You're a digitial Jezebel! LOL! Actually, I'm not too impressed with the refurbished offerings of Dell -- their hard drives are much too small.
I'm actually leaning towards this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7478348&type=product&id=1125465830387
I wish the video card were a bit better, but dedicated video is definitely the way to go. I also like that it's a 64-bit system, which is the programming of the future.
Looks nice, though heavy. A lot depends on how often you plan to carry it around. But 100GB? Mmm...that'd hold a lot of music. That's my main space hog.
I almost bought an HP last time I was looking (years ago, at this point), but I chickened out. I HATED the Compaq desktop I had once (worst purchase of my life), and since HP purchased them and I believe certain models are all but identical, HP to Compaq. Also I wouldn't have been able to see one in person as I was still in the boondocks at that point, and we used Dells and Toshibas at work, so I knew kinda what those were like. Ended up with a refurbished Inspiron 8100 - I waited until one with the features I wanted came along at a price I could handle, and then jumped for it. It's been pretty good, for the most part.
I believe I've heard good things about recent HPs, what little I've heard.