AMD chips DO NOT have a heating issue anymore. In fact, the Intel Prescott core based chips run hotter than AMD and yet cannot match the performance provided by AMD. All processors will heat up if the heatsink/fan isn't installed properly.

Also, AMD chips can and are overclocked. I myself am running an old Athlon XP 2000+ with a stock speed of 1.6GHz at 2.00GHz with no extra cooling fan and the stock AMD provided heatsink fan combo.

Right. I am going for AMD laptop now . But the thing is , i only know of ACER which gives Amd processors. Are there any other companies also ?

Unfortunately, not many major brands build systems with AMD chips.

IBM, Dell, Toshiba, and Sony are currently all Intel-only.

Compaq, HP, Fujitsu, Gateway, and Acer offer a selection of systems available with either AMD or Intel processors.

OK. Which AMD processor is best for notebooks in terms of pure PERFORMANCE. Is it Mobile AMD Athlon™ 64 or what? And which Intel processor gives it the nearest competition.

i am also not very happy with there L2 cache memory( 1MB) . Intel offers 2MB cache. Does it really makes a diiference??

If you use it only for Internet and paper work. Any processor will be OK, if you not using for high graphic performance gaming or any high graphic requirement will be fine only when open application will slow by few second that will not kill you right.
Unless you are impatient type of people.
You choose AMD b'cos is cheaper, so go for value for money(buy) or within your budget.
What you need to think for a loptop is protable that why size important from 10 inch to 15 inch.
What is you intended o use for your new PC?
Most of the laptop warranty is 1 year only, if you want extended warranty need pay extra. Only TwinHead offer 3 year warranty FOC as I know. (have a choice of AMD and Intel)
Battery life for all laptop is about 500 cycle of charging. Cost to replace it from US$100 to $400 depending on brand and model.

I will be requiring my laptop for programming , media - music , movies , and occasionally gaming. Therefore, i want my laptop to give max. performance.

well in my opinion for everything but gaming a pentium chip will almost always outperform an amd chip. It looks like for your needs it is much better...but to be quite honest...you will not notice the difference between processors most likely so just go with the best deal you can find...remember more ram and a faster hard drive will always make a laptop perform on day to day tasks better than one with less ram a slower hard drive but a blazing fast processor...

Then you should have a laptop with minimun
1. LCD size bigger than 14 inch
2. RAM 512 Mb (best is built in 512 Mb so you will have spare slot to upgrade if not you will regret when you want to upgrade)
3. Good graphic card on board