First off, the bags themselves. Seen to the left are the two main ways my laptop gets carted around. For business and travel where rough handling is a given, I sport a Zero Halliburton Z-series laptop case. It isn't discrete but it is nearly indestructible, waterproof, and thanks to the aura Hollywood has given such briefcases, any would-be thief can only assume I'm willing to shoot him in the face over the contents. My casual use laptop bag is a Swiss Army bag, which is currently no longer in production. The closest thing on their website is the WT Digital Pack. I live in a college town and a black backpack on a casually dressed 20-something is about as discrete as it gets. Unlike the rigid briefcase, it can swallow up a ton of gear if I decide I need it. I can easily fit a full size DLSR, flash, extra lenses, and even a collapsible reflector if I'm taking it out in the field.
The VIP Passenger
The Cables
- Power adapter: I rarely need multiple outlets, thus no multi-outlet adapter like you'll find in the bags of Adam and Kevin. I do however love the adapter that came with my HTC Touch Pro. It's a wall adapter for USB power. Thanks to the folding electrical prongs it packs really small. While meant for charging my phone, it has a very stable power output and I use it to charge all my USB devices in a pinch.
- USB mini B cable: Nearly everything I own—phone, camera, Bluetooth headset—syncs and charges with a USB mini B cable. I can also use it to tether my Touch Pro for internet beyond the reach of free Wi-Fi nodes.
- iPod cable: because the iPod thinks it's too good for USB mini B.
- Bright orange ethernet cable: The laptop has Wi-Fi, but I like to use a hard line when I can. I've got every color of the rainbow down in my workshop, but I use orange for the anti-trip visibility.
- Dr. Strangelove's Nuketacular Bootdisk o' Doom: Once upon a time, I had a spindle of 50 mini CD-Rs and 50 mini CD-R cases, but nothing good to do with them. I burned the Ultimate Boot CD to all of them and gave them out to friends. I keep one with all my computers.
- Giveaway flash drives: I find flash drives like most people find spare change. If the flash drive has no identifying information on it—the contact information on resumes is the most likely to reunite them with their owners—then I reformat it and turn it into one of my giveaway drives. Every giveaway drive is packed with free and open-source portable software—many compiled from our readers' suggestions—to give away to people I meet. Lifehacker readers are pretty savvy, but many have yet to discover the awesomeness of portable computing. If you're wondering why all the giveaway drives are black Sandisk Cruzer drives, I find more of them laying around than any other make or model. Either Sandisk's marketing department works overtime, or its drives have unique Get Left Somewhere powers.
- My flash drive: A Corsair Flash Survivor, designed to make sure my data survives even if my laptop dies. Short of extended exposure to fire or a trip to the depths of the ocean, the data I backup to this flash drive will make it safely back home.
- Index cards: I'm a big fan, and always have some at my desk, in my nightstand, in my wallet, and in any bag or attaché I'm carrying. I enjoy good pens, too, and rotate them quite frequently to try new ones out. Currently my mid-level pen is a Pilot Execugel. It writes smoothly and has a nice heft for being so skinny.
- Business cards: I can never seem to keep enough on me. I have cards for both photography and social calling cards, courtesy of Moo.com.
- Bright flashlight: It used to be you had to spend an arm and a leg for a nice fist-sized and extremely bright flashlight. Thanks to the advancements in LED technology over the last few years, a flashlight that would have cost me $80 can now be picked up for $20 and with a longer battery life to boot.
- Ear plugs Hearing damage is cumulative and irreversible. Whether I'm stuck working in an office with heavy remodeling going on across the hall, or I just want some peace and quiet, I always keep a pair handy.
- More light!: I apparently have a flashlight fetish. I keep a little mini LED light for the times that busting out the bright-as-a-car-headlamp model would be a bit much.
- DIY Altoids Survival Kit: Not exactly what we've featured here, but I have a bunch of first aid material and small tools packed into an Altoids tin. Altoids employees, if you're out there reading, the world needs more Altoids tins with pinup art.