The Madison Tote is beautifully styled and well constructed. I was especially impressed by the egg-crate padded laptop compartment. However, this bag is FREAKISHLY large. It's about twice the size of a normal tote...the effect is akin to those oversized joke sunglasses you see people wearing at football games. I had bruises on my shoulder after carrying it for just one day! At that point I sent it back. I then went to Target and bought a Michael Graves laptop tote for $29.99 that isn't as fancy, but is much more proportionate, is nice enough for work, and adequately protects my tablet PC.

I don't agree that this bag is way too big, because it's made to be a laptop bag and not a handbag so it should be bigger. I think this bag is beautiful. However, it is NOT 18" wide at the top, and to fit a large laptop that's kind of important. It is 18 inches at the bottom so technically the description is accurate. But the bag has a slight A-line to it that isn't easy to spot in the pictures here.
If you have a laptop that's smaller than 17 inches, this will work, otherwise save your time and money.

I bought a different Mobile Edge bag (faux croc)and returned it, very disappointed, because it was very cheap quality. I searched high and low on the internet for an alternative bag--purposely avoiding Mobile Edge--but found scant little out there that would accommodate a laptop bigger than 15.4" and protect it well. Mobile Edge seemed to have one of the larger selections of bags for larger laptops, and so I landed on this bag as replacement for the awful Mobile Edge bag I returned. I'm glad I gave them a second chance.

This bag is much more nicely made. The leather trim and microfiber are attractive, and the bag is functional and quite sturdy. The laptop compartment has much better padding than most pc bags I've seen--I think my laptop is well-protected in this bag. And the other compartment is very spacious and well-designed. The padlock that's on the front appears to be for cosmetic purposes, but it DOES actually lock, and comes with two keys.

A couple... Read more