I have an iBook G4. I would like to get a cable lock for it. I will need the lock in two situations:
In a motel room while I go out to supper.
In my pickup (98 Dodge Ram) while I’m gone for 1-2 hours fishing or hiking.
I’m leaning towards a 4 foot cable but am curious to hear any suggestions.
thanks,
whistlepit
I am not sure I’d trust a cable lock in either of those situations. I have my home laptop locked to this Kryptonite cable lock and I am pretty sure a bolt cutter or hacksaw would go through it in short order.
Cable locks just keep honest people honest.
I actually bought this Kryptonite laptop cage but my Dell is a widescreen and just a few mm too wide for it, so I had to send it back. If you opt for that, I’d use a heavy chain (like this) or a U-lock instead of a cable lock to secure it.
Use the hotel room safe. As for the truck, I’m not sure. If it was me and I was going to be making frequent trips to the fishing hole, I’d probably look for some sort of lock box that I could bolt to the floor of the passenger side or back seat.
This looks pretty secure but you’re still faced with the challenge of mounting it to the truck somehow.
Or get one of those tool boxes that contractors keep their stuff in.
I use a standard cable lock all the time. It won’t stop someone determined to get your laptop, but it will stop any crimes of opportunity. Make sure it is looped around something that can’t be lifted / moved. The leg of a desk is useless. The bedframe (usually decent gauge metal and very large) isn’t going anywhere without great effort.
Cable locks and such are only going to be useful for opportunistic thieves who are also smart enough to know that snapping off the cable will destroy (supposedly) the motherboard.. Also the cable lock generally uses a glued anchor hasp to work. Without the hasp you’re going to have to wind the not terribly long cable around some secure fixed object which may or may not be practical.
Getting a padded hardcase notebook bag and hiding it in the car trunk might be best. Beyond that the most practical option is often smiply to disguise it under dirty laundry or a coat.
The best bet is just to keep the computer out of plain sight. Put it in a drawer of your hotel room, or under the seat of your truck.
Hopefully, I can try and dispel a couple of myths…
Forced removal of cable locks will not destroy the motherboard. The “business end” of a standard cable lock (also widely known as a Kensington lock or Kensington slot) des not engage very deeply into the laptop. It’s a T-shaped bit that goes into the case about 1/16" and rotates 90 degrees. Just looking at one should make it plain that it’s not a terribly strong connection, and they’re just not long enough to engage any part of the motherboard.
And yes, these things are easily defeated - whether it’s with bolt cutters or certain common objects (I won’t say anything further on this). They’re definitely nothing more than stopping crimes of opportunuity.
You may be correct, it’s be awhile since I fiddled with locking systems, but I’m pretty sure that some notebooks were designed with the security clip directly attached to the MB so that yanking the notebook off the cable or lock hasp would destroy the MB thereby rendering the notebook useless, and that this was mentioned as an anti-theft “feature”.
OK, FOCUS PEOPLE. PLEASE READ THE OP CAREFULLY!
“Use the hotel room safe.”
There is no hotel room safe. Ever. The Warbonnet Inn is the ONLY hotel in Montana that has in-room safes. And they are too small for a laptop.
“If it was me and I was going to be making frequent trips to the fishing hole, I’d probably look for some sort of lock box that I could bolt to the floor of the passenger side or back seat.”
Have you ever been in a pickup? There is no room in either of the areas you describe.
“Getting a padded hardcase notebook bag and hiding it in the car trunk might be best.”
I’d apologize for being a dick with my above replies, but you missed my very specific question. If you can reccomend a CABLE LOCK, I would love to hear it.
whistlepig
Sorry for not responding to your OP as carefully and precisely as we could have, but the upshot is that any notebook cable lock system is quite easily defeated by a pair of bolt cutters (or even metal snips in some cases). Cable lock systems are for preventing quick opportunistic thefts only. The relatively thin cable involved makes virtually all of them trivial to defeat if a thief has time, and none have any kind of real hard core security. As cabling systems go try to avoid the combination style systems as they are somewhat less mechanically reliable than the lock and key types. In your case getting the longest cable possible might be a good idea.
Google Kensington Targus Fellowes & Belkin + “notebook cable lock” for a review of the systems available. I’ve used both Kensington and Targus locks with no problems.
Actually, it’s much easier than even that. On some locks you really only need two very, very common items and a little bit of coordination. It doesn’t damage the lock or notebook so any lock manufacter is not going to honor claims on the theft insurance. I wouldn’t trust any laptop lock to a non-supervised car situation.
Laptop cable lock, give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.
I have to agree with theLaughingMan the cable lock is not the way to go with your pickup truck. Sorry I don’t have any other suggestions.
