"clean install" or "erase and install"

[deep diver]

I am new to the mac world (or will be as soon as the new MBPs hit the market). In Windows, when I got a new machine, I always wiped out my disk and installed just what I wanted. I plan to do the same with Leopard so I don't waste a lot of space on print drivers, language support, etc that I won't need. Questions: 1) On a virgin amchine, is it better to use the "clean install" or "erase and install" option, and why? 2) Will I have to reinstall any firmware that was already installed on the machine?

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

I don't know the answer to your first question, as I very rarely wipes clean my hd and reinstalls from the DVD. My guess is that both options on a virgin hd would format everything and give you choices of whether or not to install demo apps, printer drivers, languages and the works.

See here for a way to do all this without reinstalling from scratch.

Answer to your second question: no.
Firmware is different than usual software, as firmware resides in the different types of hardware on your comp. Software goes to the hard disk, firmware goes to the logic board, graphics card etc. etc. and there's no way you can remove the firmware by formatting the hard disk.
This is also why firmware updates are a bit trickier to do than usual software updates.

Hope you can use the answer.