Sorry for being long winded, runs in the family :)
I'm just getting into woodworking and want to get my first table saw. My "shop" is my two car garage, which is used for two cars. With the cars in it, there is barely enough room for anything on the sides other than a few hanging lawn tools.
My first few purchases for power tools were (In order):
Dewalt DW959K-2 18V cordless drill Craftsman 13 amp circular saw
1/4 sheet craftsman palm sander Dewalt DW706 Dual Bevel 12" Compound Mitre Saw Cheap Skil jigsaw Dewalt DW618PK 2 1/4 HP Plunge/Fixed router combo(The wife likes the Dewalt yellow. I really have no brand loyalty, but if she's happy...)
With these tools, I constucted my 15 ft wide workshop area on the back wall of my garage. Out of BC 3/4 plywood and yellow pine, time, glue, and finishing nails, I've built 5 wall cabinets with doors and two fixed base cabinets. The first base cabinet lines up with the left wall cabinet and the other lines up with the center wall cabinet. I've built a removable countertop between the two and the area under the right two wall cabinets houses my lawn mower and such. Considering what I had to work with, they came out quite spectacular for a first project with no guidance. Nothing fancy in the construction, of course; just lots or rabbets and dadoes.
I am in the process of building a rolling center base cabinet that will have interchangable tops. I'm going to start by making a router table top for it, and then a Mitre saw drop-in top.
The rolling cabinet will be about 33" X 19" and the interchangable top that I drop the table saw I intend to buy can be no larger than 35 X
I'm looking for suggestions for the table saw to buy. I know a table saw is the heart of the shop, but I'd like to keep it cheap to start until I use one for a while to know what I like and/or I have the space to use it. I've looked at the 9 Delta saw at Lowes, the 0 Craftsman bench top saw, and the 9 Dewalt "Jobsite saw." because of the wife. However, I don't know if it is worth it to me to spend 0 on the Dewalt until I get deeper into the whole woodworking thing (especially because I think that if I get into it enough to buy a 0 saw, I will probably be willing to spend 00 and move into a new house to accomadate it)
Money is not as much of a factor as the form factor. It needs to be small enough to fit in the space and light enough that I can change it out with my other interchangable tops. Keep in mind that by light, I mean not too much heavier than the Mitre saw. I can heft that around without too much difficulty.
In any case, I'll post before and after pictures of my "Rolling Shop" when I'm through.