Today we are taking a closer look at the new Harber London Rugged MacBook Briefcase. This one entered the brand’s sizable collection of Apple gear accessories and bags back in February as its latest premium, all-in-one, business-meets-EDC tech carrier. It, like all Harber London gear, costs a pretty penny, and now we are ready to see if the handmade, premium materials, and fine craftsmanship match the price tag. Head below for our hands-on review of the new Harber London Rugged MacBook Briefcase as part of our ongoing Tested with gadgetnewsonline series.
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Hands-on with the Harber London Rugged MacBook Briefcase
The Harber London Rugged MacBook Briefcase is very much what it sounds like, a weather-proof soft brief case for your MacBook, iPad, AirTags, and a whole lot more. On the outside you’ll find both carry straps and an included detachable shoulder strap made from premium full-grain leather, and on the inside, loads of dedicated compartments for all your gear as well as a pair of magnetic, high-end packing cube pouches too.
Our all-rounder Laptop Briefcase has dedicated padded laptop & tablet pockets with a false bottom to protect your devices, comes with 2 magnetic pouches and lots of slots and compartments to help you organise all your work essentials.
Take a closer look at the specs:
- Laptop Briefcase for everyday work & travel.
- 2x Magnetic pouches for chargers or work essentials.
- Leather Carry Strap included.
- Made with Durable Water-Resistant Fabric Shell Made of Recycled Plastic Bottles.
- Airtag pocket built-in.
- Special pockets for A4, A5 and A6 notebooks.
- Pocket for Passport or smaller notebooks.
- Padded Laptop Compartment.
- Padded Tablet Compartment, fits 13″ Tablets with Keyboards attached.
- Travel ready, with suitcase holder.
- Carry pens and cords with ease.
- Handmade by expert craftsmen in Spain.
- Made with Rich Full Grain Cowhide Leather.
gadgetnewsonline’ Take:
First thing’s first, and needless to say to anyone who’s read my previous Harber London reviews, this is one gorgeous MacBook carrier. It is made from premium materials and looks fantastic to me. This time around the brand has delivered a combination of durable water-resistant fabric made of recycled plastic, but feels about as premium as this sort of material gets to me. From there, you’ll find hits of the brand’s full-grain leather I have raved about in previous hands-on features. The combination of the two brings me to my next point.
For me, the black canvas and brown leather model, is the best of the three color options here. The combination of the two presents a gorgeous professionalism that matches with just about everything in my wardrobe and coat rack. While the brand tends to stick to one color treatment for the exterior of most of its bags, and I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the two-tone treatment before going hands-on, but now, after unboxing it at home, I can’t say enough good things about the looks here.
The whole thing is particularly well-made, with thick rugged zippers as well sturdy and classy leather handles in a package that can easily take you from the board room to daily workplace travel, to business trips, and more – there’s a nice leather luggage handle strap along the back as well. I might even suggest that it can work as a sort of larger tech accessory or EDC carrier with a nice little dedicated slot for your MacBook, iPads, and more as well – it comes in two sizes for 13/14-inch laptops and larger 15/16-inch machines.
Now let’s talk about the inside, because I’m just as impressed here. The leather treatment from the front of the bag continues through to the interior with gorgeous leather panelling and a button strap over the laptop sleeve. On top of that you’ll find five other layered pockets for documents, notebooks, iPads, or otherwise, one of which has a zippered closure.
The sort of main panel on the inside houses a series of larger pockets for chargers and earbud cases as well as a series of slots for smaller cards, passports, and things of that nature as well as a smaller slot to hide an AirTag. A pair of additional leather snap straps can carry pens, Apple Pencil, wrapped up cables, and you’ll even find a smaller one that’s great for a keychain or something like that. All-in-all, it’s hard to find any faults in this department at all.
As a sweet little bonus here, Harber London has thrown in a pair of smaller basic canvas zipper pouches – or as basic as Harber London gets anyway, you’ll still find leather tabs on the zippers and a leather logo tag on the inside. They are completely separate from the bag itself but are made to neatly stow inside by way of a magnetic connection to the inside of the bag. This is a really nice touch, something that adds to the value proposition here, and allows for a sort of additional layer of organization – they are sort of like mini packing cubes for your briefcase.
In the end, it’s tough to find anything wrong with this bag, Harber has once again delivered a gorgeous carrier for anyone interested in the brief sort of form-factor. I might have preferred a completely all-leather build, but you can bet that would have driven the price up even further. And, like just about all Harber London gear, the price is going to be the pain point for some consumers. Some folks just aren’t going to appreciate or be willing to shell out this kind of cash, and that’s totally understandable. But some are, and this bag makes a statement in more than one way – it’s beautifully-made, looks fantastic, and offers up loads of functional carry space in a tight package. It is also the kind of thing that looks and feels like it might last you lifetime.
Buy the Harber London Rugged Laptop Briefcase
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