Kensington Contour Balance Notebook Case Review

by Greg Ross

The Kensington Contour Notebook Case is a new offering in Kensington’s product line up.  Designed to hold a 15.4" laptop, several accessories, and a light load of notebooks and other essential school/business supplies, this $69.99 notebook case is perfect for people from a variety of lifestyles.

Specs

• Color: Black
• Exterior Dimensions: 16.5” L x 14.5” H x 7.0” W
• Notebook Compartment Dimensions: 14.4” L x 11.4” H x 2.0” W
• Material: Microfiber & Nylon
• Weight: 3.1 lbs
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime

Features

At 3.1 lbs, the Contour Balance Notebook Case is designed to hold a decent amount of smaller items while not unnecessarily weighing down the user.  The specially padded and adjustable shoulder strap and uniquely shaped backside places the weight in a more comfortable position and really minimizes the strain that is placed on your shoulder and back.  As a result, this notebook case is endorsed by the ACA (American Chiropractic Association).  The case also features a luggage strap in the rear that allows a traveler to attach the case to a full sized luggage bag and not have to deal with two separate bags.  Finally, the exterior material is also water-resistant, which aids in protecting the various items within the bag.  Unfortunately, I was unable to test how well the water resistant material actually works.

The Kensington Contour Balanced Notebook Case (view large image)

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Since this is a notebook case, it is not designed to hold a massive amount of supplies or textbooks.  It is designed to carry the notebook and all the accessories and electronics that a business executive or that a student would need during a day.  Fortunately, this case excels at compartmentalization to make packing the case easier.

So many pockets…I don’t know where to start! (view large image)

As you can see above, the case features several unstructured and structured compartments in the front of the case that are all easily accessible.  All of the pockets are sealed by a zipper, thus eliminating the risk of items randomly falling out.  From front to back, the case has the following (as seen in the above picture):

• Medium sized unstructured compartment (for tickets, cards, and other items one might quickly need access to).
• On larger compartment that is lined with a series of smaller “pockets” to hold cell phones, MP3 players, pens, pencils, CDs, and USB keys).
• On small, and almost invisible (you can see the zipper for it in the picture above; it is not opened), compartment to hold a few odd ball items that do not fit elsewhere.
• The main compartment, complete with a padded laptop slot and a single divider that would be useful for separating stacks of paperwork or a few notebooks and school supplies.

There is also a large but thin compartment in the back of the case that is designed to hold the AC adapter and a mouse for the notebook.  It is also capable of fitting in a thin stack of papers or your magazine of choice, but I would not recommend doing that since the AC adapter prongs tends to stick out uncomfortably.  The rear compartment also has a small Velcro slot to fit a small number of CDs, but its placement would put the CDs in danger of becoming damaged if you bounce the notebook case against your side (or luggage bag) a lot.

Alternatively, the main compartment can hold that adapter and mouse instead and leave all the pockets in the rear open for CDs, and allow you to fit in several other small items in addition to paperwork or magazines in the rear compartment.  Regardless I would worry about putting CDs in there since the rear would get pressed against the user or luggage bag during regular use.

No matter how you cut it, the rear compartment was not designed very well…(view large image)

Finally, the notebook case also comes with an adjustable handle that extends out from the top when it is needed as well as a specially designed shoulder pad.  The shoulder pad is particularly inventive.  Most of the time, I dislike case straps because they will slip off my shoulder, dig into me, or otherwise make the carrying experience unpleasant.  But as you can see in the picture below, the strap’s padded section (which can be slid along the strap as needed) has two large nubbins that fit by the collar bone and behind the shoulder that help to hold it in place.  The padding is also fairly thick which prevents the strap from digging into your shoulder too much.

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Now you see it, now you don’t!  Nice handle here!

The shoulder strap padding is a big plus (view large image)

Quality & Looks

The exterior of the case is made of thick, water-resistant, and black colored Microfiber.  A majority of the compartment linings are comprised of a fine, almost silky, burgundy nylon material.  The interior nylon lining in the smaller compartments also have striped highlights that would look appropriate on a suit worn by Al Capone.  Overall, the construction of the case itself is top notch, though the design itself only gets four stars out of five from me because the rear compartment is not designed very well.

The case itself has a very professional look to it, and an overall design that would have a hard time not fitting into any occasion.  The case is also fairly sturdy, and can withstand a lot of abuse.

The only negative aspect of the case itself is, with regards to quality and design, the padding on the notebook slot itself.  While the padding to the front and rear of the laptop slot is sufficient to protect the notebook from most mishaps, I have found that the padding on the sides is lacking.  It seems to be little more than protection from scratches; the notebook might not like hard hits from items inside the main compartment.  To be fair, the exterior material around the sides is also fairly thick so bumps from the outside should not be a problem.

Size wise, the notebook slot is correct.  But it is poorly placed.  My HP nc8430 was difficult to pull out when it had the nylon sleeve on it.  This would not have been a problem had the zipper and the notebook slot been on the same side of the compartment, which would have allowed me to lift the notebook directly up and out of the case instead of having to pull it out at an angle.  As it stands now, the top portion of the case gets in the way as you can see in the pictures below.

A slightly different design here would go a long way to making this case even better. The top of the case blocks the notebook’s accessibility; this makes pulling it out difficult. (view large image)

Pulling out the notebook at this angle is really the only way that I can remove my HP nc8430. (view large image)

Carrying Capacity & Comfort

Usually when I use a notebook case like this, I prefer to carry around only a few items that I need during a light day on campus.  For the capacity test, I used the following items:

• My HP nc8430 laptop w/ power adapter.
• Three notebooks of college ruled paper.
• One small (thin) book to sub in for a lab notebook, workbook, or stack of papers.
• USB Mouse
• USB Stick
• Earphones
• Cell Phone
• MP3 Player
• Small bag holding my pens, pencils, and a calculator.

When loaded up with everything in the bag I found that there was still plenty of room to fit additional items such as a digital camera, more pens & pencils, and more paper.  However, I felt the weight of the bag was about right for my back and shoulders so I did not stuff any more in there.  If you do not need your laptop, you can substitute the laptop for a textbook without impacting the overall weight or feel of the case.

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Not quite stuffed, but you get the idea.  Notice I did not put too much in the rear compartment.

After lugging around my semi-stuffed bag for ten or fifteen minutes, my shoulders and back did not hurt at all.  This is where the case really shines; because the rear of the case is curved inwards, the case actually falls directly against my side which lends some additional support to the bag.  Also, the padded shoulder strap played a large role in preventing discomfort in my shoulder muscles.  I usually have problems carrying heavily loaded notebook cases, as the unevenly distributed weight will eventually cause the muscles around my spine to fatigue.  But with this specially designed case, I do not believe that fatigue would begin set in until about forty five minutes to an hour (or more) of constant usage and walking with the load of items listed.  No wonder the ACA endorsed this case.

Conclusion

Overall, my experience with the Kensington Contour Balance Notebook Case has been a positive one; I would recommend this case despite the few flaws in the design (not the quality) of the case.  With a few minor adjustments, this case could be an even better offering from Kensington.

To be fair, this case is a very sturdy, reliable, and functional case.  It can fit a lot given its size, and it minimizes the strain that is placed on a body that is carrying the case.  It is also the most comfortable case to carry that I have ever come across.

The bottom line: the Contour Balance Notebook Case is a pretty good offering as it stands right now, and is definitely worth the money.

Pros

• Holds a respectable amount of goodies.
• Water-resistant, high quality construction, with a lifetime warranty.
• Excels at compartmentalization and organization.
• Several pockets and compartments.
• Very comfortable to use during the day, allows for extended periods of walking with minimal fatigue.
• Attractive, professional exterior and interior design.

Cons

• The rear compartment is not of much use, except for carrying around papers.  Anything else in that compartment would be at risk of damage or cause discomfort for the user that carries the bag on the side.  Thus the AC adapter, mouse, and CD slots need to be placed elsewhere (like the main compartment).
• Laptop slot in the main compartment is poorly placed, making it difficult to remove a sleeve covered notebook.