What’s in the bag?

In the military, you often talked about what was in your pack, or what did you carry in your ass pack.  There were standards and suggestions but it was the extra stuff that people carried that was interesting.  Especially when you could learn from the old-timers.  And outside of the military, sometimes in the back-country you talk about this too.  It is interesting to see what others carry on their back - since it must be important to be carried and it gets really interesting for people that have done it a lot, and been lost, or stranded as it makes their packs more interesting!

So when I saw Christian’s article about what is in his laptop bag I thought it quite interesting, and nice to see.  I thought I would do the same to encourage others to do it.  So here we go.

I use a TUMI laptop bag.

Why do I use it?  First my wife suggested that as I wear suits sometimes (not much anymore but for Asia) that I needed a laptop bag that would at least sort of go with the suit.  This one - she mentioned, does.  It was expensive (350 US$) but it has lasted a long time - 7 or 8 years - and still looks good.  Not for sale any longer unfortunately. I also like how it doesn’t expand so there is a finite amount I can carry with it!

If we look at the outside top compartment and inside of it, we see the following.

We can see a pen, and an Apple Pencil, and my cable management kit.  There is also a USB stick, and a very nice hook to hook my house-keys too.  Guess what the cable management kit contains!

I like that little pouch to carry and organize - somewhat - stuff.  What do you see?

  • DVI dongle, maybe don’t need to carry that one any longer
  • video dongle - does charging and USB - lighting - don’t need to carry that one any longer
  • VGA dongle, most often used for presentations
  • Extra Apple Pencil point, and Apple Pencil charging thing
  • Thunderbolt 1 GB network dongle
  • Apple Watch charging cable and plug
  • Two Lightning charge cables and one plug
  • One extra refill for my pen

If we look at the outside bottom pocket we see different hings.

So what is there?

We see here a variety of things!

  • There is the Lacie rugged external disk with USB3 and Thunderbolt connections.  And yes, water resistant and shock resistant too. It is 1 TB and carries a lot of different things - ISO’s, videos, images and more. I have another one of these in my suitcase I do backups to while on the road.
  • GoalZero battery pack.  One of the best I have used.  It doesn’t drain over time since it is ‘smart’ and actually shuts off when not in use.  Plus, if it recognize what it is charging it can change how it charges to get it done faster.  Plus, it can be charged with a GoalZero solar panel I have.  Which is never in my laptop bag.
  • There is a nice snug pouch in this pocket that I keep all my frequent flyer / stay / renter cards.
  • The leather item is an old Compaq business card holder which holds my business cards.
  • The long and narrow black thing is a laser pointer / clicker for presentations.  Works very well with Mac and PC - and is a green laser.
  • The black and grey pouch contains earphones, and an adapter to use them with my iPhone 7.  They work for audio just fine with limited noise reduction but also work good as a phone attachment.

Now we look inside the laptop bag.

Really not much here.

  • We see my MacBook Air, and power adapter.
  • My iPad Pro with the Apple Smart Keyboard
  • And yes, I still use a Moleskin notepad.

So for trips around town this is it.  But when I travel I have one other thing in the main compartment.

I could not travel without my Bose Headphones as they are so comfortable and last so long.

So, you know what is in my laptop bag now.  It might change a little in the near future when I have my new MacBook Pro.

What is in your laptop bag?

Updates:

Michael

=== END ===

Posted in Not my normal stuff
One comment on “What’s in the bag?
  1. […] by a post by Michael White at https://notesfrommwhite.net/2016/11/11/whats-in-the-bag/ - I thought it would be interesting to share what’s in my laptop bag as well. And I bet […]

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