I really like this backpack. It is a little big for me considering I'm short and petite (I'm female) but that's usually the case for most backpacks. Anyway, I like that it has an exit for your headphones and the padding for the laptop seems to be pretty sufficient. Sometimes I put my tablet in there and I'm comforted knowing that it's in a padded section. The only downside is that this backpack doesn't have much room for stuff because the padding takes up a lot of space. There is only one large pocket and in that pocket you must try and fit your books and laptop. Therefore, if you're not going to be carrying too many books then this is a good backpack. If you want a backpack that has more pockets and space I would go with the SOLO Sentinel (it looked ridiculously large on me, so I didn't use it for myself). Bottom line, it's a stylish backpack with enough pockets to look good and it will protect your laptop/tablet, but if you need a lot of room for books (more than 3) then you should look elsewhere.