I have an addiction to buying a new bags, always have. In fact just a few months ago I cleaned out and sold a bunch of old bags, about eight of them. I wasn’t planning on buying a new bag since I recently purchased my Booq Taipan Shadow which is very serviceable. Then came the MacBook Air and when I stuck it in my back it slid around in the laptop compartment – it is a bit too small for a bag made to suit a 15” MacBook Pro. I went shopping using the links culled together by Brian Hoff and ended right back up where I always end Booq.

I decided that to carry the MacBook Air I wanted a very small bag, in fact I only required that it carry: MacBook Air, iPad, iPhone, MiFi, Moleskin, Pen, a few cables and flash drives. I didn’t need something to carry a water bottle or MacBook Air charger (who carries these any more, must be a Windows thing). I was rather disappointed with the offerings from every single bag manufacturer that I looked at. Every. Single. One.
Then out of curiosity I clicked on the ‘Laptop Sleeves & Compact Cases’ link on Booq’s website – there I found the Taipan Slim. Slim it is, both on price and storage. The looks were average, the size was perfect and the price was right – purchased.

When the bag arrived I was blown away by how small it really is, and was a bit nervous as to whether it would hold everything I wanted it too. In the end it holds everything perfectly in a snug fashion. Not tight, just snug and secure. This is not a bag for people that like to be able to carry a bunch of stuff with them and want room to spare, this is for people that know what they want to carry and like to keep things minimal.

I wasn’t going to write a review of yet another bag, except that I love the way this bag accommodates my iPad. While the Air has a padding pocket for it in most bags, it is rare to find a bag that you can also stick on iPad in without putting the iPad in some sort of protective case. But the Taipan Slim has a few pockets that are lined with a very soft velvety fabric. One is lined on both sides and is perfectly sized for the iPad. Boom.
The only problem is that this pocket does not securely closed, however once both the Air and iPad are in their respective pockets the iPad is held in snugly and a quick upside down shake over my bed resulted in only the Moleskin falling out.