Laptop Sleeves

Laptop sleeves for minimal protection,or as a supplement

Laptop sleeves can add extra protection to a computer carried inside another bag, but it's tricky to find the right fit. Quite a few owners lament that once they put their laptop inside a sleeve, it no longer fits the bag they like. Many of the laptop bags discussed above include a removable laptop sleeve, and this is a safer approach to ensuring a good fit. Another approach is to get a coordinated set. ThinkComputers.org recommends the Tom Bihn Super Ego (*est. $150) laptop bag, plus the optional Brain Cell laptop sleeve (*est. $60) for extra protection.

Indeed, the Tom Bihn Brain Cell laptop sleeve seems to provide the ultimate in protection, with the notebook computer hanging suspended in a thickly padded sling and enclosed in a hard shell. Since the suspension is key to the success of the protection, the Brain Cell sleeves come in both horizontal and vertical formats, depending on the way you'll be loading the sleeve into a bigger laptop bag. Both Brain Cell laptop sleeves come in 11 sizes and several colors. They include extra storage pockets and attachments for a shoulder strap. Three shoulder strap options are also available (*est. $10 to $30).

If you don't need the laptop suspension and hard shell, the Tom Bihn Archetype (*est. $95) discussed as a briefcase can also serve as a laptop sleeve inside a bigger case. For a sleeker laptop sleeve easier to slip into a laptop compartment, the Tom Bihn Soft Cell (*est. $30) is a minimalist laptop sleeve, with padding inside a cordura nylon exterior. Once you minimize laptop protection to this level, however, you have loads of choices -- and your decision may depend more on color and design than anything else.

The neoprene Designer Sleeve (*Est. $35) , for example, gets excellent reviews from owners at eBags.com. It comes in dozens of colorful designs, each in four different sizes to fit various laptops. For a completely individualized laptop sleeve, NotebookReview.com recommends the Skooba DIY Skin (*Est. $21) which comes in white canvas, ready for you to draw your own design. It's nicely padded and comes in four sizes.

New "checkpoint-friendly" laptop sleeves are designed to let airport security x-ray machines get a good picture of the laptop while still in the sleeve. The idea is to speed up the security lines, since about 25 percent of airline travelers take laptops with them. The neoprene Aerovation Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Sleeve (*est. $25) is already on the market, but is hard to find. Briggs & Riley has announced that its Stand-alone SpeedThru laptop sleeve (*est. $90) will be in stores this fall, and all its laptop bags will include a checkpoint-ready sleeve.