NOMATIC Laptop Bag Review

The NOMATIC Laptop Bag looks and feels the part, with sleek, durable materials. Still, it must do more than look pretty to come on our next trip. Will it perform while working abroad, or will we wish we’d stayed home to finish our work? Let’s dive in and find out.

External Components

The Laptop Bag’s exterior is 80% nylon and 20% polyester. It also has a coating that adds to the bag’s durability and water resistance. In addition to some thickness from the materials, there’s additional padding behind it to ensure your gear stays safe. The exterior is durable, padded, water-resistant, and looks sleek. It scuffs up fairly easily, but the issues are cosmetic.

The logo is pretty large, but not so much so we’d avoid using the bag. It blends in well enough and doesn’t look out of place.

NOMATIC’s website says that the pack utilizes YKK zippers, but our model appears to have Zoom zippers. Perhaps we have a pre-production model, or maybe the site is incorrect. Either way, the zippers work well and have a PU coating to ensure water doesn’t sneak in and ruin your tech. The main compartment zippers lock, which we dig to prevent theft.

The strap uses metal clips, which are durable and easy to use. The adjusters are hard plastic and operate similarly, but aren’t as flashy. Both work well and have held up in testing.

There’s a luggage pass-through on the back, handy for trips where you bring rolling luggage or a checked bag. You can use the Laptop Bag as your personal item and stow all your in-flight goodies inside it for easy access on the plane. If you use a travel backpack instead, the luggage pass-through doesn’t get in the way.

Fit Notes

The case has two small handles on the top that are easy to grab onto and carry. They’re padded and are the easiest carry method if you have to get up and go quickly. However, if you load the bag with heavy tech, it’ll start to get uncomfortable after a while, even with the added padding.

The strap is removable, so you can take it off if you don’t want to use it. The included one lacks padding or aeration, but is wide enough to spread out the weight a bit in use. If you’re wearing the bag with a thin shirt or tank top, it might slightly dig in, but we haven’t had a significant issue in testing.

You can change the strap, but not all kinds will work here. The attachment points are pretty small and crafted from a Hypalon-like material. Large buckles won’t work here, but most clip-style ones will.

Carrying the pack is comfortable, though it may cause arm or shoulder fatigue on long walks across the city. This isn’t the case if you add a strap with more padding. Either way, with some perseverance, it’s wearable all day long.

Inside The Laptop Bag

The pack’s front has two pockets. The larger one has four medium mesh pockets and one medium zippered one inside, which works quite well for accessories. The zippered pocket is ideal for smaller gear you don’t want to bounce around, and the mesh works well for everyday carry items.

The other front pocket lacks organization but has elastic on the side to prevent it from opening too far. It is a solid place to stow your computer charger or another oversized item you want quick access to.

A small, flat pocket is on top of the front face of the pack. The handles protect it, making it challenging to get inside while somebody is holding onto the bag in that carry method. The soft liner makes this a solid spot to stow sensitive items, like your phone or sunglasses.

A hidden pocket on the bag’s backside secures with a magnet. We dig the secret nature of this pocket, but it doesn’t offer as much protection from rain, so keep that in mind before stowing your passport here long term. A standard-sized iPhone may fit here without a case, but one with even a small case will likely prevent the top magnets from closing, making it easier to see this pocket. Either way, this is still a solid place to stow flat items around that size.

The pack has two main compartments, depending on what you value more. This is a laptop bag, so that might be your priority. That said, the other one has stellar storage, which we dig.

The laptop compartment is a large open pocket with a divider in the middle. This divider does not have padding, which is odd. There is enough space to fit two computers here, one on either side of the divider, but the lack of padding makes this feel wrong. You can stow a tablet, notebook, paperback, or documents here without issue. Or, if one of the computers is smaller and has a case, you could still rock with two laptops here.

The other main compartment has a large admin panel. There’s a lot of space and organization here, so most items will go here. There’s a massive mesh pocket, two medium mesh pockets, and two large zippered pockets. Additionally, there’s a pen or stylus slot made from the liner material. Seriously, there’s a lot of storage here.

In addition to all the pockets, there’s a fair amount of open space here, too. That makes it easy to stow bulkier items, like over-ear headphones, inside. Plus, this laptop bag expands from 11 to 13.5 liters using an expansion zipper, and that space is added to this compartment. Theoretically, you could fit an entire computer in this compartment, too. We wouldn’t get in the habit of this, but it works in a pinch.

Overall, the NOMATIC Laptop Bag works incredibly well without offering many revolutionary features. It can stow multiple laptops and other tech devices in addition to your everyday carry gear, whether crossing the city or flying to a new country.