Ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers, with pulse widths measured in femtosecond to picosecond, are widely used for machining or cutting materials of all kinds.  Today’s newest USP lasers offer high output power (>100W), with high pulse energy and high pulse repetition rate.   When machining or marking metals, which have low ablation threshold and high thermal conductivity, low pulse energy and high pulse repetition rate typically give the best results.  In contrast, when processing materials such as glass or polymers which can have high ablation threshold and low thermal conductivity, it is best to use high laser pulse energy and low pulse repetition rate.  However, regardless of the material being processed, when total output power of the laser exceeds about 50W, thermal damage to the processing material (HAZ) can easily occur.  Spreading laser power distribution across the target material becomes critical.  This is typically achieved using higher scan speed, split beam processing, diffractive optics, or a combination of these. We discuss methods currently being used to effectively distribute >100W laser power across a processing surface, to utilize the full power capacity of today’s USP lasers, and we present experimental results achieved with our newest 140W HyperRapid picosecond laser, and 150W Monaco femtosecond laser.