Quiksilver Premium Workstation

When is a laptop bag, not a bag? When it's a fold-out workstation, courtesy of Quiksilver.

As far as tech innovations go, the field of laptop bags isn’t normally one that gets people buzzing while they wait for the next big thing. The laptops themselves get smaller, faster, lighter and thinner, but there’s only so much you can do with the nylon and straps that you use to carry them around. Or so it would seem.

Quiksilver, a company normally known for skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding apparel, has focused its attention on the slightly tamer sport of mobile computing, and produced a unique laptop bag dubbed the Premium Workstation. It’s claim to fame is a pull-out mouse pad and a new design that makes other laptop bags look, well, like bags.

Image Courtesy of Quicksilver

You see, to call the Workstation a bag is actually a bit of a misnomer. Borrowing Quiksilver’s own terminology, it could more accurately be described as a “stand-alone deployable laptop satchel.” In other words, the laptop never has to actually leave its container; instead, it unfolds around the laptop like a zippered up Transformer. Think of it as the deli paper that not only holds your sandwich, it gives you a plate to eat it off of when you unwrap it. That’s some inspired design.

After unbuckling a strap on the outside, the Workstation unfolds to reveal left and right wings beside your laptop. Propped up with a slide-out support system underneath, the right one gives you a solid mouse pad, and the left offers a zippered stretch pocket for holding cables, adapters, and whatever other gear gets hauled along with your notebook. No desk, no problem.

Image Courtesy of Quicksilver

Besides its innovative fold-out design, the Workstation has all the more standard laptop-bag features like a removable shoulder strap, external media pocket, easy-access document pocket, and even a holster to slide the bag onto the handle of rolling luggage. It should be tough, too: The outside is constructed from Teflon-coated 840D Cordura (the same stuff used in many rugged hiking backpacks), and the inside has a light-weight 40D nylon lining. To keep everything rigid, the work surfaces are also compression molded.

If you’re a frequent traveler lusting for a homier computer environment you can take with you everywhere, the Workstation just might be it. At $154, it may not be the cheapest bag, er, satchel on the shelf, but not many of them pull quite the same duty the Quiksilver Premium Workstation does. More information can be found on the Quiksilver website.