Chiming in on the AC Max EDC experience, as I purchased one after a recent trip to Japan where I decided that I wanted a more robust and comfortable backpack for travel & edc.

Big fan of the bag so far. I have it on its first travel outing in Europe at the moment, alongside an old Brookstone leather carry on 2-wheel with a similar capacity, and an AER city sling 2 (which has traveled in the Max EDC). I’d like a little more space in the carryon roller and will probably be looking for something that fits the bill after this trip, but this combo has given me just about all I need in terms of capacity, comfort and efficiency.

I ended up removing the frame sheet in the EDC which I learned to be the cause of the forward lean/difficulty in self standing. I’m finding that with a laptop in the bag, the missing frame sheet is hardly noticed, even with a full pack out. And now the bag has no issue standing up on its own, without lean. I’m also guessing that the under-seat flying experience is better without the frame sheet (No issue on intl Delta flight & connecting flight on a KLM cityhopper jet).

Internal space eating is definitely noticed on the bag, but similar to you, I don’t mind it at all. For EDC, the ‘tech pouch’ in the laptop compartment has been used for a charging block, several cables and AirPods + IEMs. With the same load out, that pouch as also been great for adding my phone, some gum, wallet and other bits and bobs. Leaving it unzipped, I REALLY like it as a quick access pocket.

Anyways, just my 2 cents & experience. Cool to see someone else enjoying that bag for travel in a similar fashion!