Kensington Microsaver Security Cable Lock

Author's product rating:   

Reliability	Good
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Quality	Good
Durability	Good
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Increase in laptop security
Disadvantages:	Not the ultimate solution, but that cant be helped .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

INTRODUCTION
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What this nice bit of kit does, in a nutshell, is to act as a secure tether from your laptop to a stationary bit of furniture, for example, a radiator, or desk post. Thus reducing the ease at which the laptop could be “re-located” when you don’t want it to be!

MUST READ – To even think about getting this product you must have the correct docking slot for this attachment to fix into, otherwise it’s just a waste of money as you can’t attach it to your laptop. The good thing is that this “docking slot” (its a little flattened oval shape on the side / back of the laptop with a small unlocked padlock above it. The laptop manual should tell you where, and if you have one.) is pretty much a standard on most laptops now. Also if you don’t have a slot, you can get conversion kits from Kensington themselves, but I am not particularly sure as to how this works.

COST
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Originally they retail around the £30 mark, however check eBay, as I managed to get a brand new, 100% authentic ( I know this as I have successfully registered mine on their home web page, just in case you loose both keys … more on this later … ) for £11, so at a fraction of the normal cost.

Considering the normal cost, I would probably have still looked into purchasing one, just for more peace of mind as my laptop, although now less mobile, was in use when I was at college and needing it for coursework. Although now it plays an important role in reducing any potential theft from my University halls when I accidentally leave my room open.

WHAT IT DOES DO
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Reduces the chances of opportunist thieves simply picking it up and walking away with it when your back is turned or when you aren’t there for a small amount of time (but to be honest, just don’t leave it alone in the first place!!!)

WHAT IT DOESN’T DO
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This goes without saying, and I hope that I have been careful in NOT giving the image that this will stop even the most determined thief. It won’t. The port that the lock attaches to isn’t indestructible by any means, and if you wrenched hard enough you could probably remove the lock end in the laptop. However if they did manage to get it out, it would probably cause considerable damage to the laptop chassis anyhow, reducing its usage and value.

USABILITY
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Having had this lock for about a year, I can safely say that it really hasn’t been tested in the old “please don’t nick my lovely expensive laptop” however since I have had the lock, I think that my laptop has been attached to some sturdy object for the vast majority of that time, especially at work, where risk of theft was higher. Currently my laptop is tethered to my radiator  so it won’t hopefully be going anywhere soon.
The cable its self, is made of a titanium based chord with a tough durable plastic protection. You could probably get through it with some bolt/heavy duty wire cutters, but that mean you have to have them on you in the first place to take the laptop.

The chord which is a mix of steel composite and Kevlar measure in at 6ft, (3 meters) which is ample enough for most people; I certainly have had no problem with that length. It works with the lock end being looped around the object you are chaining it to, and going through a loop on the end of the chord. (See pictures)

The lock end is pretty hefty and heavy duty, which adds to the image as well as safety. It works by inserting what looks like a very small (worryingly small I think...) little t-bar piece of metal into the hole in the laptop. You can then lock the bolt end into the laptop with use of the unique key that is supplied. There are two keys given to you, one acting as the spare. As I was saying earlier, if you register on their home page the key numbers you have, (the numbers are located under the removable grey sheaf that is around the key) then you can gain replacements in case of loss. I haven’t had to deal with this yet as I have be fortunate enough not to loose either of them.

If you were wondering if this causes any problems with blocking ports or holes, most of the places where the locking port on the laptop is situated is out of the way of these, and the lock head is pretty small anyhow so its pretty unlikely to cause you a problem.

CONCLUSION
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For more information, here is its official site: http://www.kensington.com/html/2219.html

Over all I think that this product is a great security feature to have to your laptop, even though it won’t stop it being stolen all together as aforementioned. But, in preventing simple removing the laptop whilst no one is looking, it does this task well.

Overall a simple prevention to a common problem and well worth the money as this product is built to serve and last. (The lifetime grantee also helps the decision along I think)

I also think that they do bulk ones for networks, and businesses which come with individual keys for each lock, but also a master one which is useful.