While doing research, I came across Notebook review
http://www.notebookreview.com
Which seems to be a handy way of narrowing down based on performance.
Still haven't found a good way to do the comparisons (like you were above) without doin it manal style.
My interest in upgrades are with the assumption that unless I did it from an "approved" vendor, I take my warrentee in my own hands. But as someone that's been knee deep in computers since 91 and work in the computer field, I am ok with that risk.
I still think what I need to do is lay out the top 10 performers in the price range I want to spend, than stack rank them on looks (subjective) and again on performance and pick the one that comes out with the highest average ranking!
That or I'll end up making a completely irrational decision and buy the hawtest rig I can, blow my budget, and spend the next 3 months trying to catch up on paying it off my credit card.
