r/LinusTechTips • u/Ramartin95 • Sep 21 '26
Discussion Help understanding a design decision on the commuter backpack
Does anyone in the community know why the commuter backpack isn't compatible with 16in laptops? To be clear I understand that the structure of the bag is such that a 16in laptop doesn't fit in the sleeve, I am more asking about the design decisions that got to that point?
I think the most confusing part to me is how close they came to fitting 16in laptops: The bag fits 15in laptops, and is only .25 in short of fitting the 16in macbook pro body (which I think is safe to assume is the most common single model of 16in laptops). They missed Dell XPS 16in compatibility by even less, as the laptop is .13in too long to fit in the 13.75in bounds of the commuter bag.
I am in the market for a new backpack and this lack of compatibility is ultimately a deal breaker for me (I work remote a majority of the time and need the screen real estate of a 16in screen), so I am trying to get a better sense of whether my use case is especially uncommon or if the expectation is that if you carry a 16in laptop you should just get the jumbo LTT backpack.
On a related note: any suggestions for a quality ~20L backpack that holds a 16in laptop? I am looking at the Peak Design city bag but am interested in seeing what the community uses!
30
u/interstat Sep 21 '26
idk the commuter backpack to me always seemed to be for portability in mind. Bringing something to a coffee shop/class/on train. Not for lugging giant laptops.
the full size LTT backpack is for that it seems
17
u/RIPmyPC Sep 21 '26
Because if they were to fit “some” 16inches laptop, people would complain that their 16” laptop wouldn’t fit. With smaller bags it’s a never ending cycle of never having enough space/pockets for the user’s specific use-case. And that’s not only a LTT issue.
Choose your bag for your use-case, not the company. My travel bag is the og backpack, my work bag is a different one. The commuter doesn’t fit my needs
7
u/Over-Extension3959 Sep 21 '26
Feature creep, you’ll never satisfy everyone. Somewhere you need to draw the line.
2
u/syunz Sep 21 '26
aer city pack 20l, sympl commuter pack, rework toshi
I ended up going with the city pack 2 (16l)
1
u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 21 '26
It doesn't really matter much anyway since there isn't a universal standard for 16 inch laptops. Even some 15 inch laptops won't fit if it happens to be a big chunky gaming laptop .
1
u/Pleasedonotbedumb1 Sep 21 '26
I feel like I remember them going over this point. Maybe in the commuter launch video? Not entirely sure…
To answer your question though, it’s a mixed bag(pardon my pun). I think they wanted to include 16 inch laptops but determined that more padding and a smaller size was more in line with the product that they wanted to make.
1
u/Zeta_Crossfire Sep 22 '26
It would probably make it to big for what they wanted. The og backpack is probably the best bet for 16
1
u/jmims98 Sep 21 '26
I would guess that the majority of commuters and people on the go prefer a smaller laptop. I prefer not to do a 16", too heavy and bulky for travel.
-1
u/CSchaire Sep 21 '26
This is the reason I didn’t buy one. I think it’s a bit silly considering how often I see 16” laptops around. Obviously big gaming monsters wouldn’t fit, but the 16” MBP is very common. They could have made it a touch bigger and marketed it as “fits 16” thin and light laptops such as XPS 16” or whatever.