Why no Kensington locks on new Macbook Pros?

[nile06]

Hi all,

We are trying to have our (big) company buy macs for developers so they can choose between pcs and macs but one problem is the lack of kensington locks on the macbook pros...

We have seen some ports back on the macbook pros recently (hdmi, mag safe...), so why not a little hole for a kensington lock?

Are we the only one struggling with after market add ons?

These machines are pricey so we need a standard way to protect them from theft in big office spaces, please

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Why? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who can say. Maybe too thin, maybe interior space, maybe the opening offended Jony Ive. There are locking solutions out there, you’ll just need to pick one.

 

[chrono1081]

They haven't been in Macs for a long time, they're not super effective deterrents. It's better to have a locking cabinet at the persons cubicle (that's what we did at one of my old jobs).

 

[nile06]

Why? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who can say. Maybe too thin, maybe interior space, maybe the opening offended Jony Ive. There are locking solutions out there, you’ll just need to pick one.

Yes I also believe it did not fit Ive's vision of the notebook but the recent macbook pros are going back on his vision so it should be possible.

Aftermarket solutions are complicating the distribution and maintenance of tens of macs not to mention the additional cost on top of non cheap machines...

 

[chabig]

If you can't trust your developers with possession of the machines, how can you trust their code?

 

[Slartibart]

Hi all,

We are trying to have our (big) company buy macs for developers so they can choose between pcs and macs but one problem is the lack of kensington locks on the macbook pros...

We have seen some ports back on the macbook pros recently (hdmi, mag safe...), so why not a little hole for a kensington lock?

Are we the only one struggling with after market add ons?

These machines are pricey so we need a standard way to protect them from theft in big office spaces, please

well … maybe because of this? 😎

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Yes I also believe it did not fit Ive's vision of the notebook but the recent macbook pros are going back on his vision so it should be possible.

Aftermarket solutions are complicating the distribution and maintenance of tens of macs not to mention the additional cost on top of non cheap machines...

I mean.... if you just want to have a discussion of why Kensington isn't supported, okay I guess. If you're looking for a solution, you're gonna have to pick one. I like @chrono1081's solution of a locking cabinet. I had to deal with Kensington locks at an event a few months ago and it was a royal PITA.

 

[posguy99]

These machines are pricey so we need a standard way to protect them from theft in big office spaces, please

Kensington locks are security theater. They don't protect from anything other than grab-and-run, if they even do that.

 

[chrono1081]

If you can't trust your developers with possession of the machines, how can you trust their code?

This is a big one. At work we're each responsible for our machines. That being said at my old job I get it because the offices were accessible by anyone (which is stupid for IT offices) but at my current place, before we were work from home our offices were behind a security door and there were cameras so anyone who stole something would be caught.

 

[headlessmike]

Kensington locks are security theater. They don't protect from anything other than grab-and-run, if they even do that.

I’ve had coworkers lose laptops secured with Kensington locks after stepping out of the office for less than 30 seconds. All they do is give a false sense of protection.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Kensington locks are security theater. They don't protect from anything other than grab-and-run, if they even do that.

If I was Apple, I'd realize <0.0001% of people need/would use this type of security mechanism. And when someone did use it, and the MacBook still got stolen, it would be all over the press about how Apple sucks and everyone screaming class action like babies and calling for Tim Cook's head and...

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[zorinlynx]

One good yank on modern computers and those come out. They don't even do all that much damage when they do. They're practically useless.

The original design called for a steel plate secured to the inside of the chassis, but there's just no spare room for that in modern laptop designs. So they could either put a lock slot in that'll only be strong enough for a moderate yank, giving a false sense of security, or just put none at all. So between two crappy options, Apple chose the one that resulted in one less opening in the case and lower manufacturing costs.

I don't really fault them.

 

[nile06]

well … maybe because of this? 😎

Ouch, ok I can see why it is useless, thanks all for your inputs, we'll keep them in the locking cabinets that we have

 

[maflynn]

Ouch, ok I can see why it is useless

I disagree, even the strongest locks won't stop a dedicated thief. What these solutions offer is protection against the casual thief. Its like the old saying locks are for honest people.