The Best Laptop Backpacks for Work, Travel, and Everything Between (2026)

Although I’ve been working from residence for the previous 15 years, each freelance and full-time, this typically means needing to be accessible 24/7, so I sometimes carry my laptop computer in every single place I am going—together with sports activities practices, day journeys, and holidays.

I’ve used many laptop computer backpacks on this time, and the dividing line between a piece backpack that’s comfy and matches seamlessly into your every day routine and one which’s aggravating at each flip is a fantastic one. Should you’ve obtained restricted closet area, it additionally helps if the backpack can pull double obligation and be used for journey and/or mountaineering. The backpacks under are ones both I or one other WIRED reviewer have used extensively in actual life, taking up planes, mountaineering trails, holidays, and work journeys.

For extra bag and backpack suggestions, Bag Check options WIRED staffers’ favourite totes, sleeves, and packs. For extra moveable gear, try our guides to the Best Wireless Chargers, Best Bluetooth Trackers, and Best Travel Adapters.

Up to date September 2026: I’ve added the Paramount Daypack Lite 20L and the Navigator Backpack to my important picks. I’ve additionally included the Eagle Creek Tour Lite Journey Pack, North Face Base Camp Voyager Professional, Bagsmart Moss Backpack, Brown Buffalo Conceal Pack, and GoRuck G1 to our honorable mentions listing.

Featured Merchandise

Finest Worth

Everlane ReNew Transit Backpack

Read more

Finest for Commuting

Thule Paramount Daypack Lite 20L

Read more

Finest Minimalist

Troubadour Apex Backpack 4.0

Read more

Finest Laptop computer Bag

Everlane

ReNew Transit Backpack

I took this backpack on a weeklong work journey, the place I bitched about it endlessly to everybody who would hear. Nonetheless, I need to pretty and objectively conclude that this bag provides super worth for the cash. It is a gentle, enticing, rucksack-style backpack that is glossy and understated sufficient for work, and it is beneath $120. The 27-liter capability accommodated sufficient gear for a full day’s price of journey, from a shawl for the aircraft to a water bottle, snacks, and different in-flight accouterments. It has a slim profile and lies near your again, so it is not onerous to hold and will not swing into individuals on the subway. The pockets are very minimal—simply an exterior laptop computer pocket, an inside pill sleeve, an inside zip pocket, and two massive catch-all pockets—however they work for those who already put your belongings in pouches anyway.

Sure design components simply felt low-cost. I did not just like the curved zipper that offers you entry to the primary compartment—zippers that do not run straight are doomed to get caught. One of many catch-all pockets is annoyingly positioned on the quilt flap, the place something inside will flap and bang round. The bags pass-through is a naked piece of webbing. Nonetheless, all of it works: it is gentle, inexpensive, and appears good. The material can also be water resistant, so you possibly can put on it within the rain! For most individuals, that is all that actually issues. —Adrienne So

Finest Laptop computer Bag for Commuting

Thule’s latest addition to its already solid backpack lineup was made particularly for schlepping gear to and from work every day, and it exhibits. The silhouette is glossy and aerodynamic, making it appropriate for bike commuting (there’s even a loop on the entrance to connect a motorcycle gentle), and it is simply large enough for a laptop computer, a number of notebooks, and possibly a jacket with out feeling too massive or cumbersome. The water bottle holder on the aspect is stretchy for a wide range of sizes.

I additionally love the quantity of group inside for smaller issues like pens and notebooks (the flap folds down for entry to the inside, too, so you possibly can entry this stuff subsequent to your desk), in addition to the hidden but simply accessible small pocket beneath the flap for pockets, keys, and telephone. It is not the roomiest pack, so you are not carrying health club gear on this or taking it on an in a single day journey, however for those who’re simply going to and from the workplace with fundamentals and a laptop computer, that is probably the most well-engineered possibility I’ve tried.