Hey, I saw your question and didn't even bother reading what others wrote. So if I reiterate on something already posted I apologize.
My son who is a college student, my daughter who is in high school, and I, who work for a recording studio, all having either a powerbook or ibook.
My son uses for college the timbuk2 laptop commute bag. It's a messenger style bag and is extremely nice. It's large enough in size for him to hold his laptop and whatever college stuff he may need, but when he travels home (he has to do a 5 hour train ride to visit home) he uses it for his clothes. He really likes that bag and says it serves him well. My daughter has a 14 inch ibook and i have a 15 inch powerbook and we both use the timbuk2 laptop messenger, another messenger style back (obviously). The bag is really nice. My daughter likes to bring her powerbrick and her mouse to school with her when she goes to school and she has more than enough compartments for that. She even has more than enough space to carry her history book (which is so thick that it weighs, I kid you not, 17 lbs) and a few other books and notebooks. She also was able to get in a color that wasn't just a standard color, she got to add a bit of zest if you may. I use mine back and forth for the studio I work at (I like to use my computer for recording the project I head) for recording, and even some powerpoint stuff, hooking up to larger monitors, etc. It's really nice because my laptop fits very tightly in the compartment, no moving around what so ever. The padding is thick enough around it as well. I also like to carry ALL my laptop stuff with me. It has enough compartments for my ipod charging brick, ipod firewire cable, ipod, dial up cable, ethernet cable, 2 bottles of monster iclean cleaner, the cloth for the cleaner, my mouse, powerbrick, converter which allows me to hook up to a television, adapter to hook up to non apple monitors, and it even has (unrelated to computer) and little hook inside that you can connect your keys to so you can pull your keys out of your bag to unlock your house door, and you dont have to detach it. I have all of this in the compartments, and not any of it is in there tight, its all nicely organized, and too boot, I still have compartments open for pocket tuners, a few guitar cables, and even some drumsticks. And thats not even using up the area in the back where, for instance, my daughter places her school books.
The commute is a bit bigger of a bag, but the messenger, even though it has all that space, is a pretty small bag so you aren't carrying something bulky around. Both bags run for $100. The bags are tough, waterproof, and spacious without costing too much and without being too bulky.
I know my response was long but I hope it wasn't too much. The bags have been great for my family beyond the years of our laptops even so I hope that if you do buy it, it lasts your a long time. Hope you post back with what you get.
