a lot of it is also what kind of riding you will be doing- I just purchased a K2 brass monkey (kinda a XC/Urban mix) because I wil be doing a lot of urban bashing and also some light duty XC - also the bike weighed in less (28lbs) than a lot of other companies extreme XC bikes. It was only $660 shipped to my house (still waiting on the bike - losers at supergo backordered my frame size till mid dec) also it has good components for its price-
if your like me price was the starting point to the search - so find the bike that best suits your $$ and needs/wants
