Well, you really have a couple of options.
The ioExpress is smaller, lighter, cheaper and works very well. It is down convert on output only. Digital (SDI) input only, and uses the Express/34 slot which leaves fw800 as your only storage option. It can also playback a multitude of video codecs.
The ioHD is bigger, heavier (but not real heavy), expensiver (yes, you heard me), but has up/down/cross conversion, a huge amount of varied digital and analog inputs AND outputs and connects to the computer via fw800. This allows more connection options for hard drives (eSata, fw800, etc), and also to analog decks without conversion. The ioHD really wants to see ProRes in HD and can go uncompressed in SD. Anything that is not ProRes is converted real time to ProRes on the CPU. This is a limiting factor on a laptop. If going the ioHD route, I would recommend editing on a ProRes timeline that matches the frame rate and full raster size of your footage. So if you're editing 1440x1080 XDCam footage, I would edit on a 1920x1080 ProRes timeline at a matching frame rate.
AS far as storage, I'd recommend a small raid; something like the sonnet D400QR5. It is bigger than single drive options, but if you're moving around a lot, the redundancy is key. It also has a bunch of inputs for your needs. It features raid 5 built right in to it.
http://sonnettech.com/product/fusion400qr5.html
Jeremy
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