Shill!
Just kidding, we don't get our panties in a bunch here like they do over in the roadie forum whenever someone trots out a Motobecane.
The specs look reasonable for the price. I've noticed that a lot of the major players (Kona, Specialized, Gary Fisher, etc.) have been pushing some of their components down a notch or two on the spec list. For example, when I got my Kona hardtail it was all Deore stuff. The same model today at the same price now has Alivio stuff in it.
All that to say that it appears to be spec'ed correctly.
Here's the big HOWEVER part coming along. Since you admit not being around bikes in a while, we do not recommend buying bikes online to newbies. First and foremost you have to make sure that the bike fits you well. You can only know that if you try the bike. The various bike manufacturers have different geometries and one company's 17" will feel great and another will feel like crap to you.
I recommend you visit one or several local bike shops (LBS) and go in telling them how much you want to spend and what you want to use the bike for. You will find several bikes that fall within your price range that will be great. At that price point the spec list is more or less the same but the big differentiator between the bikes is how it fits you.