Or just go with a deal like this.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/972782/
Shortstory is Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Microsoft® Works 9
1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis - Important Information
McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
6-cell battery
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
High Definition Audio 2.0
Jet Black
for around $400+Tax. Bing is doing 20% cashback on all Dell.com purchases and Dell has free shipping until 2010.
----Whoops, never really addressed your refurb Q. I buy a lot of things refurbed but laptops wouldn't be one of them. They will never have the power or battery life (I know it may be a NEW battery purchased seperately) as something that is new. Laptops just seem to fade as life goes on, it's probably a result of a couple of years being carried around, bumped, dropped, etc etc etc.
-Svence