memory options for new laptop

Hey all,
I'm looking into buying a new laptop which will need to accomodate some pretty sophisticated software for school. (I am not a gamer, if that makes ANY difference!)
I have 2 questions that I'm looking to get an opinion on:

1) If I buy this processor (Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) ) how much difference will buying a 2gb, 3gb or 4 gb Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz. How much of a difference will it really make? Also, should I look into getting a higher Mhz in my processor, or in my memory?

2) Below are the min requirements for my 2 main programs. I need to be able to run them both at the same time. Can anyone suggest what the mins I should get my new laptop with?

Program 1:

• Processor: 500 MHz or if using VoiceText,700 MHz
Intel® Pentium® III
• Memory: 128MB or if using VoiceText, 256MB
• Hard Disk Space: 500MB-600MB (depending upon
various options selected during installation)
• Operating System: Windows® 98 SE,ME ® , 2000, XP ®
• Video RAM: 2MB
• Screen Resolution: 800 x 600 pixels
• Color Palette: High color (16-bit)
• For Audio File Creation: MP3 encoder and/or
Windows Media® Player
• For How To Videos: Windows Media Player
• Sound Ca rd: Creative Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or
other 16-bit compatible sound ca rd with speakers
• CD drive, keyboard and mouse


Program 2:


Intel® Pentium® / 1 GHz processor (for example, Pentium® M, Pentium® 4), or equivalent AMD® processor - Faster processors will yield faster performance
512 MB RAM or 1 GB RAM for Windows Vista™
1 GB free hard disk space
Microsoft® Windows® XP (SP1 or higher) Home and Professional, 2000 (SP4 or higher), Vista (32-bit)
Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or higher (free download available at www.microsoft.com)
CD-ROM drive (required for installation)
Nuance-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included)
Speakers (required for playback of recorded speech and text to speech features)
A web connection is required for activation


Im planning on downgrading to XP (and no, mac is not an option!)
Thanks for any thoughts/opinions that anyone has!!!


Thanks,
*EQL*

 

Only 2 gb RAM,will be enough.