Need help with a table saw decision

[scott spencer]

I went and looked at Job site saws at Lowes yesterday and I have to ask what's up with the texturing on the tables? All of them, to varying extents, had texturing on the table top. It seems like that would promote the piece grabbing and, therefore, inaccurate cuts. Of course I'm just starting out here so maybe, in my inexperience, I'm overestimating how much of an effect it would have?

Or is there an easy way of smoothing them down that I'm missing?

Unless you need portability to move the saw from jobsite to jobsite, I would not buy a portable saw. While functional, you simply give up the lion's share of advantages for the sake of portability. The full size saws are much quieter, have more torque, have substantially more mass, are made from more robust materials, accommodate more standard accessories, can be easily upgraded, are more reliable, more feasible to repair, and there's a ton more room in front of the blade to stabilize the work piece on before it cuts.