I'm rather late to this thread. Good discussion so far.
Originally Posted by ShuttleBug
(1) 512 MB RAM; (2) 56K v 90K modem; (3) 802.11 b/g compliant wireless card; (4) 10/100/1000 Etherneet PC Card; (6) 40+ GB HD; (7) PC card slot; (8) 1 GB MHz processor speed.
As with earlier posters, I also agree that gigabit Ethernet shouldn't be that big a concern, as it's not that widely available on noteboook computers. That said, I think IBM's got this as an option on many models.
I would advise going for 1 GB of memory. Adding more memory is one of the most cost effective ways to boost performance.
1) How important is it to choose a system with IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface? What exactly is it and how does it work?
FireWire is a different type of bus, similar in some respects to USB as both let you connect external devices to your PC. Some differences like USB uses a root/hub/branch type topology, whereas FireWire does daisy chaining to connect multiple devices. Performance comparable between FireWire 400 and USB 2.0; one or the other might be slightly faster depending on the device. DV-type camcorders use the FireWire interface to transfer data to the computer. Some external hard drives come with both FireWire and USB interfaces, though you can only use one at a time, of course.
2) Is it absolutely necessary to have a digital media reader? 4-in-1 or 6-in-1? What do laptops w/o readers use?
Digital media readers are convenient for travel with a digital camera where you need to dump the files onto your computer as the memory card fills up. My notebook doesn't have a built-in memory card reader (save for the Sony Memory Stick), so I bought a
SanDisk 6-in-1 PC Card adapter so that I can read my SD cards. The mini external USB card readers suggested by others are another viable option.
3) What would be the smallest number of 2.0 USB ports
reasonable? Since I know that I will need at least one for (a) parallel port toUSB printer connection) and another for occasional use with (b) external 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, should I assume that a system with a total of 3 ports would be adequate?
I would say two as the bare minimum, 3 or 4 would be better.
4) I note that on some laptops video memory is shared DDR (128 MB or 64 MB). Is this good?
Shared means the video frame buffer is using up part of the main memory, so you'd have to take your 512 MB and subtract off 64 or 128 MB. This would be another good reason to consider 1 GB of main memory.
FewMiles..