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Only the cable by itself cost $59.00. It's the same USB magnetic cable that you can buy in many shops for $2. > but what is comically impractical about this?

Only the cable by itself cost $59.00. It's the same USB magnetic cable that you can buy in many shops for $2. > but what is comically impractical about this? That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to. If you have to spend more than $30 for a custom device you can detect if a laptop is being moved away from a table in many better ways.

excalibur 5y ago
> > but what is comically impractical about this? > That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to. If you're the type of person who uses a laptop lock, I could see something like this being a welcome enhancement. But in that case it would be most practical if it were built into the lock itself.
_flux 5y ago
Personally I have only found cables with relatively weak magnetic power. Where does one find these strong ones, in particular for prices like you mention? It doesn't seem to be a well-advertised property, so it's difficult to tell if they are actually strong ot not :/. The $59 price still includes worldwide shipping. > That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to. I mean you are already carrying a laptop, and probably a charger with cables, so carrying a magnetic cable doesn't seem a big stretch. You would put it to the same bag with your other laptop-related accesories. It is also quite popular to wear pants with belt loops, which would seem suitable for tying this one. Granted dresses and skirts have these less commonly; even then perhaps one could use a belt. For sportswear I don't have a good suggestion. I notice you refer to these "better ways" yet you don't enumerate any. At least I wouldn't consider accelerometer and radio-based solutions proper alternatives to this (unless using proper latency-based distance measurement, I wonder if this truly can be implemented for less than $30). The camera solution I proposed might be realistic one, but it eats battery.
fluidcruft 5y ago
Oh, so you could hopefully substitute a suitable USB C cable? (Assuming they exist)

excalibur 5y ago

> > but what is comically impractical about this? > That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to. If you're the type of person who uses a laptop lock, I could see something like this being a welcome enhancement. But in that case it would be most practical if it were built into the lock itself.

_flux 5y ago

Personally I have only found cables with relatively weak magnetic power. Where does one find these strong ones, in particular for prices like you mention? It doesn't seem to be a well-advertised property, so it's difficult to tell if they are actually strong ot not :/. The $59 price still includes worldwide shipping. > That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to. I mean you are already carrying a laptop, and probably a charger with cables, so carrying a magnetic cable doesn't seem a big stretch. You would put it to the same bag with your other laptop-related accesories. It is also quite popular to wear pants with belt loops, which would seem suitable for tying this one. Granted dresses and skirts have these less commonly; even then perhaps one could use a belt. For sportswear I don't have a good suggestion. I notice you refer to these "better ways" yet you don't enumerate any. At least I wouldn't consider accelerometer and radio-based solutions proper alternatives to this (unless using proper latency-based distance measurement, I wonder if this truly can be implemented for less than $30). The camera solution I proposed might be realistic one, but it eats battery.

fluidcruft 5y ago

Oh, so you could hopefully substitute a suitable USB C cable? (Assuming they exist)