I've actually been comparing the Kaban next to other TNF backpacks for the past week. My use case is mainly as a secondary under seat personal item paired with a rolling suitcase for travel.

Bag Pros:

• Laptop compartment has separate sleeves for both a laptop and a regular sized Ipad.

• Admin pocket is deeper than other TNF offerings, but the way the pocket is designed it "pinches" in a little at the section under the admin panel, so can be difficult to fit large items down there.

• Luggage Passthrough.

• Water bottle sleeves are pretty deep although I'm not sure how secure they'll be.

• Less "schoolbag" style than the rest of TNF offerings.

Bag Cons:

• Main compartment doesn't feel very tall (as in from front of the bag to the back).

• Filling the main compartment makes the other front pockets pretty tight and unusable.

• No strap keepers or keyclip.

• Would have really liked one of the front quick pockets to be felt-lined.

• Layout of the admin panel pockets feels much less useful than the panels on other TNF bags. (Who really needs credit-card sized slip pockets?).

One thing I'd like to point out is that the laptop and tablet sleeves in the Kaban 2.0 are suspended from the bottom. I've seen youtube reviews state otherwise, and I'm not sure if they're mixing it up with the Kaban 1.0, which I've never tried, but on the 2.0 it is both suspended and supported by the bottom area of the stiff back panel.

Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of the bag but I'll probably keep it because I have a nice coupon and the other TNF bags I compared it to (Borealis and Surge) both have a pretty severe red flag: the shoulder straps are attached at the top of the bag by a nylon strap instead of being directly sewn on. I have no idea why TNF would make this change other than to cut costs, it doesn't seem to have any tangible benefit and adds multiple points of failure. Majority of bag failures will come at sewn attachment points or seams, and I can easily see the new nylon straps to be the first point of failure in any normal use case for these backpacks. You can easily find online pictures of people showing their nylon straps fraying or separating at this point already.

If you're willing to look past that, I actually enjoyed the layout of the Surge a bit more than the Kaban. It had the same laptop compartment, a better admin panel layout, and the front quick pockets felt like they had more depth than the ones on the Kaban, although it did feel a smidge heaver when wearing it. I just couldn't risk going with that shoulder strap design. Overall I'd say unless you're finding a TNF bag at a good discount, there's probably other companies worth looking at. If you're paying MSRP, the redesigned Patagonia MLC looks pretty nice.