If a laptop bag describes your personality, then what does this Acme Made laptop bag say about you?
The Clutch, from Acme Made, is an aesthetically pleasing, modern, and confident looking laptop bag that opts for design & comfort over toughness. If those traits sound good to you, then the Clutch is the laptop bag you’ve been waiting for.
The Clutch fits a 13” MacBook Pro or 13” MacBbook Air and has many additional pockets for housing personal belongings under its hood.
But let’s get one thing clear from the get-go. The Clutch isn’t really a laptop bag. It’s more of a briefcase for your MacBook that you wear. Simply calling it a laptop bag doesn’t do it justice.
Design
The Clutch comes in a single color – a glossy dark brown with hints of black highlights throughout the canvas. I can’t imagine any other color choice that would improve upon the elegant and business-like appearance of the bag.
An adjustable, and very glossy, shoulder strap hangs off the back of the bag by way of a tough and retro metal hinge.
On the outside, the Clutch is coated with a canvas material while on the inside your belongings are wrapped up in a stylish quilted twill nylon interior.
Storage
A MacBook Pro 13” or 13” Air slots neatly and effortlessly into the back compartment. A zip-less enclosure means you can quickly pack and unpack your MacBook from the bag.
While the enclosure does what it’s meant to do, I would personally like to have a zip across the top of the enclosure. Adding a zip would add another level of protection to your MacBook – almost like a permanent sleeve for your MacBook while it’s in the bag. We asked the Acme guys whether they considered including a zip within this enclosure.
We did consider a zipper, but felt that the “envelope style” bag offered a minimalist, stylish solution for quick access and fully covered protection much like a traditional messenger bag. We intentionally designed the product without a zipper for these reasons.
Between the MacBook enclosure and the front of the Clutch there is a vacant slot for notepads, cables, or anything else you might want to carry that can fit into this space. The middle gap is approximately three times wider than a MacBook Pro (a total space of approximately 3”).
On either side of this middle area there is a small hole in the bottom corners. I’m not sure why this gap exists (and I see it in many laptop bags) but it is possible that some of your smaller belongings may fall through either of these two gaps from the center storage sleeve.
That’s probably why you should put your headphones, iPhone charger, coins, and what-not, in the large and deep zip pocket that sits below the hood. To the right of this pocket is a slot for business cards and two elasticated holders that can fit your pens.
Last, and not least, this wouldn’t be a MacBook bag without a specific pocket for your iPhone. This pocket is a bit loose so you need not worry if your iPhone wears a protective case – it will still fit.
There are no front or side compartments for additional storage on the Clutch – and it doesn’t need it. If the Acme guys added more storage it would take away from the finesse in the design of the bag and make the everything unnecessarily more complicated.
This isn’t a swiss army knife laptop bag after all!
According to Acme, the Clutch bag can hold up to approximately 20lbs of equipment.
Protection
When you spend to buy a laptop bag you need to be assured that the bag will offer you all the protection your MacBook needs. While the Clutch doesn’t offer you bullet proof protection, the protection it offers is just as good as any other laptop bag in the high end of the market.
The exterior coated canvas is deceptively strong, tough, and also water resistant . The padded interior is laid on thickly and offers your MacBook tight and compact protection.
Safe to say, if you left the Clutch in the company of your bored dog (or 8 month old baby), it would take them a marathon session of gnarling and chewing to make any inroads with the bag.
The verdict
When I walk with the Clutch it brings a smile to my face that my other laptop bag didn’t. The Clutch is a beautifully designed laptop bag with a polished exterior and a sleek interior.
And when I heard the Clutch was only $99; I couldn’t believe it. A crazy price for an exceptional product. You will be hard pressed to find a better looking laptop bag for your MacBook at that price.
Rating:
[rating 5]
Check out the Clutch on the Acme Made website for more info.
