Everyone complaining about this bag being too small should have read the reviews before buying it. Yes, it is very "slim." I'm a college student and I had a large Targus backpack before this one, and that was just too large for my everyday needs. When I got this bag I was very surprised at how light it really was. The construction is great. The straps are well padded, and the back of the bag that rests against your back is also well padded. One of the straps has an elastic pouch on it to hold small items like a pack of gum or keys or whatever. It isn't easy to see though, and it lies flush with the surface of the strap when it's not being used. As far as storage goes. I can fit my laptop (a 15.4 inch MacBook Pro), a large textbook, a spiral notebook, a regular 2-pocket folder with stuff in it, 2 portable external hard drives with their USB cables, a pack of gum, 2 pens and pencils (there are only 2 actual pencil/pen holders, but you can use other slots for more), earbuds for my mp3 player,the apple remote for my laptop, and a couple other small things in the main compartment itself. Then in the secondary compartment I have my laptop power supply, the power supply extension cord, a 6-foot firewire cable, my iPod nano, and the iPod connector cable. In the side compartment (where the thin gray section is on the front of the bag in the picture shown) I can fit an audio cable (1/8" to 1/8"), another audio cable (1/8" to RCA stereo), and probably a few more thin things like that. and all of this stuff can go in this bag without over-stuffing or bulging. So, for being such a tiny bag, it can really hold a lot. I've been using it for 1 month now and it has been great. (no zipper problems, tears, or anything. which is what i expected anyway.) so if you're like me, and you only have to carry around maybe one large textbook at a time and your laptop, this is a great bag. It looks good and it is quite comfortable. It's super light and has enough space for what I need.