Thanks for the input. Yes, I do work for a company, but JM Inc consists of JM all by his lonesome. 
I recently bought a refurb Macbook Pro from Best Buy.
There was nothing at all to indicate it wasn’t a brand new machine. On the initial startup, it went through the registration and orientation process. I believe the box had been opened for some reason and then sealed again right away.
As to warranty, I had to replace a power cable that failed after about 3 months. The Apple store checked the warranty status of the machine and handed over a new cord. No comments as to the fact I hadn’t purchased it at the Apple store.
Refurb resulted in $150 off sticker price. I’m happy with the way things went.
TheBori, I used to feel the same way that you did until I married into a mac family. Since then I will only buy macs for laptops, although I still prefer PCs for desktops. The thing I love about macs is that they last. I’m currently writing this post from a 6 year old macbook pro that’s running perfectly. The only thing it can’t do is play very intensive new games like Portal 2, but I’m rocking Starcraft 2 and a few other recently published games. Contrast that with my 5 year old PC which is now a word/internet machine and runs out of battery within a half hour, even though I’ve replaced the power chord and the battery. My husband and I recently acquired a free 4 year old macbook pro that had been treated rather poorly by its computer-ignorant user. It seemed dead, but we took it into Apple care, got $1k worth of repairs for free (spent $20 to replace a fan) and now it runs perfectly and plays Portal 2. We’re probably going to get at least $1k for it, even in this economy.
Since I’ve had such a good experience with long-lasting macs, I’d highly recommend a refurbished. It’s what I’m going to get when I get a new laptop. My 17 inch is fine, just bigger than I’d prefer, and I’d like a longer battery life.
What about scratches, blemishes, etc? Do they replace any cosmetically damaged parts before selling as a refurb?