The North Face Borealis Laptop Bag Review

I bought this backpack about a year ago so that I could ride my bike to work and take my laptop back and forth.  I have always been very careful to protect my laptop when I lug it around.  In my briefcase I use a special padded sleeve.  I always see people who jam their laptop into their bag without any protection then wonder why they have reliability problems.

The North Face Borealis has a "suspended sleeve" built into the main compartment that keeps the laptop off the ground when you set the bag down.  It also has a nice strap to really hold it down if you need that.  I am also able to comfortably fit one or two 1 inch binders in the main compartment with my laptop without the bag bulging.

The next compartment is smaller and meant for pens, cards, iPods etc and maybe a small book.  The outside pocket is only good for keys, loose change and a wallet.  There are two mesh side pockets on the side that can fit a small water bottle or a cell phone. They both have draw strings on them.

The shoulder strap also has a small place for a cell phone that is not big enough for the Motorola Q that I carry. There are several straps that would go around my waste or tighten the contents of the bag.  I never use any of these and they mostly get in the way.

I don't really know what the strings are for on the very front.  The look cool and might hold a towel, but I have tried putting a newspaper in them and it just comes out.

All in all, I have been very happy with this Northface Borealis laptop backpack!