RSSiBook Giveaway Sparks Stampede in VA
By Nate Mook | Published August 16, 2005, 3:37 PM
A sale of old Apple iBooks in Virginia turned chaotic Tuesday, as hoards of eager buyers stampeded through the gates of the Richmond International Raceway. People were pushed to the ground, hit with folding chairs, and one person even attempted to drive his car through the crowd.
Virginia's Henrico County school system was holding the sale to get rid of 1,000 antiquated iBooks, which were being offered at $50 a pop. However, an estimated 5,500 people showed up, with some camping out since 1am waiting for the 7am sale to begin.
The melee that ensued was branded "total, total chaos" by one witness. 17 people suffered minor injuries, according to the Associated Press, with 4 requiring hospital treatment. An elderly man was reported to have been thrown to the pavement.
"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer — and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County, told the AP.
"But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event — it almost has an entertainment value."
One successful used iBook buyer, 20 year-old Jesse Sandler, said he used a folding chair to beat those who tried to cut in front of him. "I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,'" he acknowledged.
No arrests were made at the event, police said.
I would have absolutely loved a G3 iBook for testing my websites with Safari and having an additional computer. The school could have had a much better fund-raiser had they doubled the price. They would have still had at least the same # of purchases.
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|In some countries they have food riots, in some, political riots, but in America, laptop riots!
Good to see the priorities.
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|That. is. hilarious.
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|Omg, I wish I had a camera and lived near there.
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|ahahahahhaahhahahhahahha...hheheehhehehehe... lol
lmao rofl
" People were pushed to the ground, hit with folding chairs, and one person even attempted to drive his car through the crowd."
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|Where else could you get this iBook for $50?
The problem is that they probably asked some dumb@ss windows admin ph*** to price the hardware and like a typical dumb@ss windows user he underestimated the value of a truly superior system.
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|Righhhhhttt.... :) Most likely he over valued it.
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|good friend of mine just sold a G3 iBook for 500... and she didn't think she was getting enough for it, but she needed the money to pay down her new G4 iBook.
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|You're an idiot!
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|All this for an Apple computer and one they won't be able to upgrade either?
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|Yeah, because EVERYBODY knows you can't upgrade Apple computers!
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/doityourself/
The processor and hard drive are about the only things not on that list that most PC users would want to upgrade on an older machine--but I still think it's pretty good, especially for a laptop. I'm sure you can get a hard drive unofficially, and with PCs, you really can't count on a processor upgrade because the socket has probably changed, anyway.
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|It's a laptop, retard. Can you upgrade your Dell laptop? :P
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|He said "Apple Computer" - the response was valid.
Windows is less upgradable nowadays than in the past, since Windows remembers things, and starts spitting out errors when stuff changes...
Unless you do a clean install, that is.
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|Usually, you can't change the processor on a laptop at all because it's integrated with the motherboard. Unless you're REALLY good with a soldering iron, you won't be able to change the CPU.
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|With the CPU change and the like you won't be able to upgrade the OS.
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|No, since I have a desktop. And BTW, I love you to. Upgrading an apple on your own voids the warrantee.
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|I've never had any such problem with my PC and I use XP Home Ed. And as for updating all I have to do is remove the side panel and insert the component into the proper slot. Apple wants you to pay a tech to do this for you.
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|Upgrading a Mac does NOT void your "warrantee" unless you do someting Apple doesn't want you to do. You aren't going to be cut out of AppleCare because you upgraded your RAM (unless you break your computer in the process, in which case you should have had it done by a pro) or anything.
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|With what CPU change?
Even if you meant to say "without," you're still wrong. Even Tiger (10.4) can run on a G3--it's clearly listed in the System Requirements--which is what I'm assuming these computers have. How about you look up some of these things before you complain about them?
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|I don't know where everybody gets these misconceptions about Apple. I bet none of them even own a Mac.
To an iBook, you can add RAM, an AirPort Card, replace the keyboard, and replace broken or fallen-off feet, and of course, order a new power adapter or battery.
Pretty good for a laptop if you ask me. I certainly couldn't add internal wireless to my HP if I didn't order it with it, and I'm sure I could add RAM, but I've never looked that up for sure.
Oh, and for iMac G5's, user-servicable parts include installing an AirPort Extreme card (except on newer models that already have one), the back cover and stand, the battery backup (akin to CMOS in PCs), the display/bezel (!!), upper and lower fans, hard drive, inverter, RAM, optical drive, and power supply. Keep in mind this is a computer that's basically a 2-in thick LCD.
Yeah, Apple sucks. I can't do anything!
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|If that's what you believe, fine. Go get a new Mobo, stick it in, transfer everything over, and if your computer isn't a pile of junk after then you know as much as I do.
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|By the way YOU CAN upgrade your dell laptop, dell uses ZIFF sockets.
In my case, I replace the mobile PIII 700 with a Mobile PIII 1.3 Ghz. There you go.
Obviously the overdrive sockets (386 and 486 days) do not exist any more, so thus I cannot put in a P4, but a jump from 700M to 1.3 Ghz is just short of doubled, with no ROM modifications, no heat sink changes etc.
Check it out buddy.
Cut the retard crap only children have to resort to nonsense like that.
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|For an iBook? Maybe they were confusing it with an iPod, but then they'd probably be killing each other for one of those.
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|They already are killing each other for an iPod.
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|How absolutely pathetic. I wouldn't use these things as a doorstop.
I'm starting to think that we're becoming "recreational rioters". We have professional protesters, so why not?
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|4 year old iBooks would be probably be G3 - they're faster than a comparable P3 laptop, and worth more... and run OSX quite happily...
Of course... if they're not G3... then the 50 bucks, well, they're still getting more value than they would with a 4 year old windows laptop.
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|"I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,'"
How pathetic...
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|He's not very bright either. He admitted to the media that he committed assault and battery (at the least, aggravated assault). That's an admission of guilt that any of his victims (and the cops) can use against him.
Sometimes I wish there was a sniper that went around sniping stupid people (especially those eligible for the Darwin Awards but haven't gotten around to applying for one). Showing up at 1AM for a sales event, starting a stampede (or being in one), admitting crimes to the media, and driving a car through a crowd are all signs of stupidity.
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|HAHA. I live in the neiboring school system and we bought all the computers from them, there was just one large bid on all of them for our area. I heard in richmond they did it that way and I heard about the chaos. We have about 1 thousand old computers to fix up and sell out. Kinda a big deal, Great story and I love the writing! Longlive betanews.
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|Hmmm...
http://www.macnewsworld....s-Into-a-Stampede.xhtml
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