Gaming Laptop/Refurbished?

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about buying a laptop that I can use for gaming while I'm away from my house. I have a very high end desktop that I am used to using, but I end up spending a fair amount of weekends away from my house (sometimes with plenty of free time).

Obviously, I have been looking through the "Quick Picks" on the side bar (mainly between the Alienwares and Asus), but have reached a partial stand-still. Shelling out almost $2k for a laptop makes me a little hesitant, but I am not completely opposed to it. Ideally, the cheaper the better, but if I could do something in the $1k range (+-$200) it would be much better.

I have been looking at newegg and tigerdirect at their "recertified/refurbished" laptops for an almost half price deal, but I am (once again) hesitant.

Does anyone have experience buying one of those used laptops and can I be confident that it is going to be as good as a brandy new one?

Also, if someone wants to directly suggest a laptop capable of playing the following titles smoothly, that would be awesome too:

Dota2 Eve SWTOR (mainly what I am thinking about right now) Diablo 3 (is coming out as well)

I do like to play games at max settings also (I like things pretty!)

Thanks all!