Wirecutter

This small, durable, and practical 18-liter backpack has almost no padding. It’s the knapsack you carried to elementary school, all grown up.

Best for Most

amazon.com

walmart

bazaarvoice

OutdoorGearLab

The Incase Icon takes the top spot as our favorite option in our Best Laptop Backpack review. It's a clean, stylish laptop bag with great organization and protection. This pack has three separate compartments for keeping all your large items organized. There's a laptop pocket, a smaller sleeve for a tablet, and a larger main compartment for the rest of life's necessities. The total volume of this pack is 17 liters and it has 14 pockets in total. This pack is great for keeping all your tech organized while also having room for gym clothes and a lunch. 
We also really love the style of this pack. Its sleek design is great for the office, but this bag is versatile enough to double as a gym bag, urban backpack, or even a small travel bag. Some who like to stuff everything into one main storage compartment might not love the multiple main compartments of this bag. But we think this is a great, versatile option for carrying all your gadgets and more. 

The Incase Icon takes the top spot as our favorite option in our Best Laptop Backpack review. It's a clean, stylish laptop bag boasting great organization and protection. This pack has three separate compartments for keeping all your large items organized. There's a laptop pocket, a smaller sleeve for a tablet, and a larger main compartment for the rest of life's necessities. The total volume of this pack is 17 liters, and it features a whopping 14 pockets. The Icon excels at keeping all your tech organized while still having room for gym clothes and a lunch. 
We also really love the style of this pack. Its sleek design is great for the office, but this bag is versatile enough to double as a gym bag, urban backpack, or even a small travel bag. Some who like to stuff everything into one main storage compartment might not love the multiple main compartments of this bag. But we think this is a great, versatile option for carrying all your gadgets and more. 
Read more: Incase Icon review

The Incase Icon is a sleek and stylish laptop backpack with excellent organization and protection. It's no wonder it's our favorite among the competition. It holds 17 liters worth of stuff, while also keeping it padded and protected from daily abuse. Load up a laptop, tablets, lunch, books, binders, and your after-work clothing in one backpack. It has three main compartments for exceptional organizational capacity and easy access to all your items. Its urban style is a superb choice for work, school, or even travel. 
While we love this pack, we know some folks are just "toss it in the bag" types who won't use all the organizational features. If you prefer to toss your stuff into one compartment so there are fewer sections to rifle through, this may not be your bag. However, we love the Icon and it's our recommendation for those that love to compartmentalize their things in a beautiful, stylish package. 
Read more: Incase Icon review

Upgrade Pick

expert-review

Incase ICON Backpack Review | Pack Hacker

The Matein Travel is a great backpack for a great price. We love the wide variety of pockets that can accommodate multiple laptops, if necessary. We found the interior padding protected our previous tech from plops, drops, and inadvertent kicks. The zippers are also exceptionally smooth &mdash; we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to open and close the pockets of this bag. It also comes equipped with additional features that differentiate it from many other packs including a USB plug/port combo, detachable keychain clip, and a complement of auxiliary pen, water bottle, and catchall pockets. 
There are only a couple of features that we question with this pack. The zippers &mdash; and there are many of them &mdash; are very jingly when walking. Though there is sufficient padding for what goes inside, we found that when this pack is full of equipment, the back can feel lumpy. Though it stood up just fine during testing, we wonder about the long-term durability of the stitching. However, at this price point, there is no pack we'd rather have for toting our laptops.   
Read more: Matein Travel review

Budget Pick

Consumer Reports

While almost all of the bags we reviewed easily fit within the size constraints of most airline carry-on specifications, the Tzowla Travel Laptop bag had the most intentional design features to accommodate travelers and commuters. This pack is equipped with a luggage belt on the back that either lets you tuck away the shoulder straps or attach it to the handle of a suitcase. The top of this pack has a built-in combination lock that lets you lock the main compartment, which is handy feature to avoid theft while traveling or commuting on busy trains. Another interesting feature is the built-in USB port and audio jack. The bag doesn't come with an external power bank, but you can use your own to charge your phone or computer on the go. 
The bag is big enough for travel essentials and your laptop but compared to other bags, the volume is relatively small. If you need to carry around large textbooks in addition to your computer and other miscellaneous items, this bag might be too small for you. It's ideal as a carry-on bag or for a commuter who takes their laptop back and forth from work. 

While almost all of the bags we reviewed easily fit within the size constraints of most airline carry-on specifications, the Tzowla Travel Laptop bag had the most intentional design features to accommodate travelers and commuters. This pack is equipped with a luggage belt on the back that either lets you tuck away the shoulder straps or attach it to the handle of a suitcase. The top of this pack has a built-in combination lock that lets you lock the main compartment, a handy feature to avoid theft while traveling or commuting on busy trains. Another interesting feature is the built-in USB port and audio jack. The bag doesn't come with an external power bank, but you can use your own to charge your phone or computer on the go. 
The bag is big enough for travel essentials and your laptop but compared to other bags, the volume is relatively small. If you need to carry around large textbooks in addition to your computer and other miscellaneous items, this bag might be too small for you. It's ideal as a carry-on bag or for a commuter who takes their laptop back and forth from work. 

What we like: Flight-friendly features, thoughtful organization, and carrying comfort at a lower price than many other bags.

What we don't like: It’s a little too slim to stow all of our stuff and the material, while sturdy, lacks refinement.

eBags Pro Slim Laptop Backpack Review | Pack Hacker

pcmag.com

eBags Pro Slim Travel Backpack Review

With separate sections for your shoes, gym clothes, laptop, and files, Lo & Sons’s Hakuba is easy to organize and comfortable to carry.

With separate sections for shoes, a laptop, school supplies, and gym clothes, The Hakuba from Lo & Sons is comfortable to carry, and it looks good, too.

yotpo

Back when travel was a thing, we tested about half of Lo & Sons' travel bags — if you're looking for a gift or a bag to use when it's safe to adventure again, here's what to buy

Laptop Backpack Comparison