I've purchased numerous laptops from Dell's outlet store and never had a problem with any of them out of the box. I had to make one warranty claim, which was handled just like any standard purchase.
My girlfriend got a refurb monitor, the 2007wfp I think it was (or something like that, it was a while ago), and it was perfect. No dead pixels or blemishes.
I'm pretty sure they still have a 21-day return window, so you're pretty safe if you decide to try the outlet store.