who commutes with a laptop and books
 

my bag is messenger bag and has no dividers in the main compartment, no other place to put the lap top. it'll be in college, so they will be pretty big books. any tips?

Panniers, EZ take off with books. Messenger for laptop (delicate).

As a fellow college commuter, I leave my books at school most days. I have a locker in the arts hall I just stuff em in since I only need them sparingly and do most studying and work at school (I get there by 9 and leave around 6-7 and eat two meals regardless of class times). The laptop.... eh. You don't have a computing center?

I just put the laptop in the bag with the books, or if I want to protect it, I put it in my laptop bag, then put the laptop bag in the courier bag.

My setup is the same way. I have a neoprene-type sleeve that I slide the laptop in, and then that sleeve goes in the messenger bag.

You don't need expensive neoprene - a cheap hand towel wrapped around your laptop does the same thing.

I put it in the laptop compartment of my book bag and i strap it to my rear rack with a single bungie cord. DONE! Aint going nowhere, unless i take a spill.

I do, I do! Fully capable laptop plus 30 books all in one bag.

But I cheat....

I have a 2 lb Asus eeePC and a Sony Reader with 30 ebooks on it....all fits just fine with room to spare in a Timbuk2 small messenger bag with a $0 per gallon patch on it.

I have not started to commute yet, but I plan to this school year. I have a backpack that came with my laptop that I am hoping to use. It is the Targus Sport Notebook Backpack which has a large main compartment with a separator for a laptop. Plus it has a lot of pockets where I can hold accessories.

I would say just putting some sort of divider in your messenger bag should be good enough.

I use a pair of panniers that have a label "Fast Rider" and "De fietstas" on them. Got them from a bike shop so many years ago and I can't read any more of the manufactures marks. Each one is like a proper briefcase and can take quite a large laptop. They have a flap so they convert easily from pannier to more briefcase looking. I commute across a nature reserve, so they get quite a lot of vibration, some sort of ballistic nylon as I've had them years and they're hard wearing.

If you have a laptop and you come off your bike, you're in the hands of the fates as to whether it gets cracked or not. And remember weight low down in better.

So far, so good for me.

I commute with my laptop and lunch in one pannier and my clothes in the other one. I know that if I fall, I fall to the left (not sure why but the three times I've fallen it's always to the left) so my laptop goes in the right pannier.

How long is your commute?

I ask because I ride 12 miles each way with a laptop, clothes, and some food. I tried the messenger bag thing and the backpack thing. I recently went with a pannier because both the bag and the backpack caused me to be soaked by the time I got there. In the case of the messenger bag, I always had a sore neck and shoulders.

Kwrides, what brand of messenger bag was it?

Timbuk2. It's great for things like travel, but not for riding distance with weight in it.