Best bag for law student?

[ghezbora]

Hi,

I've seen a lot of threads about "what's the best bag for me" and people seem to really want to help, so I figured I'd give it my go. I need a bag for law school this fall. I know I'll need to carry a MacBook Pro (15.4") and several law school tomes (they look like dictionaries, I couldn't believe when I saw them at the open house), plus power adapter, mouse, lunch, thermos, etc. Fairly typical except the books are twice as big as normal.

The bags that caught my eye on the site are mainly the Brain Bag or the Empire Builder. I can't decide if I want to go with the messenger style bag or the backpack. I'm not sure what the pros and cons are each way, really.

I'll be walking ~1/2 mi. to school and back every day. I don't know if that's far enough for walking comfort to be an issue. From what I hear both bags are great anyway. Being able to travel with it on aircraft isn't essential, though it certainly wouldn't hurt. I'm mainly concerned with being able to fit everything in it and get to it easily.

The arguably more professional look of the Empire occured to me as a plus, since I'll hopefully be working at a law firm as soon as next summer.

Ok, wow, long post. Anyway, thoughts on which bag I should get? Thanks in advance!

[jingoed]

It will all fit in an Empire Builder.

I'm on my second, and its a smashing bag. But I think with big heavy books, you might want the weight balance of a backpack, thus the Brain Bag.

PS-- The Empire is hardly a messenger bag-- it doesn't cinch up like one, its really a briefcase with a good strap.

[ghezbora]

You're on your second one? O_o What'd you do to the first one? I thought they were indestructible...

[Cobos]

I would say what I've said earlier. It all depends on how you are used to bring heavy stuff with you already. I've used backpacks my whole life so for me the option for daily use would be the Brainbag, my SO on the other hand is used to shoulder bags and thus has no problem with for me crippling loads on a single shoulder.
The advantage of the Empire Builder is clearly proffesional looks, and organization compared to the Brain Bag, but I'm pretty sure you'll be more comfortable with the Brain bag if you fill them both completely up.

Cobos