Need advice on best rolling laptop bag please

[MarketingConsultant]

I am practically killing myself lugging my laptop bag around with me. It's a really nice leather handbag type one, that I paid a small fortune for, but it's too heavy (a stone when fully laden) and someone suggested I get a laptop bag on wheels instead.

Can anyone recommend a good one? They seem to fall into two groups - cheap and cheerful or very expensive. Is it worth paying the extra money for a "nice" one?

And are they any good? There are some places where I'm sure I won't be able to wheel it, so do I need one with carrying handles or a shoulder strap or what?

And please, if anyone does spot one, can it be sturdy, roll properly and easily and be ULTRA lightweight

They're surprisingly expensive, aren't they?

I bought one recently that was around £70-90. Looked good online, but when it arrived, was much bigger than I had expected - more like a suitcase with wheels - and the inner, padded pocket for the laptop was too small for my (average-sized) laptop to fit into.

This one is £78

Not sure how important it is for yours to be stylish, but it seems that style = ££££!

From this site:

www.nextag.co.uk/bag-laptop-wheels/stores-html

Hmmm, I do rather quite like stylish - and a professional image is important to me. But more than that, I do need my fair share of girly pockets for make-up and so on! And the boring men's ones just don't seem to cater for that.

I've been searching online and like:

Wenger Rhea - £130

Bramble & Brown - comes in red and black - lovely, but it's £169!!

Kensington Contour Balance Roller - most reasonable of the 3 at £60

Actually I quite like that last one - especially the promise of being light. It's surprising how often you have to carry a bag on wheels, especially if you're on the underground.

Looking at all three, the Wenger and Bramble & Brown both weigh 3.3kg. The "light" Kensington one weighs 3.1kg - not much difference in it really.

I don't like pink, but this one is much the lightest of all, at 1.1kg:

Radley - £130

It really depends how much you will use it.

I bought a Samsonite one for £115, which I expected to be a good sturdy make. I wore the wheels down in a month! This was from walking 1/2 a mile too and from the station about three times a week.

Samsonite will repair and have a three year warranty, but it is completely useless to me to have to send it off to be repaired every month. I am now trying to get a refund.

I have been recommended Victorinox as being of very good quality, although they are around the £250 mark. It is also apparently possible to change the wheels yourself if they wear down.

Very good point, Thistledew. I hadn't thought about that at all. I would have assumed they'd all be up to the job. I would be doing about a mile a day, four days a week, so it would have to be sturdy.

I'm lurking here too! I've got a lightweight laptop but it doesn't feel like it after walking a mile home from the station!

I love the Radley one! Strange because I hate their handbags ... Really think lightness is key. And there isn't much pink in it, is there?

They're on three for two, so if enough of us want one we could split the cost?

I checked it out "in the flesh" today - it's nice, has all the pockets and space you'd want and was much lighter than the Wenger Rhea. But I just can't get past the pink.

I found this one today too, and fell instantly in love:

Knomo Verona - £225

I like that one and the Bramble & Brown the best. Typical, as they are the most expensive!

I'm up for 3for2 on the Radley. I do like the one you linked to MC but it is out of stock and how well will it wheel? I travel loads and really need it to wheel sturdily

Or there's this one if you can't get past the pinnk

More expensive, but all the Radley stuff is 3 for 2 at the moment.

I prefer the pink to the starburst pattern BIWI. Although it does have four wheels and therefore would wheel well (four wheels good, two wheels bad).

I wonder if the 3 for 2 means 3 of the same, or whether you can order 3 different ones?

A month ago, a colleague of mine went to home at weekend, she carried a laptop bag with hands, there was some important things in it, laptop, some important files, purse and mobile phone, at that moment, two young men who ride motorcycle robbed her bag, at first, she recalcitrated, but worst thing happened, the bandits pulled the bag and not going to give up, my colleague was dragged at least 2 meters, she went to hospital as the hands was injured. that's awfully, so from such thing, I never take my laptop with the carrying bag, I take the shoulder bag
www.sourcingmap.com/beautiful-pink-stylish-141-inch-laptop-notebook-shoulder-bag-case-p- 40096.html

Quattro - seems not to be out of stock now - I just tried and it added to my basket OK. I'm not sure how well it will wheel. I didn't put it much to the test as I just didn't like the pink. I think the wheels will very quickly look grubby though.

BIWI - Yes, I saw that one in the shops yesterday. It's much taller than the others and more like a cabin bag; more like a luggage piece than a briefcase, IYKWIM. The 3 for 2 is for anything because I just put 2 Montagues and 1 Fleet St in the basket and one Montague came up as free.

I'm not working this morning - I'm off to my local department store to compare the Wenger Rhea and the Bramble & Brown Stowe. Hoping to decide on one of them today so I can be sparing my shoulders by tomorrow!

Well, I bought the Bramble & Brown Stowe, in black. I went a bit more with heart over head as it looks nicer (more like a handbag whereas the Wenger Rhea is more like a standard laptop bag until you open it up), and it is probably a little less practical in terms of numbers of pockets and ease of access to things like travel card and so on.

And my lovely hubby negotiated a 10% discount too. It's still a lot of money for a laptop bag, but well worth it to make sure I can continue to be earning rather than being laid up with back problems.

Anyway, I'll give it a bit of a road test for a few weeks and report back!

Ha ha - all change! I packed up the Bramble & Brown with my laptop, mouse, power cable, folder, umbrella, small make up bag, and purse, and it was completely full. I could just fit everything in, but theat meant no room for anything else, like some extra paperwork or a packet of sandwiches. I think it would be OK if you were to carry a small handbag too, but that was what I was trying to avoid.

So I took it back and bought the Wenger Rhea one. I've packed it up and it still has some space. And actually, there are many more pockets in it, which means I can organise things like dongles and USBs far better.

Am sad to give up the lovely looking B&B, but practicality had to win over ultimately.

Well I am glad you are sorted

Tried the Radley today and was horribly disappointed. The pink is okay, but the whole bag looks a bit cheap and nylony tbh. The pink wheels are a mistake and will look dirty by the time you've wheeled the bag out of the shop. But worst of all is the weight - it's actually closer to 5lbs than 1lb - much heavier than advertised

How heavy is the Wenger Rhea btw?

The Wenger Rhea is 3.3kg apparently. It is heavy when full (my stuff weighs a stone), but I haven't had to carry it very much at all yet. The worst was up 8 flights of stairs in a car park. Otherwise it pretty much wheels everywhere OK. I haven't travelled on the tube with it as yet, but that comes next week. It shouldn't be too bad as the handle collapses nicely and it's easy to pick up and carry for the few seconds it might take to get on and off escalators and tube trains. All in all, I'm really happy with it so far.