How to secure laptops properly?

Can you hand-cuff yourself to them? I will be going to a place, where people get mugged very often and have their phones, laptops, and whatever else stolen. Sometimes there is no mugging and laptops just get snatched from your hands. I will be living in a BAD part of town without a choice. How can I secure myself? I figured a bag can be snatched, a book-bag or laptop bag that you wear on your back cut be cut into or unzipped. Is there a way to wear it at the front? I know they have those European chest pockets to prevent pick-pocketing, but what about laptop bags? Wear one on the front will make you look odd, so it needs to be some kind of a vest, under-armor. OR, like I said, I can hand-cuff them to my arm, right? Can laptops be disguised as something cheap and needless?

 

Just don't put it in a metal case. I've had friends who were all but mugged in safe parts of the world because they had their laptop in a metal case that looks like something you'd fill full of diamonds and handcuff to yourself.

 

Damn, gotta hide it somewhere somewhere where nobody can see it. Dang!

 

Get a sleeve for your laptop and carry it in a regular bag that won't attract attention as much.

 

Just buy some straps and wear your 17" gaming laptop as improvised body armor.

 

Not a laptop, but you get the idea.

 

Is "open carry" an option at the location that you'll be going to?

 

I wouldn't handcuff it.... then they'll just take your arm/wrist with it!

 

Don't ever, ever let it out of your sight. That's pretty much the best security you can have.

 

There are two suggestions I have:

1) Put the laptop in a backpack, and wear a sweater / sweatshirt over it. It will be harder for any potential thieves to open a backpack, cut open the backpack, rip the backpack off of you, etc.

2) Put the laptop in a crappy-looking backpack.

Remember, the more you try to protect your laptop (i.e. with fancy locks, handcuffed briefcases, etc), the more you are letting people know that you have something worth protecting. Ideally, you want to look like you're just some poor backpacking student staying in cheap hostels, so that you look like the "poorest" person in the area, and encourage potential thieves to rob someone else.

 

The OP is gone. He got caught walking around late at night with his laptop handcuffed to his wrist. The thugs wanted to take the laptop, but not the OP too. Make sure that next can you eat of Chef Boyardee doesn't say "Made in Ukraine."