<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>I bought a laptop recently and am a senior in high school. Just out of curiosity, should I get a backpack that has a laptop sleeve in it? I like this Swiss Gear one, but a friend said that Freshman are always noticeable cause they carry around all these giant backpacks. I have attached a link below to the backpack. And also do you bring a lot of books to class? I will most likely be going to Chapman if that makes a difference to my latter question.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> PEGASUS from SwissGear by Wenger Computer Backpack: Computers & Accessories](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/PEGASUS-SwissGear-Wenger-Computer-Backpack/dp/B000FQ8E3Y]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/PEGASUS-SwissGear-Wenger-Computer-Backpack/dp/B000FQ8E3Y)</p>
<p>I go to a pretty large university (20,000 undergrads) and I can comfortably tell you that I’ve seen pretty much everything on the spectrum when it comes to carrying books and laptops.</p>
<p>There are the girls with the tote bags, the guys who bring just themselves and a pen in their pocket, the students who bring just a laptop case, the nerd with the briefcase, the kids with bookbags, and the girl with the princess lunch box. (She’s actually a grad student.)</p>
<p>What you’ll need will depend a lot on how spread out your classes are (if you have four in a row like I do, a bookbag is kind of a necessity), what type of classes you’ll be taking (will you be taking a lot of typed notes or will you need to hand-write and draw structures?), and your own personal preference.</p>
<p>I’m using the same bookbag that I got as a high school junior or senior from LL Bean. I love it because it’s durable and it has room for all of my books and my laptop.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about “looking like a freshman”. A bookbag makes you look like a student and that’s about it.</p>
<p>We have three Swissgear backpacks with laptop sleeves (mine is a custom Apple-variant). They work well and there’s room for books too but Swissgear tells everyone that you have a laptop in your bag because they make backpacks designed for laptops. If you don’t want others to think that you have a laptop there, then pick another brand.</p>
<p>My kids like using backpacks even though one is out of school. I use mine too for hauling my laptop around. The Swissgear is tough and functional. But I imagine there are lots of other products that do well too.</p>
<p>Something that you might think about is logistics. At some point you will sign up for your courses and get the building/room numbers and know where your residence will be. You’ll eventually get book lists too (online usually), and get an idea as to which course you’ll need to bring your books to. Ideally, your schedule will allow you to not have to carry a lot of heavy books around concurrently. If your residence is near the classrooms, then you may have time to drop some off and grab others. Sometimes you might want to schedule your classes so that you have a break to do this.</p>
<p>Some textbooks have online options and reading a book on a tablet might be a better option than carrying around a book.</p>
<p>I routinely carry a heavy leather briefcase that carries my 18" gaming laptop and the textbooks I need for the day, and if I went back and did it all over again, I would have used a backpack instead. Backpacks are better for your body in the long run than lugging around a heavy briefcase or messenger bag. </p>
<p>An advantage of a backpack is that you can place standalone ballistic inserts that can stop small arms fire coming from rifles should a psychotic individual decide to ignore the “no weapons” policy and shoot up the school. However, with a briefcase equipped with armor you can shield your face if you already wear a ballistic vest underneath your clothes as a safeguard.</p>
<p>thereisnosecret (aka Q) - continuing your James Bond thread here? Amusing to some… but kind of alarmist don’t you think?</p>
<p>Not alarmist. The fact of the matter is that a school shooting could happen anywhere, gun bans are unenforced. There is presently no method of screening people to ensure that gun free zones are actually gun free. Posting signs requiring psychotics to leave their guns at home is an ineffective practice. </p>
<p>In the haze of bickering and misinformation, it is easy to lose sight of the inconvenient truth: schools presently have no method of ensuring the so-called gun-free zones are actually gun-free. The only way to do this is to introduce metal detectors, separate entry and exit points armed by sentries, and an external perimeter unassailable by small arms fire. </p>
<p>People like to rationalize that these mass shooting have occurred far away and can never happen at their campus, but they are merely using a psychological device to make them feel better.</p>
<p>You are ultimately in charge for your own security. Weapons are not allowed at most schools unless you live in Utah (where not a single act of gun violence has occurred on campus despite it being legal to carry firearms with a permit on campus since 2006). </p>
<p>Therefore you have to find legal ways to protect yourself against a psychotic shooter. Ballistic armor is one such method. Other methods include having door stoppers that can stop 3,000 lbs of force, boiling pepper spray that can shoot out 25 feet of spray, active shooter preparedness training, disarming techniques, being aware of all possible escape routes including through windows, fire escape ladders, an emergency escape hood in case of a terrorist gas attack, etc.</p>
<p>I just use the generic, single-section/zip Jansport backpack. Small and compact works for me. You don’t need some crazy contraption with pockets for every device and supply you carry around.</p>
<p><a href=“http://jansport.com/js_product_detail.php?cid=&pid=TUX8[/url]”>http://jansport.com/js_product_detail.php?cid=&pid=TUX8</a></p>