How much stuff fits in the Osprey Meridian daypacks?

Will the Osprey Meridian’s daypack hold a large laptop, second screen, and everything for a digital nomad’s portable office?

One of our readers recently purchased the Osprey Meridian 60L based on our wheeled carry-on backpack recommendation, but she says she freaked out when she saw how … streamlined the daypack looked in real life.

So she did a trial of packing and took some pictures to share along with her thoughts.

She tested just the Meridian daypack — and this same daypack is included on both the 60L she purchased as well as the Osprey Meridian 75L models (we highly recommend the later as our favorite larger (checked-luggage) wheeled backpack).

She found that in fact she could quite comfortably pack her 15.6 in Lenovo ThinkPad e570, as well as a second portable USB-C screen, large over-ear headphones, books, and everything else she needs when heading out to a co-working space.

Here’s what she practice-packed for Brazil in the Meridian’s daypack in her test.

The closed and loaded bag; exterior water bottle pockets can also make a good spot for an umbrella

All of this quite comfortably fits in the daypack section of the Osprey Meridian 60L/22"

The Osprey Meridian 60's daypack with a laptop, second screen, headphones, and an umbrella.

The second portable USB-C monitor measures 15 x 9.25 in (38 x 23.5 cm) or 17.5 in (44.5cm) and slides in to the Meridian 60L laptop slot handily with about an 1 in (2.5 cm) to spare on the top and about an 1.5 in (4cm) on either side.

The padded laptop sleeve is a bit stretchy and thus hard to measure, so this is our best effort to do so.

We find that the Meridian 60L’s laptop sleeve should hold laptops measuring up to 13 in by 16.5 in (33 x 42 cm) and that are 1.5 in. (4 cm) thick. The sleeve does stretch a bit, but not much — it’s designed to hold your tech firmly in place after all.

Recall that laptop sizes are the diagonal measure of the screen, so for example a 15-inch laptop doesn’t actually measure 15 inches on any particular side, that’s just the screen measured from corner to kitty-corner.

A perusal of specs for top gaming laptops shows that those with 15.6″ screens will fit in the Meridian daypack with no problem, and even the 17-inch laptops we checked like this beast from Dell will fit fine.

Our tester/reader is a translator, and reports that once she realized everything fits in such a convenient bag, she got very excited about traveling the world lighter from here on out with only the Osprey Meridian 60L, which in all but the most strict planes she can check as a carry-on.

We hope this info helps anyone considering doing likewise.

What Fits in the Osprey Meridian Daypacks — Spec Summary

The daypacks for the Osprey Meridian 60L and Osprey Meridian 75L are the same daypack — their size difference is rather in the main pack. The volumes in their titles refer to the total combined volumes (daypacks plus main packs).

Here are the measurements for the individual pieces:

The Osprey Meridian daypack holds 976 cubic in (16L), weighs 1.9 lbs (.82 kg) and measures 19 x 13 x 8 in (48 x 32 x 21 cm).
The main pack of the Osprey Meridian 60L holds 2685 cubic in (44L), weighs 6.47 lbs (2.98 kg) and measures 22 x 14 x 9 in (56 x 36 x 22 cm).
The main pack of the Osprey Meridian 75L holds 3600 cubic in (59L), weighs 7.36 lbs (3.38 kg) and measures 28 x 14 x 13 in (71 x 36 x 32 cm).

The above measurements are from Osprey but we double-checked them on a 60L model and found them to be accurate with no surprises.