There's nothing cooler than a designer aluminum laptop carrying case. The only problem is that when you have serious work to do, you need something bigger. Does that mean you have to go out and buy a big ugly briefcase, though? No. All you need is a large aluminum briefcase. They are as cool looking as the others, but do a whole lot more.

Before you go out and buy the biggest model available, give yourself a week or so with your current briefcase and see what's missing from it. Is your existing one bursting at the seams or do you manage to squeeze a notebook computer in there next to or on top of all your papers? If you find that everything fits, but just not well enough, then you might consider a medium sized instead of a large aluminum briefcase.