Tell me how to buy a Latitude from Dell Outlet properly.

I'm thinking of snagging a Latitude E4200 from Dell Outlet, but I have some questions.

I've been watching Dell Outlet's prices and selection off and on since last week. Around Friday night I'm thinking I'm ready to buy, but I decided to sleep on it just to be sure. Saturday morning, the exact config I was set on (and all other similar configs) have gone up 50 bucks! I figure maybe it's just markup for the weekend and I'll buy on Monday, but similar configs are now $20 more than they were on Saturday.

This is pretty lame. I realize that $70 isn't a ton of money, but this is kind of an auxiliary/"for-fun" laptop purchase for me, and part of the excitement was the feeling that I was getting a great deal and was going to get away for less than $850 after tax. The Dell Outlet 20%-off-Latitudes coupon is expiring on Wednesday, and prices are showing no signs of returning.

My questions are:

1. Does Dell Outlet's pricing tend to fluctuate up and down pretty fluidly, or does an increase generally stick until the next major price drop?
2. Are coupons like the 20%-off-Latitudes coupon that's running right now pretty rare? Or will I see a similar coupon again fairly soon? I feel like I've got a general idea how Lenovo's EPP discounts cycle, but I have no knowledge of Dell Outlet's precedent.

Thanks for the advice!

 

I think in general, it's not that the prices are actually going up, it's that all the cheaper models are being bought out since there's a coupon available. And yes, there tends to be a wide range of prices for units with the same specs. Over time though, the prices will gradually go down though, despite whatever fluctuations seem to occur on the way.

The coupons aren't really all that common; the last time I remember getting one (that was for widespread use, like the current one) was sometime in late 2008... maybe they put 'em out once every quarter or so? Not totally sure about this one. Haven't been keeping too keen an eye out on the Outlet either.

 

from wat i remember hearing is that dell uses some algorethem or something like that when more people visit the outlet the prices increase a certain amount and that would lead to an increase in prices when theres a coupon because more people are visiting the outlet which makes sense but not sure, since the longer u wait the more people have a chance to find the coupon = more people visiting the site

and i talked to a dell rep and said they do usually give out coupons at the end of the quarter to raise revenue but not sure