For all its talk of wireless this and that, tech gear is still a bunch of lumpy chargers and snakes of different cables, plus at least one adapter, and, for the road warrior, a mouse and portable power bank.
All the gear, if loose and unorganized, will work itself to the bottom of a bag—or worse be forgotten and left at home as you head out to the office or on holiday.
What you need is a dedicated bag to keep all this tech gear organized in one tidy, portable package.
Tech kit organizer bags promise to keep all your gear together and easy to reach. They come in all shapes and sizes, and we’ve gathered and tested the best tech organizer bags to help you choose the one that’s best for you.
I often travel for work and have built myself an organized tech travel bag with a spare set of everything I needed, so that when packing I could just pick it up, sling it in a backpack and be packed with the reassurance that I have with me everything required for trouble-free tech travel.
Some tech cases have sections for dozens of cables, pockets for chargers and compartments for earbuds, mice and batteries. Others are simpler affairs with one or two compartments to carry your tech kit.
First, consider the essential tech gear that you need.
Tech to take on your travels
Here’s some of the things you’ll want to keep organized and maybe travel with you, plus our recommendations in each category:
• Phone charger: at least a 20W USB-C charger, preferably GaN for the smallest models. Read our roundup of the best phone chargers, and best iPhone chargers.
• Phone charging cable: Lightning for iPhone, USB-C for the rest. You may want to take more than one if travelling as a group, as everyone wants to charge at the same time! We have tested the best Lightning cable and USB-C cables for you, too.
• Laptop charger: this will likely have come with your laptop but you can buy smaller, more powerful chargers, and of course we have tested the best laptop chargers and best MacBook chargers so you travel only with the best.
• Power bank: essential for long haul or even a busy day out, a power bank can recharge your fading phone’s battery to get your through to when you’re next at a power socket. Yes, we’ve tested the best power banks and best MagSafe power banks for users if the iPhone 13/13/14.
• Mouse: laptop trackpads are fine for some people but most of us are happier with a proper mouse to use while scrolling, clicking and selecting. Best mouse and best mouse for Mac.
• USB adapter: it’s likely your laptop doesn’t have enough ports for everything you want to connect, even if you’re using a wireless keyboard and mouse. A USB hub connects to your laptop with a single cable and can add extra USB-A and USB-C ports, plus Ethernet for wired Internet access, card readers for portable storage, and display ports such as HDMI so that you can connect your laptop to an external monitor (or two) or even a hotel TV for on-vacation streaming. See best USB-C hubs and best USB-C hubs for Mac.
• Hard drive: portable hard drives and SSDs come in pretty small formats these days, and come in handy for backups and keeping your most valuable but large-size files with you at all time. Check out the best SSD drives and Best SSD for Mac.
• Memory cards: much smaller than hard drives, SD and MicroSD cards are inexpensive ways to add large capacity storage to your laptop—512GB for as little as $50—in a tiny package. First used for super-lightweight camera storage, these cards are like a tiny hard drive you can fit in your wallet, but we recommend you store them in your tech case. See best Micro SD card.
• Memory sticks: cheap USB flash drives come in incredibly useful on your travels and are the perfect backup in your tech bag.
Here are the best tech cases and bags we have tested for organizing your cables, chargers and other gear.
