Exterior of U.S. made, 1050 denier high tenacity ballistic nylon Lined with 200 denier Japanese Halcyon/nylon ultralight ripstop fabric Padded Compartment: .25" / 6 mm thick foam padding laminated between black 4-ply Taslan and brushed tricot #8 YKK Aquaguard® water-repellent zipper PORON® foam padded handle Made in USA 100% finished seams Dimensions: 14.5" x 11.75" x 4.75" / 370 x 300 x 120 mm Padded Compartment for 13" MBP/MBA Dimensions: 12.8" x 9" x .9" / 325 x 227 x 24 mm Weight: 1 lb 6 oz / 620 grams Volume: 550 cubic inches / 9 liters (ASTM Standard Measure) Total O-rings: 4 (3 in the main compartment; 1 in the front zippered pocket) The Ristretto is designed to help one realize the dream of a mobile office: working at a coffee shop, on the light-rail, at the airport, or on the plane, essentials at hand, and unencumbered by extraneous stuff. It’s a vertical messenger bag with a padded interior compartment sized to fit everything from tablets such as the iPad and laptops up to 13” in size, such as the 13" MacBook Pro or Air.

(Previously also available in sizes for the iPad and 11” MacBook Air, we now make the Ristretto in one size only, as most folks told us they preferred this larger size over the two smaller sizes because of the extra room it provides.) The padded compartment in the Ristretto, which measures 12.8" x 9" x 1" / 325 x 228 x 25 mm, is made of 1/4" (6 mm) open-cell foam laminated with durable 4-ply Taslan and has an interior of supersoft brushed tricot. The back of the Ristretto is padded with 1/4" closed-cell foam. Your tablet or laptop is protected from all sides. The main, open-top compartment and front, zippered pouch of the Ristretto are covered by an asymmetrical flap that closes with the distinctive offset Duraflex® Warrior buckle. Under the flap, you'll find a curved, #8 YKK Aquaguard® water-repellent zipper, which secures the front pouch of the Ristretto. Inside this front pouch are organizational pockets for a pen, phone, and passport or wallet. There's also plenty of room inside this pouch for your power supply, phone charger, and sunglasses and the like.

The front, zippered pouch has one O-ring. backpack deuter kaskusThe main compartment of the Ristretto features three O-rings. paq laptop backpackAttached to one O-ring is an 8" Key Strap. paq laptop backpackThe Key Strap is useful for keeping track of your keys (many folks leave their keys attached to the Key Strap). rcaf backpackIt can also be used to clip a pocket watch or Swiss Army knife to the bag.bitty backpack vera bradley Behind that front, zippered pouch is the main compartment, which has a middle section and the padded compartment for your tablet or laptop (up to 13” in size). backpack sluice box review

You'll have room in the middle section for an additional tablet or a light jacket or small water bottle. The back of the Ristretto has a slanted, open-top pocket ideal for storing papers, a magazine, or a newspaper. The handle, situated on the top/back of the Ristretto, is padded with PORON® foam. Included with the Ristretto is a removable waist strap, which secures the bag to your body — a good thing if you ride your (motor or push) bike while wearing the Ristretto. The waist strap attaches to two of four available points on the back of the Ristretto: you can attach the strap so one end is high and the other low, or both high or both low, whatever is most comfortable. We also considered those times you don't plan to use the waist strap; it is easily removable and leaves no hardware behind. You can choose between two different shoulder straps for use with the Ristretto. The Standard Shoulder Strap is included in the price of the Ristretto. A 1-1/2" wide heavy-nylon-webbing strap, it features a comfortable, wide foam pad that won't slip off your shoulder and is designed to conform to your shoulder and back.

For an extra $20.00, you can switch out the Standard Strap for the Absolute Shoulder Strap. Most people will be satisfied with just one kind of shoulder strap, but, should you choose to do so, you can purchase more than one kind of shoulder strap and switch between them.Tom Bihn Ristretto for iPad/netbooks As a bag nerd, Tom Bihn is one maker that I have always been interested in, and yet never had the opportunity to experience. I’m happy to say that the company's Ristretto for iPad/Netbooks not only lives up to Tom Bihn’s reputation for quality, but makes for a great general purpose iPad bag—my favorite of the initial crop I got to review.Tom Bihn leans toward the higher-priced end of the bag market. But from my experience with this bag and what I’ve heard from a slew of Tom Bihn fans, the company's bags are worth it. The heavy-duty nylon Ristretto, a vertical-messenger style bag, has a really strong, solid feel, featuring two main compartments inside, along with a thin pocket on the back for small documents, a single magazine, or on-the-go trinkets.

Both the shoulder and waist straps are adjustable and detachable, and a handle on the bag allows for easy strapless carrying. The main compartment features a built-in padded sleeve for an iPad or netbook, but unlike most other netbook-compatible bags, the sleeve is not overly deep, fitting an iPad well (netbooks are typically thick enough that a compartment designed for a netbook could literally fit three or four stacked iPads). The rest of the main compartment is just tall and wide enough to hold a couple magazines, an Apple Wireless Keyboard, and a 340-page hardcover copy of World War Z. Since I’m usually looking to bring extras like these along, this storage space is the “killer app” of this particular iPad bag.The front compartment has a few assorted pockets for pens, your iPhone, and maybe your point-and-shoot digital camera or a stand for propping up the iPad. The bag also features a thin, zippered compartment for small documents, your wallet, or travel accessories such as a toothbrush or deodorant.

The bag closes using a flap with a large plastic buckle. This makes the bag’s contents easily accessible, but the two main compartments do not have their own zippers for security or rain protection. The iPad sleeve has its own padded flap for securing and protecting the device, but after tooling around town for the day with this bag, I found that flap to be more of a nuisance than anything—with the flap buckled, your iPad isn't going anywhere.My only other minor complaint about the bag: the front accessory compartment can get a little tight if I pack the main compartment with the aforementioned magazines, keyboard, and book.Overall, this is a great bag and probably the one I’m going to buy for my own iPad adventures. Some may not need as much storage or the Tom Bihn quality, and there certainly are other good options that you can find among our reviews. But the Ristretto’s construction is top notch, the strap is comfortable, and Tom Bihn struck a great balance between the iPad’s small size and the extras that are arguably necessary for the iPad lifestyle.