Hadaki Cushioned Multitasker Laptop Pod

New Orleans-based designer Hadaki’s $90 Cushioned Multitasker Laptop Pod is as good at protecting your laptop as it is at inducing flashbacks of your summer abroad in Amsterdam.

The bag’s plastic exterior is super shiny, but it feels tough enough to handle heavy use without flaking or tearing. The interior is lined with a slick nylon that’s sure to keep your laptop scratch-free and clean. And the adjustable, messenger-style shoulder strap connects to the bag with tough seams—it doesn’t look like it would break without a fight. The strap itself, however, looks a little dangerous. The plastic is stiff and slick—a recipe for a hot, painful shoulder if you don’t cover it with something.

The Pod’s padded interior may smell like a beach ball and feel like a rain slicker, but it will definitely protect your laptop, which is held in place by a thick Velcro strap in a separate, padded sleeve. (The bag accommodates up to a 15.4-inch laptop.) The sleeve’s open top makes it easy to access your computer even while it’s being protected from the other gear in the bag. The padded material is lightweight, but still offers adequate protection, and a large flap covers the top of the bag in transit. When the flap is open, you have access to an interior, zippered pocket large enough for your wallet, phone, and keys; inside are places to put pens and pencils.

The exterior of the bag has three pockets: one below each strap attachment and a large one on the side opposite the flap opening. That outside pocket has two zippers, one on the top and one along the bottom edge, that allow the pocket to act as a pass-through sleeve for attaching the bag to a wheeled-luggage handle.

The design of our review sample is called “Hannah’s Paisley.” I can only assume that Hannah is a Simon and Garfunkel fan, because this print is beyond groovy—it is, dare I say, psychedelic. Though I wouldn’t want to use it now, my 19-year-old self would have loved it for carrying her MacBook, reporter’s notebook, and used copy of “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” around San Francisco State. The Pod is also available in similarly trippy designs with names such as Tic Tac Toe, Cobalt Paisley, Cobalt Stripes, and Floral Swirl. There seems to be a pattern for everyone—well, everyone with exceptionally bold taste in laptop bags, that is.