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BIFL Back to School Megathread
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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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I’ve heard good things about Fjallraven bags, but not sure about the school applicability.
Scissors, I’m a fan of the Fiskars kids scissors. Small and still pretty good performance.
Avoid the laptop; they’re just no good for learning. But if it’s absolutely required the MacBook Neo has performance for most student applications. No computer is BIFL.
Indeed, laptops and even more so power banks, strike me as some of the least BIFL products in existence. Only Smartphones and wireless a earbuds might be worse.
If the child is amenable, a used thinkpad with Linux will keep running smoothly basically forever, take a beating, and be serviceable.
And get them in all kind of arguments over office formats.
Not happy about the Neo going up $100. $700 is a lot to spend on a young kid's school laptop.
Yes. Stuff is too expensive everywhere! Far too much for what amounts to a basic productivity laptop.
I’ve got a smaller Fjallraven backpack. It’s very well made but I find the straps uncomfortable if it’s pretty well packed. If OP is just carrying around a laptop and a couple small things, it’s a great bag, but if they’re bringing all their books and a large water bottle and all that, I think their shoulders will get tired quickly.
That’s what I’ve thought is the case based on my online shopping.
They should sell strap pads if they don’t already. I think that would be a good idea and I’d buy a pack for my bag. I’d love to be able to use mine more, but the thin straps with zero padding really isn’t the most comfortable design.
They do sell strap pads now! I have a 17" for travel and a 15" that did duty as a diaper bag/daypack. Got pads for both and it's been such an improvement. They used to be uncomfortable to wear for long stretches, but now I can wear them much more comfortable on long travel days/hikes. They are well made, I expect them to last a long time and be patchable. My kiddo is starting kindergarten in a couple months and we'll start with the mini pack that's been the daycare/preschool bag - though last I checked the one-size strap pads that were available didn't fit that size bag.
Great news! I’ll have to pick one up sometime soon then. Thanks for the info!