Coach Brooklyn 34 as a Laptop Bag

[lishal]

I've been an admirer of Coach for years and have several bags. Recently, I've been looking to upgrade my laptop bag from the one I've been using since my college years--almost ten years ago, lol. I'm eying the Coach Brooklyn 34. Love the clean lines, minimal branding and it looks like it has a dedicated laptop compartment. I know it says it's a laptop bag and was made to hold up to 15lbs, but I have a couple of reservations about it. Seems like it would be a good fit for what I want, but...

Does anyone have the Brooklyn 34 and use it as a daily laptop/work bag? How's the quality and how has it held up to regular use? I'm worried about that super thin shoulder strap. I've never had a Coach bag fail on me, but then I don't use any of my bags to carry anything heavy. I have a 13 inch macbook pro, does the laptop comfortably fit in the 34?

Here's a screenshot of the bag I'm considering...

 

[Lisab68]

I'm considering the exact same bag and it's the thin shoulder strap that has scared me off. @lishal what did you decide?

 

[lishal]

I went for it and it came in yesterday! I picked a different color than the surplus green and went with the Fatigue in Gunmetal.

First, it's a beautiful bag and fits a 13" MacBook Pro perfectly. Initially, I thought those two zippered compartments at the top were where you put the laptop but you actually just slide it into one of the open sides. The zippered compartments are too small and may fit a smaller device like an iPad (not tested) or iPad mini (fits comfortably).

it's a roomy bag and I carry a lot to work but it has room enough for my laptop, its charging cable and power cube. A wristlet of USB thumb drives and backup battery. Wallet, pencil case, keys, two notebooks, a hobonichi planner, and my phone with room to spare!

Now for the strap. I only test drove the bag for a day since it arrived yesterday. The two top handles are solid, and I have no doubts about them holding up to everyday use lugging around my work stuff. I did carry the bag with just the shoulder strap for about half an hour walking, putting it down and walking again. It seems sturdy but because of how thin it is, I'm probably going to find a third party strap that's a bit thicker to put my mind at ease, haha. The thin shoulder strap dug into my shoulder a little bit near the end of the half hour too, again because of how thin it is.

Something comforting that wasn't immediately obvious from the sales pics was that Coach built in two dedicated D-rings for the shoulder strap (one on each side of the bag). So it's not directly piggybacking on the rings that the top handles use. This might help things last longer hardware wise. I took a photo of that below (don't mind the plastic still on the hardware, I didn't see it was still on until after I took the photo heh).



Overall, I love the bag. Still have reservations about the shoulder strap but I'm going to swap it out for a third party one. Otherwise, size, styling and quality were superb. I plan to get a lot of mileage out of this bag and I'm looking forward to it! If you have any other questions let me know, I can also take some pictures of my setup if anyone wants those.

 

[Ramai]

I went for it and it came in yesterday! I picked a different color than the surplus green and went with the Fatigue in Gunmetal.

First, it's a beautiful bag and fits a 13" MacBook Pro perfectly. Initially, I thought those two zippered compartments at the top were where you put the laptop but you actually just slide it into one of the open sides. The zippered compartments are too small and may fit a smaller device like an iPad (not tested) or iPad mini (fits comfortably).

it's a roomy bag and I carry a lot to work but it has room enough for my laptop, its charging cable and power cube. A wristlet of USB thumb drives and backup battery. Wallet, pencil case, keys, two notebooks, a hobonichi planner, and my phone with room to spare!

Now for the strap. I only test drove the bag for a day since it arrived yesterday. The two top handles are solid, and I have no doubts about them holding up to everyday use lugging around my work stuff. I did carry the bag with just the shoulder strap for about half an hour walking, putting it down and walking again. It seems sturdy but because of how thin it is, I'm probably going to find a third party strap that's a bit thicker to put my mind at ease, haha. The thin shoulder strap dug into my shoulder a little bit near the end of the half hour too, again because of how thin it is.

Something comforting that wasn't immediately obvious from the sales pics was that Coach built in two dedicated D-rings for the shoulder strap (one on each side of the bag). So it's not directly piggybacking on the rings that the top handles use. This might help things last longer hardware wise. I took a photo of that below (don't mind the plastic still on the hardware, I didn't see it was still on until after I took the photo heh).

View attachment 3701065

Overall, I love the bag. Still have reservations about the shoulder strap but I'm going to swap it out for a third party one. Otherwise, size, styling and quality were superb. I plan to get a lot of mileage out of this bag and I'm looking forward to it! If you have any other questions let me know, I can also take some pictures of my setup if anyone wants those.

Looking into this as a work bag too. How is yours holding up? Any issues with the straps?

 

[Miraku]

Looking into this as a work bag too. How is yours holding up? Any issues with the straps?

Not OP but I was also considering this as a work bag. The three compartments don't really stay together when you're using the long strap (as in there's no closure on the front and back slide compartments), I'd recommend to go in and actually try out the bag on your shoulder! It's a gorgeous bag but once I had it on in store I realized that the slide compartments were always gaping like a little accordion and thus stuck off my hip too much.

 

[Ramai]

Not OP but I was also considering this as a work bag. The three compartments don't really stay together when you're using the long strap (as in there's no closure on the front and back slide compartments), I'd recommend to go in and actually try out the bag on your shoulder! It's a gorgeous bag but once I had it on in store I realized that the slide compartments were always gaping like a little accordion and thus stuck off my hip too much.

Thanks so much for the feedback.

 

[Pagan]

I have this bag as well, but I’ve only carried it twice so far since switching into my fall bags.

It is a very nice, well made bag but it weighs a ton. I found it a lot heavier than my Rogue. I don’t think I’ll ever use it as a laptop bag for that reason. I bought this as a bag I’d carry to the office, but it won’t eliminate the need to carry a tote because I don’t want to carry (what would feel to me like) a too heavy single bag on a regular basis. It’s the only bag I’ve bought that I don’t see myself using much, despite how much I like the way it looks.