My refurb MP was very clean, looks brand new to me. you just don't get the neater packaging, rather a bland cardboard box that says refurb on it. Oh darn.
At $2K for a 4 core Xeon, my refurb is as close to brand new as you can get. The case, keyboard, mouse and internals - no scratches, dents, finger prints, even that new-from-the-factory chemical smell. Only thing that looked used was the plastic the CDs came in.
Not sure why so many are sitting on the fence waiting for the next big thing. Now I understand why it's the last MW for ...to keep everyone guessing. Genius.