Just bought an Osprey Flapjack this week (https://www.amazon.com/Osprey-Mens-FlapJack-Backpack-Black/d...) and I'm very impressed. It's pretty compact, holds a laptop and a few notebooks very snugly, but still has various pockets for pens, chargers, wallet, phone, sunglasses and other small stuff.
As a Mainer I have been using LL Bean bags of various types all my life, and have several which are great, but they tend to be roomy "bookbags" and it made me nervous that my laptop and things were flopping back and forth in that big space. I'll still use the LL Bean bags for hiking, the gym, and so on.