L.L. Bean Campus Computer Organizer

From Walter Lefmann:

I got the LLBean pack today, and was quite disapponted: The dimensions of the laptop compartment are *not* what was advertised in the catalog (print or web). There is also a design flaw for water protection.

The specs as given here, state dimensions as 'Computer compartment 10"H x 131/2"W x 21/2"D'. Well, the compartment is only 9" high, which leaves fully an inch of my Dell Inspiron 7000 exposed at the top (Dell I7k dimensions: 10"x12.5"x2.1, which is pretty typical for the newer 14+" display notebooks, such as the Apple G3 PowerBooks).

In addition, the 13.5"x2.5" measurement is also a bit off: it is 13.5" across the back section, seam-to-seam, but only 12" across the front section seam-to-seam. The effect is more like a "D" shape than a rectangle. That did not cause any fit problems, though.

The top flap will wrap over the exposed inch of computer, and fasten somewhat (it has both velcro and a fastbuckle strap, the velcro is nowhere near closure but the strap can be lengthened to just fasten). Unfortunately, the top flap is considerably less padded than the rest of the enclosure (a generally bad thing in and of itself, even if it did fit properly; the original LLBean computer backpack had a very thick top flap pad), and it still leaves the corners of the computer exposed with nothing other then the thin backback cordura shell between it and the outside world. Since the computer compartment is in the front of the pack (i.e., the pack compartment furthest from your back), and the corners of the computer are exposed just next to the zipper closures, I wouldn't trust this to take any amount of moisture exposure at all.

Aside from not being suitable for the newer big notebooks, I would worry about water protection in this design even if the computer fit completely within the padded pouch, since the top flap does not seal at the corners.

Very disappointing, since the original LLBean computer backpack was a very good product, and I still have it, but it is just a hair too small to fit the newer big laptops ... sigh.

Methings the LLBean Campus Computer Organizer will be on its way back tomorrow ...

I saw one positive review of this product on your web site ... perhaps Lisa has a smaller computer, and has not taken it out in the rain yet!

Here's a precis of my findings:

Dimensions of the computer compartment are not as advertised: true dimensions are 9"x13"x2.5"
The shorter height of 9" means larger notebooks (with 14+" displays) don't really fit.
Top flap of the computer compartment is not well padded (hardly at all, actually).
Top flap does not seal at corners, exposing the computer corners to the compartment zippers, which worries me with respect to water protection performance.