I am reviewing the booq Taipan Lift ($89.95 – $99.95) by using it during my quick trip to San Francisco for TeleNav’s Waypoint. It is a briefcase style laptop bag which, to be quite honest, isn’t my preference. (I tend to like messenger bags and backpacks.) Having just gone through airport security, however, I am totally sold on this bag for travel. There are, in fact, three specific design aspects of it that have already come in rather handy.
First, there is the “checkpoint friendly” feature allows the bag to open up to a full 180° and lie flat on the conveyor belt as it goes through the x-ray machine. This means the computer may not have to be taken out of the bag in order to go through security.
When I got to the screening station I was curious as to how well this feature would work. Would the TSA staff person ask me to take my computer out of the bag? It was unclear to me since on the booq website says, “laptop may not need to be removed at airport security screening”. MAY not WILL NOT. In other words, the website indicates that there is no guarantee the feature will save you from having to take the laptop bag. Sure enough, though, I opened the bag so that it lay flat on a conveyor belt and sent it to the x-ray machine without incident. The feature works perfectly and was a nice little convenience mixed in with the hassle of flying.
Second, there is the “lift” feature that allows the bank to open 30° but no more while sitting vertical on a flat surface. This means you can access whatever you put inside the body of the bag without having to open up the full way and risking the contents falling out by accident. I just tried the feature was taking my laptop and power brick out of the bag and it worked perfectly.
Finally, there is the “zippered trolley handle pass-through” feature that allows the bags over the handle of my rolling carry-on, thereby minimizing the risk that it will fall off as I roll through the airport. This feature also worked perfectly.
Combining these three features adds just a bit of ease to the process of making my way from ticketing to the plane and with the nature of travel today every little bit helps. Thus far, I am impressed by the bag. It may not be my favorite style laptop bag but it is certainly designed in a manner that works perfectly. The large version has an MSRP of $99.95 and fits 15 to 17 inch notebooks.
The small version has an MSRP of $89.95 and fits up to a 14 inch notebook.