get a briefcase or backpack designed to carry a laptop, they have a padded inner sleeve designed to cushion the laptop. there are also soft padded sleeves sold in big box stores designed for various sizes of laptops and gaming devices that you could put on for additional padding/safety. a couple of years ago I traveled every week for work and had these on my laptop and portable DVD player. they survived wonderfully as opposed to an unprotected Zune that was in an outside pocket of a carry on that an overzealous flight attendant crammed into an overhead
