Buy like you will never upgrade and therefor keep the future in mind. How long until you buy a new laptop? That should help determine how long you will be able to sanely use it. 1GB minimal on ANYTHING...2GB would be the safe way to go if you'll use it for over 2 years, disable virtual memory to keep your sanity intact of course.
I don't know much about screen sizes but if it support 1280x1024 you should be ok.
The number one rule to follow..
#1.) If it's not specified it's not what you want.
If a laptop for example does not specify that the USB ports are in fact USB 2.0 then you should automatically assume they are USB 1.1 ONLY. Don't trust sales people to fill in the holes as I've encounted those hole filling lies in all sorts of markets (computers/cars/etc).
Hope this helps some but if you posted exactly what you wanted to do I could make my recomendations a bit more effective.
