May 7, 2001: Henrico Public Schools go Mac

From the Apple I to the current day, Apple has publicly maintained a deep commitment to education. The commitment paid off when Apple announced a mammoth order it had landed for iBooks.

Henrico County Public School System agreed to buy 23,000 of the G3 powered white beauties in order to equip every student and teacher with wirelessly enabled Macs. The program went well by most accounts but the real action started when Henrico County decided not to renew Apple's massive contract. When Henrico began switching to Dells, the school system decided to unload the iBooks for the paltry sum of $50 each. The demand was high and led to a riot as Henrico residents went to battle for a chance to buy one of the sweetly priced iBooks .

The deal that gave students a chance at wireless learning, put a Mac in the hands of 23,000 Henrico citizens, and eventually led to a computer riot was announced this week in 2001.