No one wants to leave their laptop unattended for any length of time, whether you’re in a crowded office, a coffee shop, out at a picnic, or anywhere else where there’s the potential for someone to walk off with your laptop.
Fortunately, there is such a thing as a laptop lock, just like something you would use to lock your mountain bike to a bike rack.
Laptop locks are physical devices that ensure no one can just fold your laptop, pick it up, and walk away. But, like bike locks, are laptop locks universal and a one-size-fits-all?
Are Laptop Locks Universal?
For the most part, laptop locks are universal because the majority of them have to be designed to fit a specific port in a laptop. That port is the same across almost every laptop so laptop lock manufacturers have to make their locks for a single, universal port.
The little lock slot we’re referring to is a small, rectangular port that’s located on the side or on the back of your laptop. This is known as the Kensington Slot or the K-Slot for short. It’s named after the Kensington Computer Products Group which owns and markets the patent.
Kensington locks also come in a couple of different varieties:
- Tubular Key Types
- Regular Key Types
The locks with tubular keys are the less secure of the two and can be opened quickly and easily using everyday objects like a writing pen or business card.
The Kensington locks that require a regular key to be opened are not so easy to pick. However, it may be possible for someone to get their hands on a universal master key and if they can acquire one of those, they’ll have no trouble opening your laptop lock.
Another thing that can affect how useful Kensington locks are is the construction of your laptop. If your laptop hasn’t incorporated a solid and well-supported mounting piece for the lock slot, the lock will pull right out of your device with a little force.
When describing whether or not laptop locks are universal we did use the term, “for the most part” because there are laptop locks that are designed for a bracket that attaches to a laptop. This is an entirely different kind of setup. Then there is the “Noble Lock Slot.”
Finally, there is the newer, Kensington Mini Lock Slot. For the most part, outside of Lenovo, you’re going to have a standard Kensington Lock Slot that most laptop locks are designed for. With the new, mini version of the Kensington Security Slot, more and more laptop locks will be manufactured with this slot in mind.
So, when we use the word “universal,” it’s with the understanding that the industry is dominated by one type of lock that fits most laptops, except Lenovo.
Related Article: 18 Reasons To Never Buy A Cheap Laptop
What is the Noble Lock Slot?
Lenovo uses the Noble lock slot. While most locks are designed for Kensington Lock Slots, there are a few brands that manufacture Noble locks that fit Noble Lock Slots. Noble uses a wedge slot form on the end of its lock cable, which is different from the T-bar on the Kensington.
There are far fewer Noble Lock Slots on laptops than Kensington. Even the laptop locking stations are designed with Kensington Slots. Apple MacBooks don’t come with Noble Lock Slots or Kensington, so they require locking stations.
The only place you will find the Noble Lock Slot is on a few Lenovo products, the Dell Latitude 12 – 7000, Dell Precision M3800, and the Dell XPS series of laptops. With Kensington being the industry standard for 22 years, Noble is very few and far between.
Conclusion
For the most part, laptop locks are universal, seeing as the industry sticks to the Kensington Lock Slots that have been in use for more than 20 years.
You have to put in some effort to find a laptop with a different lock slot. Except Apple, of course, because it’s always “except Apple.”
