[ltp] Don't trust the kensington lock socket

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

On Fri, 08 Feb 2008, Chan-Wah Ng wrote:
> Not good! But this wasn't a failure of the lock: the lock device is
> intact, and remains in the secured position. The TP was quite clearly
> ripped away from the lock, tearing out the corner of the machine.
> 
>  The kensington socket was never meant to prevent theft ... it's job is to
> deter casual thieves, and prevent the not-so-casual ones from reselling the
> laptop (nobody would buy a 2nd-hand laptop that is clearly stolen -- with
> the lock socket broken).

Maybe, but at least my T43 has the kensington socket in the left metal
hinge, so you have to do a bit more than just break a sheet of plastic to
rip it out.  There is plastic over it, but you can clearly see the metal
sheet behind the plastic.  It is thin and you can probably bend it with any
sort of leverage, though. :(

Also, it is trivial to get a replacement cover or hinge.  Lenovo just plain
screwed up if the kensigton lock on any thinkpad is plastic-only.  It is bad
enough that the one in the T43 is much more plastic than metal, anyway.

Kensington should license this false-sense-of-security lock design only for
designs that have at least 1mm of steel in the socket, IMO.  Not that it
would make it much safer, but it would be less of a joke.

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh