Price: $34.99 $29.99

I recently purchased this lock for my IBM thinkpad T61. My first impression of this lock was well above my expectation. The lock looks professional and sturdy. Of course what matters is not just how good you make a product but also how well you explain it to the customers. Kensington fails poorly in doing this second part. That's the only reason I gave 4/5.

I had a tough time understanding this piece for few minutes. But I could figure it out myself soon. To avoid this pain for others, here are the details.

Testing the lock at the onset:
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1) Set the lock to default code 0000. The T bar should go all the way in.
2) Insert just the front end of the bar inside the slot ( the back end of the bar will not go into the slot. Do not force in!!).
3) Rotate the lock 90 degrees (either way) when the front end of the bar is orthogonal to the slot.
4) Gently push the lock all the way in till the rubber grove touches your computer.
5) Keeping in this position, change the lock numbers.

The computer is now locked. There should not be any separation between the lock and the computer case. The lock is slightly loose and rotates to adjust to changes in laptop orientation etc. This 4th instruction is missing in the manual and people end up with a big gap between their computer and the case. Actually you can remove the lock easily if you do not perform step 4.

Setting the secret combination
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1) Bring the number lock to the old combination. In my case it was default 0000.
2) This is important. The subsystems of this lock move and rotate independently. So it important to hold the T-bar tight while making this change.
3) Rotate the groove using a coin in CLOCKWISE direction. The instruction manual says anticlockwise. It should be fairly easy to rotate this groove. If its not happening, then you are doing it wrong.
4) This is the most important. The instruction manual says that you rotate 90 degrees till red dot appears. This is really confusing. First of all the yellow line (along which the number is aligned) will not disappear and turn into red. As you rotate 90 degrees the red dot will ALIGN with the yellow line. The red portion appears in the small cut near the yellow line.
5) Select your new number and turn back the groove 90 degrees in opposite direction.

For the first time user, it is really difficult to understand this system if not explained properly. The manual provides 3 points or few pics to do this which totally confuses the user. I hope Kensington improves this quickly. Once you figure out how the lock works, its just amazing. I hope this review helps.

All my laptops have lock holes on the left, and it was difficult to determine where to set the numbers upside down. No spacers came with it like other brand locks I have, so it fits loosely when in position. I purchased it for my daughter's laptop at college, and ended up buying a different lock at Wal-mart before she left for school.

I bought this over keyed lock models from my positive experience with combination locks for bikes. I found aligning the combination wheels is not as easy as it should be. When it locked, the wheels are under spring-loaded, and that makes the turning the wheels a chore. To make it worse, the spring makes the wheels stick to each other, and as you turn a wheel adjacent wheels follow. I had to re-adjust each wheel multiple times to set the correct combination. Also when in locked position, the align notch is at the horizontal position. It should be on the top when locked for each viewing and unlock.
Overall, cute-looking but difficult to set the combination.