Gosh, the Saben and the Briarwood $599 each! I refuse to give so much money to bag makers. If you are considering those though check out Yu Mei as well- Jessie Wong is the maker of these, a young Kiwi woman possibly from Dunedin. I believe she uses amazing leathers from NZ Light Leathers in the South Island which are also used by Coach and Louis Vuitton. I read about her a few years ago in Fashion Quarterly.
I love the look of the Oroton ones. Secret Oroton fan since the 80s- just outed myself.
Or walk into any Strandbags and check the sales?!

Great options. Consider auditioning bags in person in case its weight when filled is a dealbreaker

Lisa - I'm glad to hear someone articulating my fear of the Le Plaige bags: too flimsy and disorganized. I appreciate the light weight and easy-care facets of them, but they seem too much like shopping bags to me. I love the MZ Wallace bags - they are super $$ in Cdn though.

Sally - I ended up buying a Kate Spade tote in light blue the other day, and am going to try that for this summer's work travel.

Lisa reminds me that I got my DD this Kate Spade laptop bag for her graduation present:

https://www.katespade.com/prod.....96314.html