I had an iMac stolen twice (the same iMac; the first time I got it back a few months later than when the man who bought the stolen computer sold it back to me...long story). The first time, I did not have a lock on it. The second time, I did, but it clearly didn't deter the thief. The lock was still there, and it hadn't been cut nor did it show any signs of being forced off. The iMac was gone, of course, so I can't speak to its state. But perhaps it is fine, and the thief was away of this trick.

There was a video making the rounds a few years back demonstrating how to crack a Kensington laptop lock with the plastic barrel of a cheap BIC pen. I've actually used the technique at work to help out an employee who last their key. The Kensington keyed laptop locks are crap. Can't vouch for the combination locks.

Mine, for the record, was a combo lock.

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Guest wrote:
There was a video making the rounds a few years back demonstrating how to crack a Kensington laptop lock with the plastic barrel of a cheap BIC pen. I've actually used the technique at work to help out an employee who last their key. The Kensington keyed laptop locks are crap. Can't vouch for the combination locks.

A typical combo lock with 3-4 rings can be figured out brute force in about an hour, so you certainly don't want to use one of those where someone has access to it for very long.

Kensington style locks have so little material to attach to that they can be broken out of the laptop/monitor/etc with minimal damage to the device. If the thief is looking for information they'll care nothing about the case. Even with a little damage a laptop would still work as a laptop, an iMac or monitor would be fine.

These locks only deter the casual thief or in a sea of laptops where there's another unsecured laptop the answer is to move along to the next one.

I was mounting me LCD TV on the wall this weekend and just about died laughing looking at a Kensington lock hole. What good would 1/8" of metal into plastic do when you're holding 50 lbs of TV?

Finally a major news distributor has posted about how Kensington locks being secure is a myth. This is something I have been railing about since I first came into contact with a school who put in their prospectus that all students must own a notebook computer, a few other things and right at the bottom... a Kensington lock.

In my experience all these notebook locks are made more or less equal, and each share one common value: the only people they stop are the owners.

There are many issues with these locks. Like bicycle locks they are often mis-used and simply wrapped around a chair or table. Since they need to be so small and mobile they are often cheap and simple to cut off. Those that aren't are usually fairly simple to unlock without a key as demonstrated by the slew of online videos demonstrating the removal of such locks with household items.

Worse still are how these locks impede the owners. They are relatively expensive, not at all user friendly and if you want to remove them having lost the key or combination it's often difficult, if not impossible to do without purchasing tools or damaging the notebook in some way. I tried many of the techniques I found online for a client in such a situation to no avail, and had to resort to purchasing a lock picking kit to do so. Even dis-assembling a notebook will not help in such a situation.

In all they are not, in my opinion, a good idea unless you are in specific situations. For example, if you share a dorm room at college and want to secure your computer (iMacs, all Apple notebooks and even many printers now have such security ports) to something truly stable such as a solid radiator or column. For use in libraries, caf?s and so on however they are near useless and I recommend strapping the machine to yourself instead. Of course I don't mean literally, but keeping it within reach or in it's bag at all times are generally far more secure methods of protecting your notebook.

There's an alternative to securing a laptop, and it's also a cheaper one. Check it out on Appletell: http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/lockdown-anti-theft-system-for-mac/