What do you carry in your work / laptop bag?

Homescreens & Office Setups
21

I somehow missed this the first time around.

I have a double layer BUBM cable organiser pouch which holds:

  • 4 x USB C - USB C cables
  • 1 x USB A - USB C cable
  • 1 x 3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio cable
  • 1 x 20,000 ma battery with USB C and USB A ports
  • 1 x Anker Multiport connector
  • 1 x 3 in one charge station (Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone can all be slow charged from one USB C Connection
  • 1 x Dell USB C multiport connector (includes VGA and Ehternet which occasionally comes in handy)
  • USB C to Lightning and USB C to Micro USB adaptors
  • 1 x 60w Minix charger with 3 x USB C and 1 x USB A ports, plus US, UK, and EU plugs
  • 1 x HDMI Cable
  • 1 x Portable Wifi Hotspot

This goes with me when Iā€™m working away from the house and/or Iā€™m going to be staying away home overnight. I have a small pack for my wife with the same 3 in one charge station, 2 x USB C to USB C cables which I throw in my bag when we travel together.

In my work bag I have a cheap dell USB A wired headset, an AirTag in an Elevation Labs 10 year battery case, a deodorant, a pencil case with pens, pencils, scissors, 6" ruler, various other bits and bobs, and a cutlery set, plus my Windows work laptop and Iā€™ll usually add the reMarkable and potentially the iPad or MBA.

22

Iā€™m always curious at the varying number of items in peopleā€™s everyday carry / basic travel kit. Thatā€™s a lot of USB cables of various varieties ā€“ what devices are they for?

23

The USB-A to C and the USB-C to C are short cables for my Samsung T7 SSD. You never know what connection is going to be available on the laptop or desktop Iā€™m going to be working on.

The female USB-A to USB-C cable - you may have an adapter that only has USB-A. Nowadays, I just have an A to C adapter and not a cable.

Edit on my earlier post in 2024: Iā€™m not using paper notebooks anymore for scheduling, Iā€™m simply using NotePlan for everything. A real revelation as I only wanted to write things down once. I never thought Iā€™d be able to find a digital solution.

I also found that Bobā€™s OMB is much more durable than MediCat and it doesnā€™t rely on Ventoy to boot. That means I can have multiple partitions, which is much more flexible.

24

Itā€™s my Go pack for whenever I travel, so depending on the purpose of the trip I could take my Phone, iPad, MacBook, Work Laptop (Usually Iā€™d only take 2 of the previous 3) Kindle, reMarkable 2, Switch, AirPods, AirPods Pro, Noise Cancelling Over ear headphones.

Especially for the 2 laptops, they need to be plugged into USB C to get a decent charge. for the 3 in 1 charge station, thatā€™s only good for overnight charging, so if I need a quick charge, it needs to be either from the pug socket or via the Battery.

In the end, the vast majority of things these days use USB C so itā€™s product to have them.

25

That makes sense. Iā€™m slowly moving towards USB-C for everything but there are a few holdouts that I donā€™t see changing anytime soon. My standard electronics travel bag has one each of:

  • USB-C to lightning
  • USB-C to USB-C
  • USB-A to micro-USB
  • USB-A to toothbrush charger

Do you have good experience with any USB-C to micro-USB or lightning adapters? That might simplify my setup, and also be useful in the car my wife and I share as one of us has a USB-C 'phone and the other a lightning one.

26

If both devices support wireless charging Iā€™d invest in that now rather than worrying about adaptors. Spoken as somebody who has a few C to lightning adaptors and has found some from each brand Iā€™ve tried have eventually died.

2 Likes
27

Yeah, I bought these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MYWT4GK?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

Iā€™ve now bought another set of each. I keep one of each on my personal desk, my work desk, and in my EDC. it allowed me to massively simplify my setup

4 Likes
28

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For Work BuJo

2 Likes
29

The Rolling Square looks pretty useful for traveling, Iā€™ve yet to try one

1 Like
30

I wear a peak design backpack every day to Court with absolutely no regrets as someone close to 50. it works on my back and I love the organization.

1 Like
31

Whatā€™s so good about a Peak Design bag? I actually work next door to a peak design store. Now Iā€™m interested to go check the store out.

32

I am a quite light traveller.

My tech items are an 11" iPad Pro with Keyboards folio, Kobo Sage and Switch 2 (I havenā€™t travelled with a laptop for a couple of years as I donā€™t have any need and find them too heavy). For charging, I take the Apple MagSafe Duo Charger and the iPad charger and I always carry my AirPods 4.

I put all this in a Aer Tech Pack 3, and I find that this is about as much as Iā€™m willing to carry in terms of weight in a backpack, especially if I have to use metro services.

1 Like
33

When I travel itā€™s usually just the MB Air M1, adapter, USB cable, adapter extension plug. uGreen USB adapter for older USB cables and memory cards (for importing photos mainly). This combo served well on our recent 5-week trip through South America.

34

So am I. I travel with an M2 iPad Air, with Apple Smart Folio, and a LogiTech Keys-To-Go 2 Keyboard. But this and other items travel in an old canvas messenger bag that doesnā€™t, hopefully, attract attention.

35

My Fun Bag: 14" Full Waterfield Tech Folio Brief

Contents:
13" M2 Macbook Air
13" M5 iPad Pro

Anker Prime Power Bank 27,650mAh 3-Port 250W
Alpaka Tech Pouch w/cables bricks external ssd
M3 Mx Mouse
Anbernic RG35xx H Handheld
Jailbroken Kindle Colorsoft
Bose QC35 II Headphones
Airpods Pro

1 Like
36

I think it is well constructed and has an interesting design. I use a 20L Peak Design Everyday Backpack for photography. By placing dividers I have the bag divided into three compartments. When birding, I put my camera with a telephoto lens attached in the top compartment for easy access. In the middle compartment, I carry loose items: rain cover, camera strap, sunscreen, etc. In the bottom compartment I carry the PD tech pouch with various accessories, such as camera batteries.

Sadly, Iā€™ve concluded that I canā€™t use this bag (or the larger 30L version, which I also own) for everyday carry. The built-in compartment next to your back where you carry a laptop is so tight that it compresses the case causing screen damage. My everyday carry now is the Osprey Nebula 32L backpack.

2 Likes
37

I carry my laptop every day and Iā€™ve not had the laptop damage issue. Itā€™s been enough for Laptop and Ipad to be in the same spot. I like the shelves in the bag, as they allow me to store things and have easy access.

1 Like