When my wife and I packed for Africa in 2007, a prime consideration was how closely we could get to packing everything in airline carry-on cases. Friends with prior experience warned us that lost luggage is a given in trips to Africa.
I had picked up a nice case at the local Apple Store that was just right for my 13″ Mac laptop, and included lots of additional pockets and storage areas. It worked wonderfully, so well that this particular case was a constant companion on that and many other trips. Being a diabetic, I have lots of pill bottles, and being a tech geek, I have lots of cables and portable hard drives, and other gadgets. This one case, the Brenthaven ProLite, has proved the perfect case for me for years now, up until I upgraded to a 15″ MacBook Pro.
Cautiously, I attempted to put the new computer in the case, but with all the padding, it just wouldn’t work, not without surgery on the case which I wasn’t about to do. My wife bought me a nice slipcase, but I was addicted to the extremely useful pouches. For half I year, I’ve made do, using the slip case for protection, but carrying the computer bag without the computer to bring along everything else.
With another extended trip on the schedule, I decided I had to upgrade, and what I wanted was the exact same case, only bigger. The only problem was that the Apple Store didn’t seem to stock that size. I looked on the web and found the Brenthaven site. With a little care I found it. There were three cases, the ProLite I, II, and III depending upon which computer you had. I ordered the II and the free shipping and waited as my new case wound its way down from Washington. $99.
It arrived today, and I’m pleased that I guessed correctly. It is the exact same case, only bigger. Now all I have to do is start moving my pills, my cables, my passport, my wi-fi booster, my hard drive ….
Oh, and I’ll have to decide what to do with the Africa tested and still worthy old case.