This has not happened to me yet (*touch wood*) but make sure you turn OFF the laptop before storing it for your travels. I've heard a bit from some people that thier HD's died over time while in transit. This use the shoulder bags hung low mostly while travelling with thier laptops in SUSPEND mode. I've heard a bit of the 'butt bounce' that kills HD's and am thinking of getting a SSD HD when they drop in price. Or a Asus EEE with a 40GB HD but those portable USB DVD drives are expensive >_<;;

I use a backpack myself because I carry about 30lbs daily be it riding or not. I need all my equipment on me but it makes for good training that's for sure. My bag is a Targus Pulse tho the Targus RakGear is AWESOME as well. That rack inside the bag makes for awesome sorting of items and also good when shopping you can sort out delicate fruits without them crushing other things with it's 3 rack compartment in the main compartment.