In my line of work, it’s routine to recommend and help customers choose out a laptop bag that provides not only protection for their laptop, but also comfort, excellent design, and overall functionality. Bags range anywhere from $15 to $250 from cheapo no name brands that offer little to no protection to executive chocolate using only the most expensive materials and exotic designs.

Today, we’ll be looking at the Skooba Shuttle, a bag by Skooba Design. This cushy, comfy, computer carrying backpack is sure to offer you what you need, and lots of it – without breaking the bank, or your back!

Join us in the JAMM labs as we examine Skooba’s Shuttle as well as why the Shuttle is one of the best solutions out there for shuttling your notebook computer from point A to point B in comfort and in class.

Majority of bags out there fit 15-inch notebooks. But when it comes to 17-inchers, the number of compatible bags suddenly take a nose dive. The bags that are usually available for these heavier desktop replacements are backpacks. From really weird and awkward turtle shell style backpacks, to the more traditional backpack, Skooba brings its Shuttle offering into the fray with its own unique snazzy design. Sporting a large healthy main compartment that can hold not only 1, but 2 laptops; the Shuttle, challenges you to “bring it” and fill its 15+ pockets and compartments with all of your tech gadgets and goodies. This is certainly a technophile’s no compromise bag as it has a pocket for your Walkman where you can have the headphones come out of a little hole built into the backside of the backpack and much, much, more.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the exterior front of the bag. Made with nylon and neoprene materials and having very sturdy zippers, the Skooba design logo is prominently and proudly displayed on the bag. Our first pocket is at the music player compartment of the bag which we talked about just a moment ago. It is certainly spacey enough to fit even some CD players of the slimmer type. Of course, you also have the cable holes to allow you to enjoy your tunes while you are on the go.

Moving down the bag, we next have a stretchy exterior compartment perfect for bulkier items. With the ability to stock the item from top down or inserted sideways, this unique pocket can sure hold a variety of items – several Callpod bags that hold my ChargePod and Dragon – when I’m on a technology cruise, a sack lunch if going to work, a windbreaker for windy days, or even a tambourine when it’s time for church!

Let’s open up the front pouch…and we find that it would reveal more pockets! The flap that opens up also has more pockets. We have a business card holder, room for pens, a pouch large enough to hold a notepad or my Palm Pilot in its little case secured by velcro, and a metal clip for hooking to things like keys. You’ll also see a little Skooba tag which shows what Skooba patented technologies the bag utilizes such as “Air Square” which protects the main laptop compartment which we’ll talk more about later.

On the other side we have another compartment secured with velcro as well as a zippered compartment that is perfect told hold more tools and toys like my JAQ3 and some batteries and flash drives.

The side pocket construction is sturdy and well thought out with mesh on the sides making sure that the flap doesn’t just fall all the way down sending your belongings tumbling to potential accidental death.

Let’s turn the bag around 90 degrees counter-clockwise and we’ll find two zippers. I wonder what this holds? WOW! It unzips and contains a mesh pouch that’s perfect to hold a water bottle. Fantastic! The mesh is expandable and creates the outer boundary of the holder with a portion of the original outside of the bag as the bottom. The design looks very sturdy with a “triangular configuration”, where the weight of your beverage will be distributed to three different attachment points.

Turning the bag again another 90 degrees counter clockwise we see the back padded generously for comfort. We notice here that there is yet another small velcro pouch built into the shoulder strap on the right. Perfect for snack size treats or more gadgets like a blue tooth GPS or Wi-Fi signal finder, this pouch is sure great to have! It does have a small velcro piece right over the top of the pouch to keep the pouch’s cover open.

Let’s turn the bag face down and look at its bottom. We see 2 pieces of rubber-like feet for the bag.

All right! Let’s now check out the main compartment. Looking in with the straps of the bag in front of us, we notice one giant zippered pouch in the front. Right below that are 2 mesh pockets. Also there is a “book compartment” right before we get to the main notebook carrying area perfect for books or another laptop (though this area offers less protection for a notebook PC than the compartment designed specifically for the notebook). In the photo below you will see that I have put my IBM R50 Thinkpad in the book compartment. The spot right below the laptop in the bottom photo is the main notebook compartment which holds my Acer Aspire.

A strap ties down the main notebook compartment. Unlatching it, we look into the compartment (see photo below) to find…LITTLE AIR SQUARES! Yes, these are the same Skooba patented technology ones that we talked about earlier. Air squares are similar to bubble wrap, but they use a lot tougher material so they can’t be popped. Soft and cushy, they are sure to add a new dimension of protection for my laptop computer.

The Shuttle which could handle my mom’s 17-inch Gateway notebook now holds both of my 15-inch notebook computers – an IBM ThinkPad R50 in the book compartment as well as an Acer Aspire 5610 in the main notebook compartment. I wish they would have included are mini bags the size of a standard Velveeta cheese for my notebook AC adaptors – well I guess I can always use bubble wrap or maybe Skooba’s R.A.P.S. (another innovative way to “wrap up” your gear). Lastly the bag has two blue handles perfect for grabbing the bag when you in a rush just to pick it up.

Well, there you have it folks! After using this bag for over a month, I am amazed at how well designed a bag can be. This bag flies high and well above the Targus, Kensington, and Samsonite bags that I’ve seen and sold. Thus ends our tour of the snazzy, classy, and practically perfect laptop bag, the Skooba Shuttle – which is sure to protect all that you would care to bring in it – so BRING IT…what will you shuttle in your Shuttle?

Vital Stats:

Name: Skooba Shuttle

Developer: Skooba Design

Weight: 53 oz.

Dimensions: 19.50″H x 14″L x 9″D

Maximum Laptop Carrying Size: 16.5″L x 11.75″H x 3″W

Available From: Skooba Design

Price: $139.95 Now on sale for only $99.95!

Technorati Tags: Skooba Design, Skooba Shuttle, Laptop Bag, Notebook Bag, Backpack, Just Another Mobile Monday, JAMM