Sumdex Compact Brief for Notebooks up to 13.3 Inches (Black)

Comment: Great product. Just as advertised. Nice and compact, great strap easy to disconnect. Well made product.

Comment: I purchased this for my 10.1" netbook, since I found a lot of the netbook bags were too small. This 13.3" Sumdex case is an attache-style bag, meaning that the top zipper will not open all the way around the bag, rather just along the top edge. It seems very good quality, made from polyester and nylon (not neoprene foam). There is a good amount of padding on the front and back for protection against minor bangs. I especially like the metal hardware (with a brushed aluminum finish) for the shoulder strap catches on the bag and on the strap. It also has padded handles for carrying.

There are a total of three compartments in this bag. The main interior compartment for your computer is, according to the product tag (which I have scanned and uploaded), 12 x 10 x 2 inches, so measure carefully. The accessory compartment on the front is not expandable, so a small power brick and a mouse is about all it will handle. This is fine for my needs, but if you have a big power brick you might find it a tight fit. There is also a flat-panel pocket on the back, which would accommodate a mouse pad or a magazine at best.

Overall, I like this bag a lot for its quality construction, and because it is well suited for my needs as a roomy -- but not too big -- netbook bag.

Comment: Nice light weight case that is well made. I ordered one for my Samsung N120 netbook and it fits well with pleny of extra space for the mouse, charger and other small items. This case is padded.

Comment: The title says it all, I am sorry to say. Although I am KEEPING the notebook case, the nice people at Sumdex really need to add just 1/2" to the height of this case, and they'd keep a lot of us happier about the fit to a 13.3" notebook that is "Slim and Light". I bought the case to fit my new Asus UL30Vt-X1 13.3" notebook, just for quick jaunts, not anything serious, and good thing too because I have had to CRAM the notebook into the Sumdex bag for it to fit, and I mean it just B A R E L Y FITS! If at all!! The zipper is stretched 100% tight, and the corners are sticking up and almost out of the case, through the zipper...it's not a pretty fit at all.

Just to reiterate my thoughts, it's the same deal with my wife's 13.3" MacBook Pro computer too...it barely, just barely CRAMS into the case, zipper stretched 110% tight and distorted almost bursting...and maybe, just maybe over the next month or so of fitting mine in and out of this case it will S T R E T C H a little, and the zipper won't break, and BAM! SLAM! It just might work...!

It's wide enough, just not high enough, pure, Plain Jane Simpleton. And I am being very generous in that commentary, because I really don't want to send this back and get something else...I am going to make do with this case and keep it, but Gosh Darn It! I really wish the designers would have made it just 1/2" taller and things would be perfect, and I'd be giving this a 4 or 5-Star rating, not "3" Stars, which barely contains the Wavey Davey "Passes Muster" Rating, something I don't even like to pull out of the hat.

I like the material it's made from , it's a nice, semi-tough black material, cotton-canvas type material, as I didn't want foam because I have a 16.1" HD Widescreen 1920 x 1080P Sony notebook that has that black VAIO foam cover, from Sony, and one thing like that is enough in the notebook wardrobe, yah? Yes, I think so, no more foam...thanks!

As for this case's finer points of storage, I have a minimalist Asus external DVD+/-RW portable optical drive with its base (bus powered, so no power brick or it wouldn't fit) for standing up vertical, and that snugs into the zippered front pocket no problem, since it's just about 1/2" or so thick/wide all the way--that part works fine. The rest is tight! The notebook is just about .9" thick at its fattest part (it's called "Slim and Light" at 3.7 pounds and 13.3" Widescreen HD), so it's not the notebook's fault that its power brick has to be manhandled into the same compartment that the optical drive fits into...the computer is plenty thin, it's not that at all.

It's simply that there's no more room in this bag for more than a little bit of extra baggage for a 13.3" notebook, since it's stretched taught and tight to accommodate the notebook in the 1st place, and that makes fitting things into the pockets hard to do. Oh, but for that dear 1/2" or so at the top that would have made all of these comments never appear! I do wish it had it, honestly I do!

I have a 14" notebook case by Targus for serious travel, so I am going to make this do for just cross-town traffic jaunts with the notebook, but I sure wish I could talk to the designers of the Sumdex case for just a couple short, few minutes. I'd do my best to convince them to add just a little bit up at the top of the case to accommodate all 13.3" notebooks better, that's all she wrote. It is true, that some notebooks probably fit this without issues, but those are not Asus UL30VT-X1/A1 notebooks, or MacBook Pro notebooks, or the companion notebooks in the Asus series that have identical dimensions.

I rest my review...there little else to say really. I like the material, I like the design, I like the strap...it's all very minimalist and lightweight, just like we want it to be, but dang it the height is just about 1/2" too shy of being perfect to call it a good fit...and I DO have to cram my 13.3" "Light and Thin" brand new Asus notebook into the case, or it just, won't... FIT!

Wavey Davey - 3-01-2010

Comment: I can just barely cram my 13" MacBook into it. I don't feel safe doing that, so for that reason alone I decided to return it. It's pretty clear that the front pockets are not really big enough for the power brick + long cord, let alone the other cables I usually carry (iPod, camera, etc).

It does seem like a well made bag, it just doesn't fit my needs at all.