one on the left in the picture. All this and change from £50 (albeit only 50p). Nicely made, in canvas, so where's the catch? I suppose it's in that it does what it says on the tin. It's a thin bag for a thin laptop and you needn't think you're going to get much more than that into it - a notebook probably, a magazine if you're lucky and it's going to start looking full. The Macbook's own power supply makes it look a bit bulked out. In the hotter months I like to carry a bottle of water and this, frankly, isn't going to take it. I may be discovering why women have so many bags for different occasions (he stereotyped) - when I'm off to a couple of meetings and want to work somewhere there's WiFi but don't want to dislocate my shoulder or carry anything else at all, this is ideal. I could have done with a pouch or slot for a pen or two.

Less flexible is the Tucano Second Skin from the Apple online store. It's pretty much a protective pouch for your laptop - it stops it being damaged if it's in another bag. For that reason I bought it and it works, but once again don't even think of carrying anything other than the computer in it.

If I were considerably richer I'd have something like this item from Mulberry. From the company's Henry range, it's elegant, lots of pockets for stuff,  designed for comfort, durability, leather trimmings, zip on the outside and padding (although you can get that from a lot of other bags too).

I can't see myself going for this one in a hurry, though, as it kind of costs £715. I suppose if you want to make a massive impact and your audience knows what it's looking at then it's a damned good choice, and it does look well designed. Thing is, we hired a holiday cottage last week and had a great time - and that only cost us £750. So if I had the choice between the bag and another holiday...sorry Mulberry, I suspect I'm just not your audience!

Later in the week I'll be looking at themed scents (I kid you not) and what to look for in swatches when you're buying a suit.