I had the small ICON you have first pictured there and its way to small to fit any books but it works well for carrying small loads. I myself got an Oakley 3.0 backpack and it works great for riding.

 

Not sure if you have a metal tank or not, but most tank bags have magnetic flaps and pop on and off in a second.

Axio also makes a pretty sweet hard back pack. has a good amount of room and also has the waist strap so it doesnt slide to your side on turns

 

what about a big tail bag?

 

hey, I'm in the exact same boat as you. I'm in graduate school and I have about 45 min commute as well, and i bring my laptop, lunch, and some books with me to school on my bike (summer months! it was -15 F this morning!!!!). I would definitely go with a regular waterproof backpack. look for one with nice wide shoulder straps and with a chest and waist buckle. That will spread the weight around and keep it nice and secure without the bag sliding all over the place, you wont even notice you have it on. Tank bags get annoying IMO, bulky, kinda ugly (some are nice but expensive). Plus its nice just popping off and on the bike to and from class with out dealing with putting on or taking off a tank bag. but like someone said earlier, definitely check the fit of the back pack with your riding coat on! it sucks spending alot of $$ on something that doesn't even fit right! goodluck!!!

 

If you're going to store all of that (esp. the laptops) while riding, then I'd suggest a hardpack like those Axio ones.

 

I have the 2nd icon tank bag you posted. It's magnetic, so there's no straps or junk to worry about other then the ones for your shoulders. When I ride to school, I use a Dakine backpack. It's completely waterproof (its a surfing backpack), I can fit my 19" laptop in it, as well as my books.

I've never used the icon, but when I bought my bike, I think the dude talked more about how cool the bag was then the CBR[8D]

 

Ive never had or used a tank bag but I find a nice bookbag with a center strap like a few people mentioned works just fine... Hell half the time I am late to class so I cant spend ten mins trying to get all my sit out of a tank bag

 

I think that a tank bag with a laptop would be a bad idea, the magnets could mess with the hard drive and other components so I wouldn't want to put anything electronic in there.