Speck Ruck Backpack Review

The Speck Ruck backpack is a great backpack for high school or college students who need to haul a computer, tablet and other items around campus or to and from school. At $49.99 it’s also a great choice for hauling your gear to and from work, but it’s not our top pick for frequent travelers.

We like that the Speck Ruck backpack is relatively small, so you don’t need to deal with a lot of bulk. The Ruck backpack is available in blue and kahki, and includes red or blue accents as well as black or blue straps and buckles. It’s a stylish backpack and it’s comfortable to carry around.

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There are two main compartments to carry your stuff. The one closest to your back is where your laptop goes, and there is also room here for books or some other item. We’d love to see a tablet slot in this section, but you can use an opening in the front compartment for that as long . as you don’t have a ton of random items tossed back. The laptop area easily fits a 15-inch MacBook Pro, and there is plenty of room to spare so you can fit almost any laptop back here.

The laptop area is raised off the bottom of the bag, and padded lightly. This design, along with the backpacks bottom padding help protect it when you or your kid decides to set it down hard on the floor. There is a velcro latch to keep the laptop in place.

The front section offers way more organization with two bigger pockets, a zipper pocket, a place for pens and pencils as well as a lot of room to stash books or a change of clothes. There is also a small key clip in this section to keep your keys from becoming lost in whatever else you are carrying. The biggest pocket in this section has a soft liner and a little padding to keep a tablet safe. The other pockets are handy for headphones, charging cables and other important items. The zipper area is a nice place to stash a few dollars or to throw your Bluetooth headphones.

A small pocket on the front flap can hold sunglasses or other small items. Two buckles unsnap to offer access to the front pocket which we use to hold our Laptop charger, but could just as easily hold other small items or a Kindle.  Small pouches on both sides allow you to carry water or an umbrella with easy access.

The bag is comfortable to wear for long periods thanks to well padded shoulder straps and a small mesh pad towards the bottom of the back. The materials feel very nice and stood up to several trips and daily use over the last month. We expect that they will wear as nicely as the Speck MightyPack that looks like new after two years. The Speck Ruck comes with a three year warranty.