Homeschooling on the go is a normal part of our life. My daughter’s medical needs keep us schooling in the car and in various appointments throughout the week. Now that my kids are in middle school and high school I don’t have the option to do light school days when the appointments are piled up for the week. My son needs his laptop to do much of his school assignments now; I was excited to try out an actual laptop backpack from MAXCases and their MAX Backpack MC-BP-GEN-GRY.

I did say, “Actual laptop backpack.” For awhile we have used a regular book backpack. I wasn’t as concerned about that when we had our old laptop. He would pack the laptop with a towel wrapped around it to make sure it wouldn’t get damaged. Now, that he has a new laptop I don’t want to take a chance of it getting damaged.

The MAX Backpack MC-BP-GEN-GRY backpack is attractive. The backpack has a lot more storage than I imagined it would. According to my son, “It has all the bells and whistles for a laptop backpack.”

The exterior features:

The exterior of the backpack is medium gray and black. The backpack is water-repelling and the fabric is made of 1680 Ballistic nylon exterior. Ballistic nylon is a thick and tough nylon fabric. The fabric is considered to be heavy duty, resist abrasions, and more durable than your average nylon. I love that the backpack is water-repellent and the contents inside are protecting from water and that the fabric is much more resilient than your average backpack. Water and electronics don’t play nicely together.

Another durable feature is the YKK co-molded zippers. This particular zipper is considered to be a top-notch zipper brand due to it high standards and quality. There is nothing worse than having to deal with a zipper break on you. The two main compartments have double zippers with rubber grips.

The backpack also has reflective accents to make your child more visible for drivers. The bottom of the backpack has two rubber feet to keep the bag from coming in full contact with the ground. There is an external USB port towards the bottom of the right side on the backpack.

The backpack has adjustable straps that are padded. There is also a ventilated mesh carry handle at the top of the backpack that you could also use to hang it up when not in use. It has a mesh ventilated ergonomic lumbar back cushion. I had my son fill up our old backpack so I could see the difference of the old and new backpack. I could feel the laptop shape against my back and the towels felt lumpy and uncomfortable. I never imagined his old packed backpack felt so miserable. I can’t even feel the laptop at all when I put on the MAX Backpack. It’s a huge improvement!

The interior features: the MAX Backpack has several storage compartments to store items.

The outside front pocket is accessed by a zipper with a rubber grip. The front pocket storage is nice for additional storage for items you need quick access to. Right above the storage on the front right side is where your Built-in headphone port is located.

The main section of the backpack has two separate main compartments. The section that is closes to your back is for the laptop and has additional storage. It fits my son’s 15” laptop easily. You slide your laptop in from the top and then you secure it in place with a heavy-duty Velcro strap. The fabric lining around the laptop is extremely soft. You don’t have to worry about the outside of the laptop getting scratched. There are two additional pockets and a large center section. One section you can store up to a 10” tablet which also has the soft lining. There is a pocket for putting your ID that you can easily see the ID without having to remove it. You have enough storage to put in your laptop charging cords, cables, mouse, or other accessories. The pocket on the other side you could slide in a notebook or a DVD.

There is ample space for a portable battery pack or other devices that connect to USB. Inside this compartment is a 29” USB cord that is attached to the outside USB port. The external port is a nice feature for a portable battery and other devices as you can leave it inside your backpack and have your laptop hooked up to the external USB port.

The front section of the backpack there is several divided pockets for pencils, pens, calculators, flash drives, and other small accessories. There are also two mesh pockets that aren’t very deep for additional storage. You have a large center section for books and other supplies to carry around. This section is where your Built-in headphone port is located.

This is a nice laptop backpack that is perfect for our current needs. It’s not a large backpack to add in a lot of books. Usually, he is done with most of his book studies before our appointments and he prefers to do his school on the laptop while his sister is in her appointments. He can easily fit into his backpack his reading book, several medium size textbooks, 15” laptop, tablet, power bank, laptop power cord, mouse, device for listening to music, pencils, card game, and a few gadgets for entertainment.

My son’s only complaint was that he wished it had side pockets for portable cup. The backpack doesn’t fit all of my son’s school work on days when we are doing a whole day of school on the road. He would prefer that everything fits in one bag. I actually prefer that he isn’t carrying around all of his books in his backpack so his load isn’t too heavy on his back.

He loves that he can charge his laptop and gadgets inside the backpack. I like that his laptop is well protected and not shifting around in the backpack. We have been rained on with a heavy down pour twice since we have been using the backpack, the contents in the MAX Backpack stayed completely dry. All the electronics are protected from the elements and that is a big plus in my book.

The MAX Backpack MC-BP-GEN-GRY from MAXCases has truly been a huge help in our homeschool. Don’t underestimate the importance of a good quality backpack like I did for the last few years.

-Product review by Renee Knoblauch, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March, 2018