damn. sorry to hear this jaarvis.
now I got another reason to leave one mic stand in my car boot. it's a little rusty..
ages ago I got confronted by a group of teenagers on bikes (cycling) at night cos I horned at one of them for playing punk suddenly veering infront of my car thinking it's funny (I drive my parents' freaking MPV, why would teenagers think they have a chance surviving a joke like this?) they blocked my way totally, pissed the hell out of me ,was a little concerned too cos I was outnumbered by at least 8 of them. I got out grabbed my spare micstand from my boot ready to hantam ppl already and they start telling me to "chill, just joking".
sorry to be saying this , but apparently we , the GOOD people of singapore, should arm ourselves against mob robbers. you know that kensington laptop lock? it's "not just a lock" you know.. wrap it around the table stand it's a lock, unplug it and hold it firmly in your hand it becomes something else.. My logic when outnumbered is "if 5 of you attack me, make sure you kill me before I grab 1 of you because when I do, I swear I will not allow you to live." their intention is to rob, chances of getting hurt is 60% as long as I give them what they want, but if my intention was to deal some serious injury in self-defence, they'll be in just as much danger as my situation. It's all about the russian roulette. anyway of course if there's more than 5, just surrender your stuff and start using your brain to remember faces, or grab your gear and run.
p.s : do not play punk with a group of old sch bengs (i'm very humbled by them via a very bad experience) you best not play.
"Offense is the best defence" doesn't work for you, the other trick I use (tried and tested) is you buy one of those "personal alarm" that gives out approx 110+ db of noise, tie the "RINGING" part to your item of value. should it be pulled off by force off you , the first thing he'll do is RUN, and will have no time to figure out how to "turn off" the alarm. so most likely he'll just throw your shit (with the ringing alarm) and make his escape rather than run along with it ringing throughout and gaining unwanted attention. that thing is $10-$15 each. and if you chain link 5 of them ringing together you may get a summon after you retrieve your item for excess noise pollution.
anyway jaarvis, reading your situation again, I didn't realise you had "FRIENDS" with you. pls refrain yourself from hanging out with idiots. you were probably safer hanging out with a girl who can scream for help for you. and could give you some bedroom consolation after. but like what RorK said, they usually don't target a group. unless your friends are as "BLURCOCK" as I can picture in my head right now (reminds me of my BMT days..) then that'll be the reason why they figured you guys are easy targets even they weren't gangsters.
anyway it does seem like they were running on the simple "misdirection" formula = Grab your handphone, your focus is on the handphone, they target the big moneyshot - your laptop. you get disoriented you go after the laptop. what you're lucky here is that the guy who grabbed your phone didn't attack/buy time for his "friends" and stop you from going after it. Unfortunately, you know usually robbers have this forgetful weakness, they don't start robbing empty handed. and I don't mean carry weapons or what. but they're humans too, they have "wallets/handphones" with them. should any unfortunate softie be a victim, pls fight fire with fire. they rob you, you ROB them when you get a chance to grab them. their ICs/handphones all will be traceable. it's past now, just be careful in future. and get new friends to hang out with. like softies here.
oh and before I forget, since your handphone is robbed, disable your sim card immediately if you didn't lock your phone , NOW CALL AND INFORM ALL YOUR FRIENDS! (don't sms, CALL!) because the next trick they'll pull is start smsing your friends/family "help.. I need money urgent? can bank transfer to me?" etc. if not , "hi I found this guy's phone and do you have his address.." then you won't be the only victim and jeopardise your family/friends safety etc.
9999999¢ worth
in case you misunderstood... these are advices from my good friends who once did their time for the wrongs. it's always good to learn from a criminal's mind to know how to fully counter-attack or prevent. I'm clean.. i guess.