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The big debate between my friend and I when we ordered our new laptops was - what brand, and how big? It's funny, we both bought them around the same time, but I ordered mine online and she purchased hers directly from a store. We both ended up with a 17" laptop computer with most of the same options included.

Since my friend was in the store when she bought her laptop, she also saw that there were cool laptop bags available, so she bought one. I'm not sure why that idea didn't cross my mind, because I did buy the laptop with the idea of taking it with me when I traveled, but I guess since I had an old college book bag I thought I could just use that to carry it around in.

I discovered a few flaws in using a regular book bag to carry the laptop around on my first trip away with my new computer. This made me want a new women's laptop bag even more!

First - it was not protected very well. I had to make my own laptop bag cushions by putting my extra clothes around the laptop because I didn't want my water bottle and other items to scratch it - or worse yet, leak on it. This made it a little hard to take the laptop in and out of the bag when I wanted to use it on the plane. At that point, I thought maybe a laptop sleeve would come in handy.

I soon found out that even though my friend had a cool laptop bag, it was also a lot more functional than my regular book backpack. Of course, I had to do a lot of research before I settled on my first laptop bag, and since I wanted a really cool laptop bag there were a lot of things to consider. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you look for a women's laptop bag, and especially if you're going to purchase it online:

** What do you really need? You will discover as you start to look through the available womens laptop bags that there are a lot of choices, so you need to first decide what kind of womens laptop bag you want. This will make your shopping go much faster.

Decide if you want a backpack type bag, or a messenger laptop bag (which usually means it is carried on the shoulder). Do you need a rolling laptop bag? - If you have a 17' laptop like mine, which weighs 9.3 pounds, it might get a little heavy in a backpack. Depending on your strength and ability to carry that load on your back, you might want to consider a rolling laptop bag.

**Hard sided laptop cases versus soft sided laptop bags: If you're going to use your new women's laptop bag to carry your laptop to meetings, it's a good idea to keep the tone down a little, and maybe consider a less colorful hard sided case. These types of laptop bags will make it look more like a briefcase and help you stand out as being more professional.

** How Much Does it Weigh? Last but not least, be sure to check on how much the bag weighs. Like I said, my laptop is over 9 pounds, and the women's cool laptop bag that I almost bought weighed a little over 3 pounds. That's a lot of extra weight to carry around for just a laptop carry bag. I choose instead a lightweight womens laptop bag, over a heaver leather bag (that's just personal preference, of course). The lightweight pink laptop bag still had enough protection for my laptop, as well as enough space for my accessories, water bottle, extra clothes and a few snacks - and that's also very important!