WaterField Designs

Price	$169.00
Requirements:	MacBook
What’s Hot:	Great protection for notebook and peripherals
What’s Not:	Limited color options

I’m about as far from the corporate world as you can be, but when I saw the Racer-X, I could tell right away it was a professional bag. Clean, functional design in classic black. You aren’t going to carry around textbooks or toiletries in the Racer-X, but if you’re headed to the office, it has some great features.

The Racer-X features fairly simple storage options. One half of the bag is a compartment for your notebook, the other half is for peripherals, accessories, etc. Beyond that, there are slash pouches on the front and back for documents, folders, etc.

The compartment for the notebook is fitted perfectly for the MacBook (the Racer-X comes in sizes for the MacBook Pro and PowerBook, as well), requiring no sleeve. Protection is ample, and the material is definitely not going to scratch your case, being soft and smooth.

The other major compartment has a high-contrast interior for good visibility. Foregoing the typical pencil and pen holders, there are a handful of larger pouches within the compartment. Half the pouches are a mesh-like material, while the others are like a stretchy felt material, making them great for things prone to scratching. I actually enjoyed this strategy a lot; considering the target market for the Racer-X, storage for a mobile phone, PDA, or external hard drive is probably more important than needing several pencil loops. It’s worth noting that there isn’t a great deal of storage capacity in this compartment, though. If you have much gear in there, don’t expect to carry much more than a planner or paperback. Really, though, if you’re climbing the corporate ladder, should you be lugging around a copy of Harry Potter?

The back slash pouch has a zipper within it, and once unzipped, it can be slid over the handles of a rolling suitcase. This seems to be a new trend in computer bags, and the Racer-X takes it a step further by using a very flat zipper. Using a flat zipper helps to avoid the feeling of something digging into your back when wearing the Racer-X messenger-style. It’s not perfect, but it definitely makes the discomfort markedly less frequent.

Where does that leave us? Bottom line: the Racer-X is a great bag for those who need just their notebook, a few peripherals, and some folders. The materials and construction are of good quality, the aesthetics are clean and inoffensive, and the design is thorough. The bike grip handle is incredibly comfortable without compromising the executive look, too. The only thing I’d like to see are some brighter colors, or even just some colors beyond the basic black. This is just picking nits, though, considering my last several bags have all been black. The Racer-X gets a definite thumbs up.

Filed under: Reviews