Laptop bag: Knomo know more?

It's raining so it must be summer and that means Knomo, the very plush bag people, are promoting their new laptop bag range. I've had a look at the Kilkenny (pictured), designed for an 11in Macbook Air.

First impressions are very positive. It's stylish, lightweight (unlike some of the laptop bags I've tried in the past) and there are compartments for cables, pens, an external pocket for a paperback. It's comfortable to carry and the leather is soft, giving it a bit of a luxury feel (which I'd pretty much take as read since it costs £145, two of those and you could get a cheap laptop, never mind the bag).

It's slightly flawed in two areas. First, as I've said before about Knomo, security is an issue. The bag closes with magnetic fastenings that can be opened silently by a pickpocket - so I'd use this if I were driving to, for example, give a presentation, but not if I were using public transport.

More importantly for me, it's compact like the 11in device it's designed to carry - so you needn't expect any room to hold much else. Even the power cable for the 11in notebook is a bit of a squeeze; the external pocket takes a paperback quite comfortably but don't even think about putting a magazine in as well as the notebook.

It's designed for people who just want to carry the notebook and nothing else. In the hot summer (hah!) you're likely to be looking at bulkier stuff like a bottle of water. It's a stylish item and if you appreciate its limitations it'll be fine, but for me the size and tailoring to a particular item mean I'm unlikely to buy one.