I strongly recommend taking a look at this Dell Financial Services Ebay store
Dell Financial items - Get great deals on items on eBay Stores! Can't beat the price if you are looking for a reliable plain jane laptop with quality internal components.
Some co-workers and I have bought several of these 2 year refurbished lease business turn in Dell laptops and have been very satisfied. All of them looked brand new including the keys and touchpads. Ours came with the newest service pack of XP loaded. These are the HD business class metal framed laptops and are better built than the cheaper home use Dells.
One simply needs to pick one with the features you want and bid on it. If you don't win it, another one will be nearing it's auction end time soon. We picked up several over the last couple years for under $300 and now they are going even cheaper.