"Hands-On" Laptop Case Reviews

The North Face Surge Backpack Laptop Case

Review Score: 8.5 out of 10 (Very Good)

Pros: Slim profile with expandible options, lots of good features, and solid construction.

Cons:  Several hiking-related extras might be more than the average laptop case user might be looking for.

Bottom Line:  A strong offering from a well-regarded manufacturer, which provides good laptop protection, lots of storage space, and a slim profile.

The Full Review

Our first impression of The North Face Surge when it arrived was that it is a more compact offering than the large OGIO Metroid we recently reviewed.

The front of the backpack features a front pocket that is closed on top by a fold-down flap, which is secured by an easy to open clip. However, to actually get into the pocket, you must unzip one or both of two large zippers that run diagonally down the front of the pocket.  This two-step process ads an extra layer of effort to access this pocket.  It appears that this was designed this way in order to offer an audio headset port that runs from an inner pocket (inside the front pocket) through the the back.

Inside the front pocket there are several of the standard pockets you find in most laptop cases, such as slots for pens, a cell phone pocket, and other miscellaneous small pockets for business cards and other items.

On both sides of the front of the bag are small mesh water bottle pockets, with cords that help seal them on the top.  These

are great for keeping your hands free while carrying your bag through the airport or around town, while still having a beverage easily accessible to you.

At the bottom of the bag, in an inconpicuous spot, there is a padded pocket that holds your notebook's power cord and charger.  As these items can somtimes be bulky and awkward to wrap up when you are the move, it's a nice to have a big, padded pocket to dump this in, and keep out of the way.

Behind the front pocket is the first main backpack compartment, which is deep but not too wide.  This is an ideal place for some of your thinner items, such as magazines, newspapers, note pads, files, and the like.  There is also a small zipped pocket inside this compartment, to keep things secure inside the bag.

The next compartment of the backpack is the main storage area, which is both deep and wide.  An area of this size will hold pretty much anything you can imagine fitting in a normal backpack, whether that be business items, personal items, or both.

Last, but not least, is the laptop compartment itself.  The first thing we liked about this is that it is top loading, which makes it easy to slip a notebook in and out of the bag, without a lot of hassle.  Also, this compartment does not reach all the way to the bottom of the bag, but instead stops about 3/4 of the way down.  This is an intelligent design feature as it keeps your laptop suspended above the bottom of the bag, so your precious laptop doesn't get banged around every time you set down the backpack.  The compartment has good padding on all sides, and a firm barrier on the side that is adjacent to your back, which keeps the bag's shape, as well as makes it easier to carry with your laptop in tow.  There are no straps to hold down the laptop inside the bag, which allows the laptop to slide around a bit inside the pocket, depending on its size and fit in the pocket.

The top of the bag sports a padded-nylon handle, which makes it easy and pleasant to carry the bag by hand during the times it is not on your back.  The shoulder straps feature thick, firm padding to provide great comfort even when carrying a heavy load.  Along these lines, The North Face features something they call "BackSaver Technology" which they claim is designed to lift the load higher on your back making it so the lload of the pack is carried in a more efficient way.  Also, the back panel is covered with breathable mesh to make it more comfortable on your back on hot days.

Aside from the laptop case features, this backpack offers a host of features found on slightly standard hiking backpacks such as: sternum straps, a hip belt (tucks behind the padding which is really great when you are not using it), a daisy chain, and maybe most importantly, compression straps which let you expand the width of the backpack when you have a full load, and compress the width to a slimmer profile when you are carrying less.  This means more features, but also results in several straps hanging from the pack.

Due to the various hiking-backpack features, this pack definitely has less of a laptop backpack appearance.  So if you are looking for a laptop backpack with all of the important features, as well as the extras that a hiking backpack can give you, then The North Face Surge is a great option for you. 

Overall we like this backpack laptop case a lot, and think it's a great option for students, those with an active lifestyle, and business users who are looking for an easy way to carry their laptop in a more casual case.

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