Thanks for your thoughts, I'm still planning to ask my SA if I can try one out in the boutique to know for definite how it works on me.
Generally, I do prefer the N/S look of the HAC which I think is inherently a little more 'masculine' in silhouette, if we still want to assign genders to these kinds of things. This could be a better option for you. I do use my HAC40 around town as a day bag, but it does make for quite a bulky bag at times.
Goes back to the dream of a couple of us for a smaller HAC with the proportions of the HAC50, in the 35ish width!
I already own a HAC50, looking for something smaller now for my macbook air, ipad, wallet, notebooks...