You might think that there’s not a whole lot of point to talking about laptop cases.  After all, you’d think: they hold stuff.  What else do they do?  They hold stuff and they look good.  What’s the point in differentiating between them sufficiently to require a review?

That’s what I thought, frankly.  Then I got to try the V7 Premium Toploader by Targus, and it changed my mind.

See, when I tried this one, my first encounter lead me to unzip the middle compartment.  It fell open, revealing padding on either side, and I had a thought.  The marketing material say that this is for “documents” and such, but I began thinking.  What if I ignore that other zipper compartment with the velcro secure strap and put my laptop in this middle compartment?

Being a road warrior, on occasion–yes, Scott Adams was right in that there’s no place like (your) home office, but sometimes you want a change of scenery–I packed up the Targus and left.

I found that I didn’t even need to disconnect the AC adapter on the laptop to get it in the center compartment.  I could just gather up the cables on the AC adapter, coil them loosely on top of the laptop, and zip the whole thing closed.  It saved me some time packing and unpacking the gear, and that’s no small bonus.  It has plenty of other compartments, too, for pens and keys and whatnot–I got a paperback book into what looks like a document file folder compartment.  Pretty good sized one, too; it was a John Ringo.  And it even managed to be smaller and more lightweight than my original carrying case.  I was definitely pleased.

Even better, it’s billed as “checkpoint-friendly”, allowing quick and easy access to your laptop so you can prove to the putzes running the airline metal detector that you’re not carrying explosives.

Like I said, you may think there’s not a whole lot of difference, but you’ll think twice when you try the Targus Premium Toploader.  Sure, it’s forty-eight bucks, but frankly, this sucker’s worth it.