Thread: Finishing sander & saw advice needed

I am in the final stages of setting up my woodworkshop. I am now looking at getting a finishing sander and a powersaw. I do a lot of research before buying gear but on these two items I've been given some rather conflicting information so I'd really appreciate some advice.

Finishing sander advice: I've had a look at the square type with a soft rubber pad onto which the sanding paper is clamped and the round type with velcro attachment for the sandpaper. Now I'll be spending a lot of time using my jointer and planer/thicknesser to get surfaces as close to perfectly even as possible before finishing with a sander. How exactly do the square, soft rubber sander keep the surface even? Wouldn't the softness of the pad result in an uneven sanding, so ruining my surface? For that matter, many of the round velcro type sanders I've seen also seem to have fairly soft edges. What finishing sander would you recommend?

Saw advice: I've been told that using sliding mitre saws will result in a lot of breakout and that I should get a radial arm saw where this is much less of a problem. What saw would you recommend?