Your laptop sleeve should be a case, not a fabric pocket.

Most 15-inch laptop sleeves are just lined envelopes — they’ll keep scratches off but won’t do a thing when you drop your backpack down a stairwell. You want one with real foam, at least 8–10mm of it, ideally EVA or dense closed-cell foam.

The fit matters just as much as the padding. A 15-inch sleeve is a vague size, and if your laptop rattles around inside, the impact goes straight to the corners. Look for a sleeve made for the exact model, or at least one with a snug interior and strong corner protection. Zippers also scratch — get one where the zipper doesn’t run along the top edge where the screen is.

Don’t bother with neoprene sleeves. They’re stretchy, thin, and might as well be a sock. For college, you’re shoving this in a backpack, dropping it on concrete, sliding it under a desk. Pay the extra $20 for something from Thule, Herschel’s rigid outer line, or a generic one that explicitly lists its foam thickness. If you see specs like “3mm padding,” keep