In the fall I will be commuting to school and need was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on good cargo racks and/or commuter backpack. I will be riding a vintage Nishiki Olympic 12 speed.

I will have to carry about 15lbs of books/laptop which isn't much. One of my main concerns is my laptop. If I crash there and break it, I won't be able to replace it anytime soon. So what would be the best way to store it and carry all of my books when commuting?

Any help/ suggestions would be awesome!

What's your commute distance? 15 pounds doesn't sound like much, but if you have an hour each direction you probably don't want that on your back.
Also, I wouldn't worry much about the laptop when crashing. How often are you just riding along and wipe out? Doesn't happen very often. But if the laptop has a standard hard drive and you have an incredibly rough road to commute on that might be an argument against using the cargo racks.

you can use a courier bag for the computer & a rack & trunk or panniers for everything else

I think laying a laptop directly on a front or rear rack is the worst option as far a shocks to the unit. Carrying the laptop in a backpack or messenger bag is the best option to avoid shocks (as your body absorbs them instead). A reasonable compromise is panniers or baskets that mount on the sides of the rack as they have some shock absorbing capabilities. I have Wald folding baskets on my MTB based commuter and have carried a laptop in a padded case in them many times without incident. (I run a small bungee over the top of the basket to keep the computer case secure in the basket.

Baskets aren't usually sexy, but if you had a padded backpack that could hold both books and a laptop, and put it in a panier or side basked, that would work well. Or if that backpack had a clip that made it work as a pannier itself, that would also be great.

Two of my bikes have back racks, my 1984 Nishiki International does not. With work clothes, shoes, etc, in the winter it weighs a little north of 12-pounds. I wear it with straps long and wear it low, resting on the small of my back as I ride canted forward in a classic road bike position. It works for my 9-mile commute and I'm 56.

Wrapping the laptop in a little extra foam should go a long way to safe guarding it.

I've commuted my share of miles with a laptop on board, normally in a rear pannier as that is the most practical way to carry that amount of mass.
Never had an issue with damage to the laptop.
Once, I had a cargo malfunction and the pannier came adrift and went for a tumble on the pavement with the laptop inside. Of course I was horrified at the moment, but there were no subsequent issues. I think a plastic corner got slightly dented.

Upgrade to a solid state hard drive for insurance.

if you have a solid state drive it will help. I switch back and forth between panniers and a backpack. I use a solid state drive for my work and another for my school laptops. I work full time and still go to school. I fell once at very slow speed (while clipped in). I ended up slamming my backpack into the ground. The only damage was the corner of the metal laptop exterior had some scratches.

I've also fallen with a laptop in my panniers. It was winter when I fell. I got into the habit of wrapping or surrounding my laptop with clothes. This time the laptop fared much better. I have yet to have a pannier fall off and bounce along the road though.

I had a pannier bounce off my rack with the laptop in it. I was hopping up a curb and didn't do a good job lifting the rear tire up so it bounced pretty good and the pannier went tumbling down the sidewalk.
Wouldn't have happened if I wasn't lazy and would use the velcro strap that secures it to the rack.
My laptop has an SSD, and my pannier has a padded laptop sleeve so no harm done there, but the pannier now has a small hole where something poked through while skidding

It's a 6 mile commute that usually takes about 30-40 minutes. I know crashing is a slim chance, but I just can't afford to risk it because I need it for engineering school. I didn't even think about the hard drive. One is an SSD but the other is an HDD so that could be a problem.

I wonder if the HDD would actually be a problem since it won't be running during my commutes.

Also, thanks everyone for the replies. I will most likely go with a laptop sleeve in a backpack/messenger bag and carry my books in a pannier.

The HDD has a platter (or platters) and an armature, kind of like an old record player. Even if the armature is retracted from the platter, it can be vibrated out of whack. And the platters, even if they're equipped with brakes, have mass that can be stressed by movements and shocks. WHile many advances have been made in their robustness, no HDD will be as impervious to jostling as a SDD.

Any old rack should do the trick.

For a student who I assume is poor, I would recommend a kittier. The rigid plastic will be spacious, protective, and waterproof. Free if you can find one by a dumpster, or know somebody with a cat that will give you an empty. A few bucks at the hardware store for hooks and bolts.

For a laptop however, I do agree that hdd should probably not be vibrated too hard. Wrapping it in a towel should provide sufficient protection, or maybe a sleeve of bubble-wrap. Or carry just the laptop in a backpack to keep it light on your back, but everything else in the kittier?

I have carried a Microsoft Surface from work to home and back in my kittier and it was fine (but I assume that was SSD only). I have also carried a few different laptops occasionally, and never had a problem.

Shut down completely the read/write head moves to a parking zone where it won't damage the media with a jar. (it could still be damaged with a big enough slam, but the media should be OK and it can take a lot more shock that way) I don't know if sleep mode will do the same - it should, but I wouldn't trust it, if some engineer had the bright idea of saving a few milliseconds on waking.

Large books are a pain in the neck to strap on a rack, but doable. Keep the laptop in the backpack. I carry my work laptop in a notebook hooked and lashed in the pannier position, very convenient, but it's only once in awhile not every day and I've done the commute often enough that I'm not likely to crash it.