I recently got what I think may be pretty much the perfect computer bag for me; it’s quickly displaced the previous champion (a blue leather Clark & Mayfield “Irvington”). I want to show off the organization of my new six pound cartooning studio, so here are some photos of what I keep in it, and how.

The new bag is an Ogio “Tribeca”. It’s designed to be only a tiny bit bigger than a 13″ laptop. At first I thought it wasn’t going to work out, but after a little rearrangement, everything works great. It came with a nylon strap, which I replaced with the leather strap from the aforementioned Clark & Mayfield bag; the big thing this strap change offers is the ability to unhook it easily when I’m wearing a hat too big enough to get the strap over while I’m sitting down on the bus. Which is a regular occurrence in summer, when I regularly wear huge, colorful straw hats with a stiff brim.

And, of course, any bag I own ends up with carabiners, so I can attach a water bottle to it. Or a hat I’m not wearing, or a fold-up shopping bag, or my light coat when it gets a little too hot.

There are four fabric loops sewn into the seams on this side, two on a short end, two on a long end. The intended use is to be able to hang it from the straps in either landscape or portrait orientation, but it’s also nice to have an extra place to hang a carabiner or two. (I originally wanted to use it portrait, but the pockets just aren’t very accessible this way.)

The metal circles between the bag and the strap are extra-large keychains. This both gives me something to easily hook the strap onto, and provides a stylish accent. There’s also a couple small ones in the same fabric loops, that I’m experimenting with hanging carabiners from.

The big pocket on this side has a little icon in it suggesting it be used for a keyboard, presumably to hook to your tablet. But I’m using it for some essentials I want quick access to: phone, kleenex, and a tube of roll-on sunscreen. The latter is not exactly a thing I need quick access to, but that’s the best pocket for it – and I definitely consider it an essential, because spring in Seattle can change between “need a light coat” and “want to run around in the sunlight” pretty quickly. When I do the latter, I need to be able to smear sunscreen all over my huge wing tattoos to protect them from fading. Every one of my bags has some sunscreen kicking around somewhere in it.

The other side unzips on two edges. Wallet, Wacom stylus, keys, and you can barely see the retractible USB cable I use to connect the Wacom to the computer poking out of the pocket it shares with the stylus stand. I’m using the squat cone stylus rest that came with my older tablet rather than the little barrel stylus rest full of spare nibs that came with the newer one; it sits in the very limited space without making a weird-looking bulge on the outside.

The keys are clipped to a chain, which is clipped to the ultra-short strap sewn into the bag. The strap has a little plastic latch so you could theoretically unclip it to deal with unlocking a door, but in practice I found that too fiddly. Now I can just yank the keys out and stick ’em in the lock without disconnecting anything.

Inside: 13″ Air, and a Wacom tablet with almost exactly the same footprint as the computer. Also some earbuds, a spare pack of Kleenex (I’m slightly allergic to the world, it’s a lot better than it used to be but I still really need to keep the things handy), and a handful of fliers for Rita. I always keep flyers in my computer bag, because I have people in cafes or wherever ask me about what I’m drawing just often enough that I like to be able to give them the elevator pitch, then hand them a flier. I guess I’ll have to replace them with Drowning City fliers in a few months…

There’s a little diagonal strap on the flap between the computer and other stuff. It’s intended to keep a tablet from falling out. Which I guess will be useful when I take this on the plane and want a tablet for reading with. I miiight try sticking an organizer grid in this area but that might invite me to keep too damn many things in this bag – though I’ll want a way to add the power brick, and the phone battery, when I’m taking a trip. Must ponder.

And this is everything that goes in the bag. Not bad, I think. The laptop, keys, and phone come out when I get home; everything else just lives in the bag so it’s there when I want to go out.

The only thing I’m really lacking here is a handle; I find I like to be able to lift it one-handed now and then without fiddling with the shoulder strap. I’ll have to find something short to hook on the same rings I’m using for the shoulder strap. It’d also be nice to have a folding tote bag that folds flat enough to stick in the same compartment as the fliers instead of having it bouncing on the back of the bag all the time.

The great thing about this setup is how light it is. The C&M bag that was my previous go-to bag is a bit roomier than this – I kinda miss the ability to carry a sketchbook and some pens, or maybe a handful of copies of Rita, or whatever – but that sucker weighs like 2.6 pounds all by itself. This one only weighs two pounds, and its smallness made me think hard about What Belongs In It. Fully loaded (not counting a full bottle of water) it’s about six pounds; it really feels more like a slightly large purse in terms of size and weight than a tote bag. Not bad for something I paid about $50 for.