Logitech Kinetik 15.4 Briefcase Review

Summary

The Kinetik 15.4 Briefcase is a tough new product made by Logitech. Logitech calls the Kinetik a “premium” notebook briefcase. Much like its Kinetik Backpack cousin, the Kinetik briefcase has a matte-black “exo-shell” protective layer on both sides of the briefcase. The interior features a tomato-red nylon canvas and black padded micro-fiber material while the exo-shell is made of a slightly flexible plastic material that has a rubberized finish. Although the exo-shell is not completely rigid (preventing the Kinetik from feeling like a bulky Zero Halliburton case), it is sturdy enough to withstand lots of bumps, drops and accidental abuse.

Hidden safely inside the exo-shell are three large compartments – left, center and right. The left compartment has a roomy mesh cargo bay that can easily hold school books or a moderately sized dictionary. It has a very large velcro-secured pouch for storing iPods, PSPs, or lots of miscellaneous goodies. A small sub sandwich would probably fit in there. Additionally, the left compartment has credit/business card slots, a change/supply holder and four pen slips. Behind these compartments is another folio-style, rigid compartment for papers, magazines, etc. Two more zippered pouches are available toward the top of the left compartment.

The center compartment has a thickly padded laptop bay with side-padding. There’s an additional storage area for a second laptop I feel likI (not padded, though), papers, or power cords. Just above this area is a cloth pouch for miscellanea.

The Logitech Kinetik 15.4 Briefcase has a futuristic look

The right compartment has a smaller mesh cargo hold and three heavily padded, Velcro-secured pockets. One of the pockets is quite large, big enough to hold a sub-notebook style laptop, a portable DVD player or a dozen iPods. The other two pockets are roomy – big enough for two large fists to be crammed inside.

The back of the Kinetik briefcase is padded to make it a bit more comfortable when slung over one’s shoulder. And as one would expect, the Kinetic comes with an extendable, neoprene-padded shoulder strap. The backpack and shoulder strap are very tough. Even the metal grips and nylon zippers are tough.

Because the design of the Kinetik briefcase places the laptop in the very center – between thick padding and the exo-shell walls – any laptop carried inside is pretty darn safe. It would take a massive jolt, a high drop or perhaps being hit by a moving vehicle to do any serious damage to the contents. The only weakness comes from the very sides where the padding layers are less dense.

The Kinetik 15.4 briefcase is designed for 15.4″laptops, however it’ll hold smaller laptops (extra side padding required for knock-around safety) and it’ll accommodate the 17″ MacBook Pro.

We at Digital Trends feel that the design of the Kinetik Briefcase is geek chic. We described the near identical Kinetik backpack design as a conservative blend of Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hugo Boss. Still, we like it a lot.

Pros:

• Thick padding to protect contents
• Tough exo-shell exterior
• Lots of storage

Cons:

• No extra padding supplied for smaller laptops
• Exo-shell gathers cosmetic blemishes from abuse

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