budget ...lets say 3500USD
Things to consider: Graphics card/performance, battery life, size/weight, screen rez, price, service.

the four i like:

Hypersonic cx6
http://secure.hypersonic-pc.com/scri...id=Aviator_CX6

vs

hypersonic ax6
http://secure.hypersonic-pc.com/scri...id=Aviator_AX6

vs

voodoo 780
http://www.voodoopc.com/systems/advanced.aspx?t=1&p=360

vs

voodoo 860
http://www.voodoopc.com/systems/advanced.aspx?t=2&p=350


i'm leaning toward the hypersonic cx6, because it seems to have a great price, 15.4 inch screen, good performance and is very mobile. I don't see any huge difference in terms of benchmarks between the processors so much as I do between the video cards(9700/9600).
The p4 systems do have the best graphics though. Unfortunately they get atrocious battery life and are very expensive and are usually rather large. The athlon64 books I like a lot as well because they have both great battery life and graphics performance, but they are pretty expensive. Any opinions on this. I realize that no matter what I won't get desktop performance but has to be a laptop because it's for work too

If you can afford it the 860 is the best of the bunch. It's a bit heavier, it has the 9700, and it has 64 bit for Windows '64 which gives it amazing brute power, yet it still will give you about 2 hours of battery life, which is a lot for an 8 lb powerful desktop replacement.

That being said you can get a Dell 9100 with ~30 minutes less battery life in the next few days for about $2100 highly spec'd out. The customer service stories are not so great in the Dell forum.

I'm in the same boat - I'm waiting for Hypersonic to release the Aviator AX7 (?) which will be the M860 for about $1000 less (?). Hypersonic is rated as high as Voodoo yet their stuff typically prices $1000 less. And they have a dead-pixl policy that is excellent.

The emachines 6805 & soon 6809 are quite tempting too. For $1700 or so you can get the AMD 64 - 3200 with 9600 PRO 64 meg. Yes that's not quite as strong, but for $1700 ?!? But the AX6 is about $800 more w/1 MB RAM, 3400 A64, 128 MB 9600 Pro. Hmmm. I'm going to decide when they show & price final the AX7.

Of course you realize that any Voodoo is about $500 overpriced from what other vendors offer for pretty much the same thing. There are some nice looking rigs on the very near horizon with the ATI9700 and either an AMD or PM processor. Do a search and you'll find em.