# Panic Ensues In Rush For Cheap Laptops **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315 "2005-08-16T19:43:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/1 "2005-08-16T19:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) – A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line… > > More than 1,000 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks, which retail for between $999 and $1,299. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. > > Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting for hours in line. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene… Geez, next time try putting them on eBay. ---
**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 16, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/2 "2005-08-16T19:56:00Z")
$50 for an iBook? Hell, I might trample someone. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/3 "2005-08-16T20:01:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself. > > “I’ve never been in something like that before, and I never again will,” said Alexander, who brought her 14-year-old twin boys to the complex at 4:30 a.m. to wait in line. “No matter what the kids want, I already told them I’m not doing that again.” New ads-- “I’d piss myself to get an iBook!” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/4 "2005-08-16T20:06:33Z")
For a 50 buck iBook I’d shit my pants on demand. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/5 "2005-08-16T20:15:25Z")
I really wish I had an Ibook I didn’t need right now, just so I could see if **RevTim** ’s sphincter could pay that check his mouth just wrote… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/6 "2005-08-16T20:30:31Z")
Please tell me I’m not the only one who read it as “Penis Ensues In Rush For Cheap Laptops.” I’ve spent too much time here. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/7 "2005-08-16T20:51:08Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … just so I could see if **RevTim** ’s sphincter could pay that check his mouth just wrote… 🙂 If I had a dime every time somebody’s said that… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/8 "2005-08-16T21:41:10Z")
Wait, if her teenage kids were with her, why couldn’t they have saved her place in line while she went to take a piss? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/9 "2005-08-16T21:50:15Z")
> [@taxi78cab](#): > > Please tell me I’m not the only one who read it as “Penis Ensues In Rush For Cheap Laptops.” > > I’ve spent too much time here. You’re not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/10 "2005-08-16T21:57:37Z")
A four-year-old iBook might only have a 700MHz G3, 128 megs of RAM, and no recordable optical drive (CD/DVD instead of a CD-R/DVD “combo drive”). I’m sorry, but you couldn’t get me to walk across the road, much less riot, for one of those. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/11 "2005-08-16T21:58:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wait, if her teenage kids were with her, why couldn’t they have saved her place in line while she went to take a piss? The mother of the fourteen year old twins didn’t wet her pants, a woman standing in front of her did. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/12 "2005-08-16T21:58:37Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wait, if her teenage kids were with her, why couldn’t they have saved her place in line while she went to take a piss? It was the woman in front of her, that peed. > [@](#): > > Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him. > > “I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,”’ the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station. > > “They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just,” he said. Jeeze. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/13 "2005-08-16T22:40:06Z")
I work from a four year-old iBook and I’d sell ya mine for $35. No writeable CD, power sources tend to randomly blow up, screen going dimmer and dimmer (an $800 repair if I send it to Apple.) ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/14 "2005-08-16T22:59:10Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I work from a four year-old iBook and I’d sell ya mine for $35. No writeable CD, power sources tend to randomly blow up, screen going dimmer and dimmer (an $800 repair if I send it to Apple.) I think I just wet myself. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/15 "2005-08-16T23:04:24Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I work from a four year-old iBook and I’d sell ya mine for $35. No writeable CD, power sources tend to randomly blow up, screen going dimmer and dimmer (an $800 repair if I send it to Apple.) Yeah, the iBook of that era was…not one of Apple’s shining achievements, I’m afraid. Again, I just think…Riots! And for what? Crazy. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/16 "2005-08-16T23:09:08Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > The mother of the fourteen year old twins didn’t wet her pants, a woman standing in front of her did. The woman in front pissed on the woman with the kids? Christ, these people are animals! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/17 "2005-08-16T23:14:35Z")
That’s the thing. They’re used and they’re four years old. They’re pieces of shit that need upgrades and repairs. I wouldn’t walk down to my basement for one of these things, and these greedy animals are trampling fucking baby strollers. Morons. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/18 "2005-08-16T23:56:26Z")
Selling them for $50 makes no sense, as eBay would easily yield higher price tags. It’s speculated on Slashdot that the school district deliberately sold them at a loss so they can be written off as obsolete, to justify the switch to Dell laptops. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/19 "2005-08-17T00:18:48Z")
> [@taxi78cab](#): > > Please tell me I’m not the only one who read it as “Penis Ensues In Rush For Cheap Laptops.” > > I’ve spent too much time here. I didn’t realize that it didn’t say that until I read your post. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/20 "2005-08-17T00:26:20Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Selling them for $50 makes no sense, as eBay would easily yield higher price tags. It’s speculated on Slashdot that the school district deliberately sold them at a loss so they can be written off as obsolete, to justify the switch to Dell laptops. I doubt the straightforward cynicism of this suggestion is accurate. They were probably judged to have depreciated to zero (as was expected from the moment they were bought), and so the schools were welcome to earn anything they wanted - and selling a whole roomfull of laptops on ebay would acutally take up a lot of somebody’s time. Plus, what commercial support was available to the schools for these laptops? To keep them running would be an ongoing cost. Better take a new deal from Dell, if one is in the offing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315.md?page=2)