Good way to secure your laptop physically?

[MDesigner]

I have one of those metal cables with the T-lock that inserts into the side of the laptop and twists to lock into it, but I don't know if I trust those. It seems like it might be easy for someone to just bend the hell out of it and break the part of the laptop where the lock fits into. Any suggestions on alternatives? Obviously the answer is to never leave the laptop alone, but let's say I'm at the library and wanna get up to grab a book real quick.. I would like to leave my laptop where it is for just a few minutes.

I was considering one of those motion alarms where if the laptop is moved or disturbed, a high pitched alarm goes off..but it would have to have no false alarms..especially in a library, that would suck.

Any ideas?

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Those cables have a very high tensile strength, I'd be quite impessed if someone managed to twist mine off.

I generally only leave my laptop unattended in school study areas, and only for a minute or two while I'm taking a leak, so I highly doubt someone could sit there and play with it for long before someone got suspicious or I came back. The best security system is simply keeping your laptop nearby and a little common sense.

I can't imagine what good an alarm would do... you'd either accidentally set it off yourself and annoy a whole bunch of people, or the thief would set it off and run away, and no one would try to stop him (think car alarms... who even bothers listening to those anymore?).

There are a number of programs out there that automatically send out messages to the distributing software company after booting up. Thus, if the laptop was ever stolen, you could contact the company to find out where it was (by IP address, usually) the first time it connected back to the internet (assuming it was untampered with). Then, law enforcement could step in and recover it for you. I don't know much about the logistics of how this is supposed to work or how effective its been for others, but you can research the option further if you like.

 

[MDesigner]

Thanks for the response!

I'm sure the cables are strong, but you know the part where that T-lock connects to the laptop? That part, at least with my laptop & cable, seems to wiggle just a bit. I think maybe if someone bent that hard enough, it would break the security port on the laptop and they could just walk off with the laptop. What do you think? Or are the laptop security ports reinforced with metal?

 

[w0ss]

odd I just thought the same thing last night lol. I have one of those locks as well but the part of the laptop it hooks upto seems like plastic and as mdesigner said it feels loose.

 

[MDesigner]

I did some research on various products. It seems that the cable locks with the keys can be easily picked by a Bic pen. Besides, that simple circular shape seems too simple anyway. Go for the cable locks that have the 4-digit combination lock on it (like the Targus Defcon CL).

The audible alarms do seem a bit pointless.. a thief can still pick up your laptop and run away with it. I think maybe a combination of a cable lock plus a motion sensor audible alarm might be good. This device is really slick, but a bit pricey.