[juusan]

I bought a kensington microsaver retractable lock upon the advice of an apple store employee, and once I got it home and opened it, I was a little disappointed with my purchase. the loop device is cheap, easily breakable plastic, and the cable itself looks thin enough to cut through.

has anyone here used/stress tested one of these things? I'm really afraid that all it would take is a good yank to steal my ibook while I'm getting a coffee refill at my local cafe.

any recommendations on a better or more secure lock?

[Tomster]

Take a look at the Kryptonite laptop cable locks. They make an 8mm thick cable that looks like it's thick enough to tie up a bike.

[KidKit]

I think the Kensington microsavers are ok-ish... I'm personally using one myself. No, it takes more than just "a yank" to break steel cables hooked to the frame of your powerbook, those things are deceptively strong.
That said, remember that no security is 100% secure, having a lock in itself would deter opportunistic swipers, but no cable can prevent a determined thief with a hacksaw/blowtorch/C4
IMHO, a better way to add value to your investment is to get either the extended apple care warranty or insurance such as safeware. There's been quite a bit of discussion on this board about both. Do a search, I vaguely recall that insurance might be a better catchall.

[juusan]

I was more concerned with the plastic casing breaking with a good yank

[tooki]

Originally posted by KidKit:
IMHO, a better way to add value to your investment is to get either the extended apple care warranty or insurance such as safeware. There's been quite a bit of discussion on this board about both. Do a search, I vaguely recall that insurance might be a better catchall.

Neither one is a catch-all: SafeWare explicitly excludes anything covered by a manufacturer warranty. AppleCare will not cover any accidental damage or loss.

You need both to be fully covered.

tooki