I'm looking for a refurbished ThinkPad Series laptop, suggestions?

[KompuKare]

Thanks very much. I don't want a SSD at this time because I couldn't get by with anything smaller than a 750 GB HD. I'm likely to buy a second X201 on which I'll get a SSD. So were you going to suggest that I move to a 7200RPM drive or what?

Yes, because as your single drive a 5400RPM is probably going to be noticeably slow. Your other option would be to get a hybrid drive (mechanical drive with a small NAND controller).
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Solid-...seagate+hybrid
or
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Laptop...seagate+hybrid

although I only glanced at those so you'd have to hunt for their specs and maybe reviews to see which one is better.

EDIT: found a review of the one hybrid:
http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_sshd_thin_review_gen3_500gb_st500lm000
Certainly looks a lot more responsive than a pure HDD