Ordered as Christmas gift. My 11yo son is in love with it, got tons of compliments. He uses it as a book bag, or backpack to take to sleep overs or trips. It's spacey and has extra pockets on the sides. There is a pocket for the laptop but he doesn't use it so there is enough room for books and notebooks. Not sure if it'd be the case if he carried a laptop. If your hope is to fit a bulky zip binder into that, don't waste your breath, it won't fit. However, the backpack was for my son for many different uses as he is a die hard Mario fan and it reminds him of king koopa. It started as a misc backpack for his electronics, gadgets and toys for trips and sleep overs and transitioned into a book bag as well. Highly recommend it. It is a bot pricy but as a gift it wasn't so bad and it is good quality and very durable.I will note that spikes get bent and squashed at times especially if backpack is half empty but that was somewhat expected as it is made of the same material as backpack