I had sofar only good experience with refurbished hardware. Mostly big companies (such apple) don't even repair the stuff, but just replace the whole mainboards,
or evene the whole device (it's cheaper for them, than to repair , timewise).
I am also working on both :pc and mac. I must say the next oppportunity will be to replace my desktop PC. The main reason ist that windows uses system.ini.
So at the beginning everything is cool, until to begin installing and deinstalling programms. The pc get's instable with time. Also it's really stupid that windos
doesn't use RAM above 4 GB, only if you are using NT or 64bit windows, which on the other hands are really nervwreking when it comes to finding the proper
drivers for certain haradware... I am not like "hardcore mac user" i think only that mac has more "clever" approach to user interface (expose f.e.).
And if you look at the weight and screen quality of a macbook pro (and features like keyboard light etc.) it's a fair price - a pc with similar features will cost
the same, but will not have the same quality feel to it...
but hey, i had also a 400 euro acer, it was working fine as well; )