Mobile Edge Milano review: Mobile Edge Milano

Mobile Edge has designed the Milano for female executives who want something a little more stylish than the standard nylon laptop bag. And stylish it is: the Milano's black faux-croc exterior opens to reveal a deep-red, velvety interior that prompted more than one positive comment from store clerks and colleagues in our weeks of use. The bag is not without its drawbacks: at $100, it's about $20 more expensive than other fashion-forward laptop bags. And because it's a shoulder bag, you're limited in the amount of weight you can carry. Nevertheless, the Milano is extremely well designed and highly functional; we think it's an excellent choice for professional women who carry ultraportable laptops.

Inside the Milano are three main compartments, all of which are easily accessible, thanks to a double zipper that opens down the sides of the bag. One compartment features organizer pockets, such as a wireless security pouch (which Mobile Edge says "protects wireless devices from data theft, spam, and viruses"), a padded cell phone holder, a zippered pocket, a business card holder, and loops for three pens. There's also a loop to secure a tube of lipstick--a feature we openly mocked, until we realized it worked just as well to keep our thumbdrive within easy reach. The central compartment features a padded floor to protect your laptop when you set the bag down; a Velcro strap helps keep the laptop in place. The third compartment is left wide open for files and notepads, though there is a small hook dongle that proved handy for keeping our keys from getting lost beneath all the stuff in the bag. Mobile Edge also includes a removable accessory bag that we found useful for keeping cables under control, though it can also serve as a clutch purse in a pinch.

The shoulder-bag design is stylish and versatile--we can easily imagine using this as a briefcase even without the laptop--and we like that the straps flatten out at the top to keep them from sliding off your shoulder. But it can be difficult to carry the full weight of a laptop on one shoulder, and we found that anything heavier than the 13.3-inch MacBook felt far too heavy for this bag. We have no reservations, however, about recommending the Milano for smaller, ultraportable laptops.