I think both saws have their place and uses. The portable saws are great to haul around to job sites. I have used them for years as a finish carpenter. They have small motors, they are not designed to run the big cutting heads and dado's. The motors are very loud. Turn them on and can hear it all the way down the street.
They do sell a wobly blade for them. Like a bent saw blade, will cut a nice 1/4" dado, different blades for different widths.
Trying to cut big sheets on a small flippy floppy saw is a pita and a 2 man job.
The fences are usually crappy, but they do work. You just have to be aware of the pit falls and work around them.
For a kitchen, working with end panels for cabinets and filler strips, portable saw is perfect.
That Rockwell saw is the ideal tool. You turn it on and all you hear is the humm of the motor. Everything on it can be repaired or replaced. Make sure the bearings on the shaft are good, you do not want the blade to wobble on it. You can modify it and mount it on casters, roll it into a corner when not in use. Same time you could build 1 or 2 cabinets on castors. Same height as the saw and store tools in them, roll them off to the wall and when needed put the saws and cabs together and have a NICE professional cabinet saw. In the middle of the driveway or shop, roll away when done.
The fence is something upgraded all the time ... carpenters go to tool shows, "DUDE did you see the fence on that one!"
You need 2 things with a saw, the blade to be true, and a good fence ... Often the death of old saws is the shaft being worn to where new bearings wont fix the wobble. Then they are basically junk.
http://www.mulecab.com/tablesaw.html#OrderInfo
With all that said, I am using a portable saw still I just do not have the room for a real saw. But I get er did.
The newer Dewalts and others, still flippy floppy and just a better class of junk.
