Hey, how’s it going? Here goes the review of the best backpacks for laptops or tech or just anything you would put in a backpack.
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So as a male, I feel like backpacks are pretty important to me because they’re like one of very few items that we get to showcase a sense of style or whatever it is; like we have our clothing, we have our shoes. But shoes and clothing can be switched in and out every day, but the backpack, it’s pretty permanent; you only have one or two at a time and they last a long time. So you want to choose one that you actually enjoy wearing; you want to choose one that actually looks good. What you don’t want to do, is choose a backpack that’s like a tech backpack that’s super ugly just because it’s a tech backpack. You don’t want to do that, you want to get something you actually like the look of, and you actually feel proud wearing to school or work whatever it is. So I’ll start my review with Herschel backpacks. This is not a sponsored post, the company didn’t send me any backpacks; I purchased three of them over the years and the other ones, I borrowed from my friends and co-workers just so I could write this review. They have probably 15, 20 styles: but here I am just reviewing the six of them, so go to their website if you want to see more collection.
- The Heritage Backpack
Okay, let’s start with the Heritage. This was actually one of the very first bags I purchased from them; it’s designed for 15-inch laptops, so any kind of normal-sized 15-inch laptop will fit in here: XPS 15, MacBooks, any of the thin ones will obviously fit, but if you’ve got like an ultra thick gaming laptop, it’s going to be a little bit difficult. It’s a really simple pack; it doesn’t have internal pockets or anything. You have the front pouch and the laptop slot in the back, but that’s it.
It holds a lot of stuff, but it doesn’t separate them into different compartments or anything. Now the one I have here is a little bit older, you won’t be able to find this exact model, but you’ll be able to find a ton of other colors on their website.
- The Pop Quiz Backpack
If you’re looking for something with a few more features, it would be this one, the Pop Quiz. This is one of the more popular bags, and if I had to choose one blindly from the whole Herschel collection, it would probably be this one, for just the average person. Again, this comes with tons of color options, and it’s designed for a 15-inch laptop. It has that padded material for the laptop. But this one has elastic, which helps it stretch a bit more, so if you have some bigger laptops this might fit a little better. It also has couple front pouches and an inner pocket thing.
Now one of the common features of the super ugly tech backpacks out there is that they’ll include a battery into their backpack and they’ll sell it to you. They’ll sell this $100 or $150 ugly backpack and they’ll call it a tech backpack just because there’s a battery in it. So what I think is better is to get your own battery pack, this one’s from Anker, and this backpack has a slot on the inside, you keep the battery in there along with some cables. 
I use an octopus looking cables and whenever I need to charge something, I just connect it up, and I’m good to go.
- The Settlement Backpack
The next pack is similar to the Pop Quiz, just little bit less boxy; it is called the Settlement. It is little cheaper, but the front area only has one zippered section; it’s not two zippers and the inside laptop area has no padding.
It’s just a separate section. If you have a sleeve for your laptop, it’s no problem, but if you don’t, I feel like you have to be little more careful about how you toss your bag around. This pack is actually the one that I use the most right now. The inside area has a slot, you can put your battery in there, just like the Pop Quiz, but yeah simple backpack, and I like the look of it.
- The Mammoth Backpack
The next one’s a little bit more expensive, it’s called the Mammoth. This one is designed for 13-inch laptops, but they also make a bigger one, that’s designed for 15-inch laptops. This whole pack is just more streamlined; it’s made with a more technical water-resistant material, and it also has a rain cover. There’s a front pouch and then some pouches on the side, but this one’s pretty simple. If you want a more technical looking pack that looks pretty clean; this could be a good pickup.
- The Parker Backpack
Another one that I like is the Parker, and I like it mostly in terms of its looks. Nothing too fancy. The front pouch is flush with the pack, it holds a 15-inch laptop, but like the Settlement I showed earlier, it also doesn’t have much padding in the laptop area. It has two side pouches and the front pouch is water sealed, but it’s not super spacious like there’s space below the zipper, but not above it.
I really like the look of this pack, and that’s why I purchased it, but if you have a ton of stuff to carry, this may not be a good fit.
- The Pop Quiz Messenger Bag
So, the last one here is the messenger bag, it’s called the Pop-Quiz Messenger. I normally like messenger bags, but I don’t love this one. So this one’s a little bit bulkier; it’s got a padded area for a 15-inch laptop. There’s a lot of space on the inside, but maybe a little too much. I like my Messenger bags; it’s just more streamlined and cleaner. This has a lot of room and it holds a well-protected laptop, but it’s just a little too big for me. But if you’re interested in Messenger bags, Herschel makes some as well.
To wrap up:
Now I looked into the warranty and it seems like there’s a lifetime warranty for these bags, which is kind of cool. These bags aren’t cheap so the peace of mind is nice. In terms of the overall experience with these bags; I mean the reason why I wrote this post is because I’ve enjoyed using them over the years. They last, look good, and protect your laptop.
