What bag to buy?

[bennero]

First: I have a Co-Pilot and love it for everyday use for work as I only carry an IPad. My 13 year old son was giving me a hard time about the Co-Pilot and now he wants one. ( Go Figure) I have a small cafe as my weekend "Man Bag", it is awesome.

Now I am in need of a carry on that I can carry a Macbook Pro 13 and an Ipad and all the cables and other items. I wish the Co-Pilot could carry the Macbook Pro 13 as it is the perfect bag in my mind.

The Ego is my first choice, ID or Zephyr second choice. The Ballistic Nylon and a bag that maintains shape is my preference. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Thanks
Greg

[moriond]

My favorite carryon bag combination for this is the Synapse, which is amazingly compact, and fits under every airline seat (even those with boxes under part of the seat). But perhaps you don't want to use a backpack style bag, or want to carry significantly more additional material with you? The bags you mention are much larger, while the Synapse seems more in line with the minimalist description of wanting a Co-Pilot that can also hold your 13" MacBook Pro. It has amazing capacity for it's size, and you could carry your cables and power adapter either in the front pocket at the bottom of the bag, or inside the main compartment. The 3D Clear Organizer works well for this.

[BPritchard]

Either of three good choices

I have an Ego that I used as an everyday work bag. It has been replaced by the CoPilot and the EGO is used on trips to hold my wife's laptop and my Netbook. When I got my Kindle, I don't need to carry all the reference material I used. It is on the Kindle. Thus, the CoPilot works out fine to carry the Netbook and Kindle.

The Ego is quite versatile with the many pockets for storage. Expands and contracts according to your needs. The ID and Zephyr are also excellent alternatives that are smaller.

When I was making my decision, I build sizing prototypes of each bag made from newspaper. Just the outside dimensions to give me an idea of how my items would fit along with future needs.

As to a shoulder strap, get the Absolute. I got the QAM strap, but It wasn't comfortable enough. I replaced it with the Abosolute strap. The QAM strap will go on EBay.