iBook firesale moved based on expected popularity

Go away outsiders. We (the residents and taxpayers of Henrico County) paid for them, we should get first crack at them.

If someone wants to spend money to fly in from California just to buy an iBook for $50, more power to him! Gee, let's see...that means you have a crack at the 22,999 iBooks that are left after he gets his! (Unless he brings along 22,999 of his closest friends!)

It's funny to think what this sale would be like if they were blowing out a bunch of dells for $50. They probably wouldn't even sell out of them.

You residents of Henrico County should be mad as hell that your representatives are selling these 'books so cheap when they could get more money for them. They're going to need the additional cash to support all the loser systems they're buying.

Unless they are in really crappy condition they could very easily sell them on ebay or through other channels for $400-$500. Dumping them all on ebay at once would saturate the market but selling 25 at a time would net a good return.

If I were a local tax payer for this school system I would be really mad. I think they should send them home with the students they were issued to. Which in turn would at least put them in some of the housholds that paid taxes that purchased them in the first place. Why should their tax money go towards buying a computer and then giving them away at a subsatnial discount to anybody from anywhere with $50?

Now that's just stupid. For less than the price of the airfare and hotel (assuming he's not going to turn right around a fly back), he could by a more recent, used G4 iBook instead of this G3 iBook.

There's only 1000 iBooks available. The middle schools are still using them until the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

it was British Historian Thomas Macaulay that said democracy was doomed when voters discovered that they could vote themselves largess from the treasury.

I don't know who said it, but someone else once said, democracy is 3 wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for dinner.

I guess, the point of this, is this...it truly doesn't matter of some people in Henrico County think this is a good idea, unless its unanimous, this is wrong. You do not tax people's money and then give it away.

Taxes are not voluntary...so like it or not, you have to show responsibility with tax dollars. You may think giving away laptops to mr. frequent flyer miles from California is a good idea...but you cannot pay for it with taxes. If you want to do a $50 laptop giveaway to the nation...pay for it with your own money.

probably the only saving grace here, is that Henrico is being open....about the cost.

other counties probably just toss the computers into the trash, or quietly sell the laptops to a liquidator at any old price...maybe even less than this, maybe they even pay someone to take the machines.

at least this is one step above that...lol

As Denim says, Henrico County school officials should be tested for competence. Not only could they easily double their money by charging $100 ea for these iBooks, but they claim they are (un)switching due to maintenance costs. Real statistics don't back that up. I wonder what Dell really offered them under the table?