Please help me choose my first grown up bag

[Valeriane]

I'm in my 30s and have never owned a proper handbag before! I never ditched the backpack; but now I'm starting to feel like I really need a grown up bag as the backpack is starting to look out of place.

It needs to be roomy and capable of holding a laptop
It needs to be sturdy enough as I don't want to be paranoid about handling it with kid gloves
I have a grungy style so I dont want anything that looks too "elegant"
I can spend around £300

Here are two bags I've been looking at, not sure what you think

Bag 2

Any other ideas you have more than welcome!

Something with a zip at the top or other secure way, as it’ll be quite a change after a backpack.

I’d avoid leather (for animal welfare reasons). You can get something nice in an alternative.

Why the size? What do you need to carry?

I've had bags for years and gone back to a backpack for comfort! I have a smart Samsonite one. Vegan leather and nice pink lining. If you're set on a handbag just be sure it has a zip pocket and separated pocket for keys, wallet and phone that's large enough. £300 is a lot - you could potentially get one of each for that. I have a handbag from John Lewis that's super smart was about £70

Ironically after carting a proper bag around for all my 20s and early 30s, I went back to the backpack (albeit a smart one) in my mid 30s. My shoulders thanked me for it.

A couple of very swish colleagues in their 30s to 50s have a collection of rather nice Matt and Nat bags for work.
Don't feel you can't have a grownup backpack! Equally- if you want a shoulder bag go for it, but if you carry a laptop regularly, maybe holdback some of the £300 for the osteopath...

Both big bags, so how is the weight of them, before you fill them up with the items you need daily? That would be a consideration for me. I switched to Kipling bags are they are so light, waterproof etc. They come in lots of styles, colours, you could buy a few for £300.