1.it is easy to carry around campus as it is not very heavy..just 3.8kg
2.a backpack will be better, im using a camel active 18 inch laptop backpack for my g55. normal 17 inch backpack cant fit the g55, wait until you get your g55, then go to the backpack shop with your g55 and test the bags
3.a normal 18inch backpack or other 17 inch backpack like EVERKI etc etc should be fine