arabiafish said:Just an FYI, these same models are going for $1450 (if you get lucky) to $1550 (lots available) brand new and sealed from reputable sellers on eBay via Buy It Now, so minus $200 from live.com makes it $1250-$1350...

Yes,that can be a decent deal except for a few things to be taken into account:

1) If you buy from a vendor and use the right credit card, you can double the 1 year warranty for no extra cost. This is worth at least $100. Not sure that you can get that coverage if you pay with PayPal. Better call your CC company and ask
2) There are better deals out there than Amazon, see this. In addition to the laptop you can get some goodies for free: Fusion, Paralels, and the usual smattering of AV/firewall crap if you need/want them; $100 off a printer; free case --- more than one if you are so inclined. But do skip the outrageously overpriced memory upgrade --- Newegg will sell you the same thing for $50 instead of $150.

When you add it all up, you come out ahead by foregoing the Live.com deal. Now for those that want the latest gen, it does make sense to pay slightly more at JR.com and get the live.com 7.5% CashBack. The net price of $1810 plus goodies is hard to beat.