Meet the laptop backpack that thinks it's an AirTag

Targus's new laptop bag is eco-friendly and thief-hostile

Targus Cypress Hero backpack
(Image credit: Targus)

As much as I love my Apple AirTags, they have one fatal flaw: if a thief finds them in my bag, they can simply throw them away. Targus has clearly been thinking about that, and the new Cypress Hero backpack is the result. It's a 15.6-inch laptop bag that thinks it's an AirTag.

The $149 / £149 Cypress Hero has a built-in location module in a water-resistant section that doesn't immediately scream "electronic location tag!" or offer easy removal. The tag works with Apple's Find My network, just like AirTags do, and the battery will last for roughly a year before it needs replaced. 

Targus Hero backpack: is it worth buying?

It's definitely at the more expensive end of the market; many of our best backpacks cost less, although I think this is probably more like some of the best travel backpacks, some of which cost a lot more.

It's a good option for environmentally conscious laptop luggers: the pack is made from certified recycled materials including 26 plastic bottles. Instead of ending up in landfill or upsetting marine life they've been shredded, re-polymerised into plastic chips and then spun into yarn.

Specs-wise you're looking at a respectable 22L capacity with a breathable back panel, adjustable shoulder straps and a luggage pass-through trolley strap that'll prove handy in train stations and airports.

The Cypress Hero backpack is available now from Targus and the usual retailers.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).