# Good thing they weren't handing out iPods **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360 "2005-08-17T01:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/41 "2005-08-18T20:01:19Z")
It looks like they’re the same one. To quote Susan Lawson(who was there) from[The Register,](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/18/ibook_rio_witness/) “This morning watching the news I saw that some were already on eBay and fetching $285+.” The only eBay auction I could find at the moment was [this one,](http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Laptop-Mac-OS-X-iBook_W0QQitemZ5799718672QQcategoryZ80050QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) but the auction seems to have been yanked since it was [first reported here.](http://www.jasoncoleman.net/archives/2005/08/16/ibook-insanity/) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/42 "2005-08-18T21:06:01Z")
Again, this is curcuitous - the price now only reflects their perceived value, not the price the school could have got in a single job-lot sale. _“They’re the ones that caused a riot when they went on sale? Then the must be worth something, I’d better get bidding!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/43 "2005-08-18T23:32:36Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Personally, the decision to ditch the iBooks makes no sense to me. Unless the students were doing high-end A/V work, they should still be more than sufficient for most school-related activities. I grew up and went to school one county over from Henrico. Half of Henrico has beautiful homes worth 1/4 - 1/2 million dollars, the other half is somewhat on the border of being slummy. There are a lot of things that they could be doing in that county instead of buying brand new laptops. E. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/44 "2005-08-19T00:16:36Z")
So the kids from poorer neighbourhoods leave school with no computer-related schools, while those from richer places get all the advantages? Nice. Maybe you should ask why there isn’t simply more money being put into projects for the neighbourhood, so the school isn’t trying to make up a shortfall by itself? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/45 "2005-08-19T14:08:09Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Again, this is curcuitous - the price now only reflects their perceived value, not the price the school could have got in a single job-lot sale. _“They’re the ones that caused a riot when they went on sale? Then the must be worth something, I’d better get bidding!”_ What exactly do you want to know? How much the computers are “really” worth? There’s no answer; they’re worth what someone is willing to pay for them. There’s no reason to think these particular laptops would be any more valuable for being part of the Henrico Co. fire sale; as others have noted, Mac hardware holds its resale value quite well, even without an OS installed. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/46 "2005-08-19T16:36:30Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > What exactly do you want to know? How much the computers are “really” worth? There’s no answer; they’re worth what someone is willing to pay for them. There’s no reason to think these particular laptops would be any more valuable for being part of the Henrico Co. fire sale; as others have noted, Mac hardware holds its resale value quite well, even without an OS installed. Exactly. The amount their “worth” is based on the age old supply and demand theory. Apparently the ‘demand’ for a notebook of this type for $50 outweighed the ‘supply’ resulting in the chaos. Proving that it was grossly underpriced and should have fetched a price somewhere that the demand was equal to the supply. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/47 "2005-08-19T16:43:09Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > By law, municipal governments cannot profit from the sale of surplus merchandise. There must be some local story behind this law, because it makes no sense. If my city was selling off stuff, I’d expect them to get every possible dollar out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/48 "2005-08-19T17:33:35Z")
> [@JonScribe](#): > > Well, speaking as one of the larger members of the at-large media: How the fuck do you turn this into an opportunity to bash the media? Because it’s the fucking national passtime. Nobody takes responsibility for anything these days, and anything that can be blamed on the media IS. If the media is involved and something went wrong, presto, the media made it go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/49 "2005-08-19T18:07:57Z")
> [@](#): > > **Cerri** said: > > Where I grew up (I was in 5th and 6th grade during the Cabbage Patch craze) I can remember not one but _many_ mob scenes exactly like this one whenever a local toy store got a shipment in. In beautiful, shiny Dunbar, PA this kind of scene was a routine thing when the Pechin’s Shopping Village got in a new shipment of meat. Fist fights would break out over the stuff. It’s sick what people will do to get cheap stuff. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360/50 "2005-08-19T20:06:16Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Apparently the ‘demand’ for a notebook of this type for $50 outweighed the ‘supply’ resulting in the chaos. If the Airport wireless card inside those laptops were still working, you could easily get $60-$80 for that alone on eBay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-thing-they-werent-handing-out-ipods/317360.md?page=2)