The days of boring laptop bags are long gone; lots of manufacturers in the past few years have picked up on the desire for more stylish choices. I was particularly taken with some of the bags on view at Abbi New York's Web site. The leather bags look really nice, but I'd never seen anything quite like the two silk-brocade-covered Darci Collection bags, at $89.95 each. (At right is the Jade bag; the other is called Alyssa, blue silk with a dragonflies pattern.) Really different and attractive.

The bags will fit a laptop with up to a 15.4-inch screen. They're very light and slim. Though the company states that they're well padded, I think I'd use a sleeve with them; the padding feels thin to me.

The interior lining of the Jade bag is a startling but lovely pink, and it has are lots of handy compartments for other gadgets, papers, pens, etc., as well as a magazine-size compartment on the back of the bag. The adjustable strap is comfortably padding at its center.