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In the long, storied history of bag reviews (see Mark Twain’s What Shall I Put In My New Canvas Sack? from the January 1897 issue of Harper’s Monthly for an example of the proto-bag review), it has been the journalist’s imperative to offer a fair and intelligent comparison of the “usefulcasity” of the bag when compared to other bags of the same or similar capacity. The earliest reviews often ignored this simple requirement — that all bags designed to contain objects must and can be compared to each other.
To that end I have decided to compare the Golla Chorus 15.4-inch bag to a plastic bag received for free at the local food market. The reader’s initial reaction, when reading that last line, is to expect the writer to be on crack. This, however, is not the case. He is, instead, hopped on on snark and coffee.
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We begin our exploration by explaining that the Golla Chorus bag is quite nicely built and fits 15-inch laptops perfectly. It costs about $20 and comes in multiple sizes and styles. The black version is the 15-inch model, the green version holds a 13-inch laptop, and the blue version fits 17-inch models. A MacBook Pro and Lenovo ThinkPad fit in the sleeve quite nicely and there is also a pocket for chargers and other accouterments.
That said, we discovered that a plastic bag from a grocery can hold a few more singular items than the Golla Chorus. However, the plastic bag does not have the same design and quality characteristics found in this Finnish laptop sleeve.
We began by placing a ThinkPad and a MacBook into both receptacles. The sleeve fit them both perfectly, as did the plastic bag. However, I found carrying laptops in the plastic bag to be quite a precarious proposition. I would, in this case, cede the battlefield to the Golla bag.
In other situations, however, the plastic bag was far superior. Both bags held children’s shoes with no problems but only the plastic bag could also carry a rubber ball. However, if the rubber ball had been deflated, the Golla would have been the victor.
I attempted also to carry a large, novelty margarita glass, a copy of Carcassonne, and the rolls of paper that came stuffed in the Golla bag with similar results — the plastic bag held them all admirably but the Golla bag was much more stylish.
What can we therefore assess about the Golla line of laptop sleeves? That they are ideal for laptops and not so good for other, less-laptopish items.