Once upon a time, laptops were large, heavy, and weak in comparison to the available desktop systems of the day. A lack of power-saving options kept battery life at a minimum, making additional battery packs almost a necessity rather than an option. Factor in an outrageous price (the cost of portability), and you can see why most folks couldn't see mobile computing as a compelling sell.

This is no longer the case. Intel's mobile line is nearly comparable to their desktop offerings in terms of clock speed. Similarly, AMD has already announced their mobile Duron, with a mobile Athlon soon to follow. Combinations of CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and CD-RW drives are considered "normal" on high-end laptops, and the advent of wireless networking is upon us as well. However, one of the most competitive markets in the mobile industry is that pertaining to graphics. While ATI Technologies is still the dominant force, rival graphics giant NVIDIA has taken strides to challenge their supremacy in both the notebook and Mac markets with variants of their GeForce2 line.

We were recently given the opportunity to take a peek at ATI's next generation mobile processor, the M6, which will be known as the Mobility RADEON. Carrying over many of the features we have come to know from the RADEON core, there is no doubt that this latest iteration will be powerful, but will it be enough to help ATI parry the inevitable barrage of products NVIDIA has targeted towards historically ATI-dominant market segments?