I am a starving college student looking to buy my wife (also a
starving college student) a laptop.  Obviously, I want to buy her
something that's not going to go obsolete too soon, but I am also on
somewhat of a budget for obvious reasons.  I'd also like to get
something with a reliable, semi-lengthy warranty.  If we need to pay
to repair or replace the laptop, I'd rather have this happen *after*
we've graduated and ostensibly can afford to do so.

I've done a ton of shopping around, and despite my small misgivings
about the deterioration of their customer support, I've concluded that
Dell really does offer what I am looking for at the best price.

Here's where me question comes in:

Looking on Ebay, I see multiple people with 98-100& feedback ratings
selling "Brand New, not refurbished, Dell Laptops with warranty!!!"
for ridiculously low prices.  Some of these people are advertising
these laptops as new in-box, complete with the accompanying pictures
of the box straight from dell at several (needless) angles.

It seems that I can buy a system that I'd really like to get my wife
for about $1600 from Dell (a bit beyond my budget), or for about $1000
on Ebay.

So I guess this is a two-part question:

Is this legit?

If so, where in the world are these sellers obtaining their products? 
(this is the miportant part :) )  Obviously, I'd like to be able to go
to whatever source they are using and save some more money.

I looked at the Dell Finnancial Services website, but that stuff is
not current technology, and they're refurbished systems.

I must apologize for the low price offered for answering this question
(see "starving college student" description above), but with a
caveat.. if I can get a laptop for my wife at a good price using
information discovered here, I will certainly provide a nice tip.

Thank you.

From my experiences with some of the vendors, they are Dell resellers.
 Typically (with dell, gateway, etc) you can become a reseller of
their products if you push a certain amount of their volume -- for
this they get discounted rates.  So yes, it is legit.

Also, from what I've noticed, they sometimes sell somewhat outdated
models that are not exactly on the cutting edge of technology.

From my experience with using Dell and Gateway products through
resellers and their business reps, you'd be better off going to Best
Buy or Circuit City, and dealing with the mail in rebate stuff.

You can get some major time tied up in dealing with these
folks/businesses, and in the end, you may not save much money at all.

mrtoodles-ga:

I can only speculate on where the stuff on eBay comes from, but I can
point you to a useful resource for getting the best deal on a Dell.

Since you are a starving student, you should qualify for some of the
deals that Dell doles out to students. The best place online to find
out about these deals, is an online deals forum such as FatWallet.com.
Sign up with their discussion forums, and you will be among the first
people in the US to hear about any Dell deal... sometimes even before
the customer service reps in the Dell call centers hear about them.

As for those eBay deals... sometimes, Dell deals overlap with other
deals, meaning that there are severel cash-back rebates available that
add up to several hundreds of dollars. The most recent such situation
occurred last summer, where several discounts and rebates targeted at
college students resulted in an effective price for a Dimension 2400
that was 50% of the list price. Lots of folks then snap up these
deals, send in for the rebates, then sell the PC at less-than-list
(but still higher than their actual cost) to get even greater profit.
Other systems may be part of corporate purchases arranged through an
enterprise or government contract; individuals are extended the
benefit of purchasing a PC through their organization at less than
retail. They then turn around and resell the PC for a profit online.
Since Dell does not distribute through that many channels, these are
the most likely sources for the stuff you see on eBay. However, as I
cannot substantiate this, I offer this as a comment, only.

Hope this comment helps,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

There are also some crooks out there ...

I've seen prices that sound too good to be true, so I have asked
several sellers if they do escrow. None of them does.

And a couple, after a string of great ratings, start getting BAD feedback.

The final stage is when they are described as 'no longer a registered user'.

Maybe they started off as honest and then something went wrong.

On the other hand, there are some great folk out there.

I think that buying from folk with a great reputation, such as those
identified in these Comments is the most prudent course.

Good luck!

I'm aware that you don't think the refurbished Dells are a good option
because they are "not the latest technology," but if you are really a
starving college student, you might reconsider. I bought my wife one
of these -- Pentium III, 650mhz -- and it zooms through everything she
needs it to do. Very capable machine. Only $400, with warranty. That
saves $600 -- or 600 boxes of ramen noodles!

Seriously, with the exception of video editing and some of the most
sophisticated first person shooter 3D games, the CPU power of PCs
outstripped the actual needs of any popular software application
several years ago and there is a great deal of money to be saved right
now by not needlessly buying this year's PC.

I've purchased desktop and laptop models from Dell and from Ebay. 
Dell refurbished models from the Dell website (ie, they're new models
that have been returned and repaired for whatever reason) come with
the same warranty as a new model and the technology is fine.
As for laptops off Ebay, you can find a good model for under $300 or
$400 (or even under $200 if you don't need wireless access --I got a
'98 Dell for about $150 from a company selling old models and put new
software on it and it was great) that should suffice for a student's
needs and you can always put newer software on them.  These laptops,
while used, aren't very worn.
Large companies often sell large numbers of laptops (they're used a
lot in factories) when they get new ones, so they're legit and cheap
because of the sheer volume they're getting rid of, and this is where
most of mine have come from and I've never had a problem.  Of course,
these are a couple years old, but you can't beat the price. They tend
to come with Linux on them, so you have to put another running system
and all the software on yourself.
If anyone's offering "new" merchandise for cheaper than the official
dealers, I'd be leery.

As somebody mentioned. There are deals sites like 
Fatwallet.com
Slickdeals.net
Anandtech.com Forums
ResellerRatings.com

Here's a quick example:
http://www.slickdeals.net/#p4458
This is a laptop that is $699 after rebates. Somebody is currently
bidding it on Ebay for $810.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3472103891&category=42201


Basically, Dell coupons are stackable. This means that you can use
more than one coupon on a computer/laptop. Sometimes rebates are
available. Also 'Small Business' laptops are cheaper than 'Home'.
Therefore, using coupons and/or rebates, the price for these laptops
become cheaper. They simply sell it on Ebay after receiving the item.

I was able to purchase a Toshiba Portege 7010CT on Half.com (by eBay)
for $400. It's a Pentium IIMMX 300MHz, 150MB RAM, and an upgraded
battery and 20GB HDD. The battery was DOA, watch out for that when
buying laptops online. A new one cost 80.00, and the HDD was 100, but
I've dropped the thing countless times and it still boots.
As far as an OS goes: 
For extended battery life: Windows 2000 or Linux Fedora Core 1
For good gaming: Windows 2000 or Linux (any flavor) running WINE
For good P-Class (personal): Windows XP
For good W-Class (workstation): Windows 2000 or Linux Redhat 9
For wholsome goodness against "The Man:" Linux :D

Good luck with your search.