# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**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 17, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/21 "2005-08-17T03:39:18Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > The mother of the fourteen year old twins didn’t wet her pants, a woman standing in front of her did. D’oh! :smack: Let’s hope the woman who peed herself got a really shitty one. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/22 "2005-08-17T03:45:45Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > You’re not the only one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/23 "2005-08-17T06:15:57Z")
From the linked article: > [@](#): > > 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. WTF? Four year-old iBooks DO NOT retail for $999-1299. They may have cost that much four years ago, and current-model new iBooks might go for this sort of price, but these particular four-year old laptops ARE NOT worth that sort of money. The implication of the story is that these people were getting thousand-dollar computers for 50 bucks. That’s just bad reporting. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > 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. Also, they may have decided not to sell them on eBay because they wanted to sell them back to the community whose taxes had paid for them in the first place. They were county school district computers that were being offered to county residents. That seems like a reasonable good-faith gesture to me. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/24 "2005-08-17T06:16:36Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > 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. Nonsense, just have one big auction with a thousand units, set a minimum bid, and let 'em rip. You can easily get $200+ for one of those iBooks on eBay, and the extra income would be well worth the minimal effort of setting up an auction IMO. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > Plus, what commercial support was available to the schools for these laptops? To keep them running would be an ongoing cost. If they’re deprecated to $0, just use 'em until they break, and then toss 'em. It’d be trivial to create a disk image with a locked-down “Student” account, then load that on all of them. In any event, the whole thing is just a SNAFU IMO. If you can’t get at least five years of solid use out of a Mac, you’re not trying. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/25 "2005-08-17T12:21:47Z")
I work for the locality in question. These computers had been issued to incoming high school freshmen 4 years ago, and the students were given first crack at buying them when they graduated. Any that were left over were sold as is (from what I hear, some were in pretty bad shape - others were near pristine). The original plan was to sell them to anyone, first come-first served; however, after discussion it was decided instead to sell them to county residents first (they had, after all, paid for the computers with their tax dollars). That rendered the ebay auction idea a non-starter. Finally, under law local governments are not permitted to make a profit on sale of used merchandise. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/26 "2005-08-17T12:37:17Z")
I read it as “Penis Ensues” also, but I thought that the OP was trying to make a joke about penes ensuing. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/27 "2005-08-17T12:38:22Z")
They should have raffled either the machines themselves or the places in the line. It would have avoided the mob scene, just let everyone buy a ticket in advance and it’s luck o’the draw if you get it. Unless, of course, there’s also a local law against that… ---
**Author:** ![Cynical\_Optimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Cynical\_Optimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynical_Optimist)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/28 "2005-08-17T13:18:11Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > I work for the locality in question. > > These computers had been issued to incoming high school freshmen 4 years ago, and the students were given first crack at buying them when they graduated. Any that were left over were sold as is (from what I hear, some were in pretty bad shape - others were near pristine). (thread hijack) I remember when this program started Apple got all sorts of mileage out of “Macs are great for schools & don’t cost any more than PCs”, are they really switching to Dell as claimed above? If so, why didn’t Apple renew their contract with the county? ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/29 "2005-08-17T15:03:16Z")
> [@Cynical Optimist](#): > > (thread hijack) I remember when this program started Apple got all sorts of mileage out of “Macs are great for schools & don’t cost any more than PCs”, are they really switching to Dell as claimed above? If so, why didn’t Apple renew their contract with the county? They are going with Dell based on cost. Apple didn’t renew the contract because they weren’t offered a contract to renew. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/30 "2005-08-17T16:17:13Z")
Certainly the most interesting/funny/sad thing here is that all these people started camping out and waiting in line (apparently starting at 1am). By 6am, the line was huge. And then as soon as they open the gates, fuck the line, people just start rushing in. I’ve had experiences like this before. It just goes to show you that the whole lining up thing is just an implicit social contract. The line works as long as everyone agrees to abide by the line. When something of real importance is on the line (ooooh, 4 yr old ibooks!) it really becomes every man, woman, and bladder to himself. Really all it takes are a couple assholes to disregard the line and suddenly everyone (even those in line) figure “Hey, I might as well do that too since there’s no point in staying in line when no one else is.” ---
**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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/31 "2005-08-17T20:13:32Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > If they’re deprecated to $0, just use 'em until they break, and then toss 'em. It’d be trivial to create a disk image with a locked-down “Student” account, then load that on all of them. Problems: 1. How likely is it that the schools have staff on hand, with both the knowledge to do this and the time to spare? If not, they need to pay somebody to do it. So it’s not a zero-cost option. 2. 'Use ‘em until they break’? Not only are you legitimising the ‘computer crashed and lost my homework’ excuse, it’s also going to be chaos for teachers and for students. They need 100% reliability to be able to function properly. 3. Hi Opal ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/32 "2005-08-18T14:57:34Z")
Dignity hath no price? ---
**Author:** ![chefjef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@chefjef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefjef)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/33 "2005-08-18T18:13:07Z")
> [@](#): > > $50 for an iBook? Hell, I might trample someone. This is what I say!!! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/34 "2005-08-18T19:07:30Z")
And what would _you_ do for a Klondike Bar? More or less than for an iBook? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/35 "2005-08-19T01:44:03Z")
I’d cluck like a chicken, or do one of those other stupid TV commercial stunts, for a Klondike bar. For an old iBook, I wouldn’t do much more than say “Gee, thanks.” I’d like to believe that I wouldn’t trample someone for _anything._ ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315/36 "2005-08-19T05:49:46Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’d cluck like a chicken, or do one of those other stupid TV commercial stunts, for a Klondike bar. > > For an old iBook, I wouldn’t do much more than say “Gee, thanks.” > > I’d like to believe that I wouldn’t trample someone for _anything._ I would trample people in order to get a… Pardon for trampling people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panic-ensues-in-rush-for-cheap-laptops/317315.md?page=1)