It was after I dropped my Macbook Pro laptop, thereby incurring a large repair bill, that I decided it was time to buy a new case for it. The case I had was semi-ok, by which I mean that the top part was rugged and solidly fixed to the laptop, while the bottom half was neither. It was, indubitably, only a matter of time before something would happen, and happen it did.

When I received the laptop back I decided to make buying a new case a priority. I went into an approved retailer for Apple products, and asked the sales assistant what sort of covers or bags they had in stock.

"We have a hard one and a soft one", she said.

"Hmm", I said. "Which one is better in your opinion?"

"How often do you drop your laptop?" was her response.

"Only once in three years", I replied, "Which is why I've just had it repaired."

I have to say, I haven't heard such an inane question in my life, so I left the shop, and went home and searched on Amazon instead.

I eventually plumped for the Thule Gauntlet Laptop Bag. It wasn't what I'd set out to buy, but it looked pretty robust. Not only that, the description said that the laptop could be kept in the case while you were using it.

This tuns out to be true -- up to  point. If you wish to use a usb stick, or another attachment of some kind, then you can't keep the laptop fully in the case because there isn't the room.

Nevertheless, it's very good, especially for carrying around. What I especially like are the following features:

The case is hard. I could probably throw it to the floor without much effect on the laptop, though I don't intend to try that any time soon.

Velcro straps hold the laptop in place.

It's compact. I didn't want some great big holdall of a thing.

Amazingly, there is actually bags (sorry!) of room, as you can see from the photo. Just in case you can't see from the photo, the case contains my laptop, a charger, a Kindle, a book, two plastic bags in case I was ordered to go shopping and a usb stick. After taking the photo, I even managed to stuff my camera into it as well. Impressive.

And it doesn't look too shoddy either.

At nearly £40 it was pricier than I'd hoped or intended to pay, but as my wife told me quite sternly, it's a small price to pay to protect a laptop.

I can't argue with that.

Here it is on Amazon: Thule Gauntlet Laptop Bag. Please note that that is an affiliate link.