Considering a Scaramanga Overlander Satchel for Your MacBook?

If you’re in the market for a top-shelf leather bag to carry your laptop and accessories, the Scaramanga Medium Overlander Satchel 16″ should be on your list.

Takeaway

In a hurry? Here are the high points. Scroll down for photos and more detail.

  • Lots of storage options.

    The configuration of this bag is slightly different from a typical “laptop” case, but there are still pockets galore.

  • Expensive-ish international shipping.

    The shipping was lightning fast, but it wasn’t cheap. What’s more, Scaramanga’s US/Canadian shipping option at the checkout was £19, but Scaramanga needed an additional £29 to ship the bag. It was fantastically fast, but at that price (nearly $75 USD!), the shipping should have been super fast, even from the UK. Their shipping info advised me this might happen, but charging for shipping, then charging 1.5 times more stung a little.

  • Responsive customer service.

    The live chat feature on the site was really helpful. I also communicated with customer service staff after the sale. Everyone was professional and courteous.

  • Very little padding.

    This is a leather bag. The outer layer is as tough as, well, leather. And there is a fabric lining. That’s it. There’s no poly-fill or EVA to protect your gear. You may want to invest in neoprene slip case or even some foam padding to help keep a laptop safe in the event of a hard landing. In fact, the customer service rep I chatted with recommended additional padding for impact protection. I trimmed some rigid packing foam to the size of the bottom of the main pocket and added it to help protect my MacBook.

  • Quality leather bag that drips with vintage style.

    If you would be satisfied with a $50 – $75 bag, you won’t want to pay for this top-quality Scaramanga piece. But if you’re in the market for a quality leather carry case for your notebook and related gear, this bag is worth a look. You’re either in the market or you aren’t. And the bag just looks great. If you’re in the market for a $300-ish laptop bag, you might like this one.

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Well, here she is. My new office.

I heard about Scaramanga through social media a couple of years ago. I didn’t need a bag at that time, but I sort of filed that away for later. Later came sooner than I imagined when the shoulder strap anchor on my Targus bag failed. I started shopping to replace the bag immediately.

Amazon was the first place I started browsing. I was utterly underwhelmed. Then I remembered Scaramanga and headed to their website to browse. The images and information on the Scaramanga site were quite helpful, especially their Bag Size Guides. The site even had a live chat feature, and the chat operator I quizzed helped answer some of my questions. One of the things the representative couldn’t help with was my request for some images of a loaded bag, preferably a bag loaded with a MacBook and a handful of accessories. This post will help fill in some of those gaps, at least for someone looking to use the bag with a 15″ MacBook Pro.

I decided to purchase the Medium Overlander Leather Satchel 16 Inch – SATC12042. I moved in to my new Scaramanga bag last week, and I’ve had a few days to work with it. So far so good! I wanted to gather my thoughts and share some images to help you decide if this bag is right for you.

Note about photos: I love great images taken with a proper camera and lens. But I wanted to present this bag in an absolutely neutral light. These photos are just natural light images shot with my iPhone 5s and are presented with no aesthetic edits. For more artistic images, check out the beautiful photos on the Scaramanga website.

What’s In The Bag?

I’m a nearly 100% mobile professional, and my laptop is my primary workstation. Here’s a list of all I have in the bag:

I even have plenty of room to carry my Leuchtturm1917 +Whitelines Link sketchbook to my bag.

The Main Pocket

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The main pocket measures about 16″ x 13″ x 6″. It’s plenty large enough for a 15″ MacBook Pro.

For me, this is primarily a laptop bag. The outer shell is rugged, vintage leather. But there is no padded laptop compartment. If you’re looking for everyday impact and minor drop protection, you will want to add some packaging foam like I did (see below for images). If you’re extremely rough on your MacBook, you might need to look to another product.

The zippered pocket’s opening is just wide enough to accept a MacBook Pro without struggle. But the pocket itself is quite large, able to hold a stack of books about about 5″ thick. If you are a student needing to carry a MacBook and a couple of textbooks, this pocket would suffice.

All the Other Pockets

The Medium Overlander is quite generous with pockets. I will admit, the Targus bag I replaced with this bag had a few more compartments, especially smaller pockets with zipper and Velcro® closure. But this Scaramanga bag has several pockets. I dedicated different areas for my mouse, my earbuds, and my power adapter. There’s another pocket for smaller objects like a flash drive or pens.

Materials and Construction

The materials and construction of this bag seem to be top-shelf. The leather is supple yet thick. There’s a vintage patina, but it is far from worn. It almost has a broken-in feel to it. The zippers and zipper pulls are appropriately sized and have a smooth operation. The shoulder strap alone is a thing of beauty. It reminds me of a top-grain leather belt that I didn’t buy because I thought it was too expensive.

A Necessary Addition: Internal Padding

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This 1″ thick packaging foam is trimmed to just the right size that I can wedge it into the bottom of the bag.

Most “laptop” bags I’ve seen have some sort of padding to protect the laptop. There’s usually a foam wall for impact protection, and many bags have modular padding or compartments that allow you to create a form-fitting area for your computer. Scaramanga didn’t design this bag exclusively for laptop users. The customer service representative I chatted with recommended encasing my MacBook in a neoprene slip case as protection against bumps and scratches that may occur from minor drops or other objects inside the case.

I did order an Amazon Basics neoprene case, but that wasn’t good enough for me. I had dropped my previous case more than a couple of times, and I knew I needed some extra protection. The answer? Shipping foam. I sourced some fairly rigid foam packaging material and trimmed it to fit the bottom of the bag.

Conclusion

I think the Scaramanga Medium Overlander 16″ Satchel is a fine bag. It’s actually the finest bag I’ve owned. The main question I wanted to answer before I ordered it was related to the number and size of pockets. I took a bit of a risk, because all I knew was that the interior pocket was nearly 6″ thick and that it would easily hold a MacBook Pro.

The shipping stung a bit. I haven’t ordered many things from the UK, but apparently it’s gotten quite expensive. Whereas the shopping cart process charged me £19 shipping for standard US/Canadian delivery, customer service contacted me after the sale and informed me that shipping required an additional £29. That’s a total of nearly $75 with today’s exchange rates. Ouch! Cost aside, the shipping was fast and accurate. It still boggles the mind that I can place an order in South Carolina for a product in the United Kingdom on Monday and then have the product on my doorstep by Friday afternoon. Bravo to the global supply chain! And when the package arrived, I was amazed to see the product encased in a drawstring cloth bag inside the shipping box. The whole shipping experience felt a little like paying for a luxury cruise; it cost more than I wish I had to pay, but it sure was nice.

All in all, I’m pleased with the purchase of the Scaramanga Medium Overlander Leather 16″ Satchel. It cost less than several other options I considered, even with the expensive international shipping. I fully expect this bag will serve my needs for the next decade or so.