I'm currently using RH9 on my laptop and desktop. It's ok on my desktop but i'm not too happy w\ it on my laptop. I need it to be faster and HOPEFULLY support my internal wireless.

This is my problem. I went to the archlinux.org website to find the downloads. This may just be me use to having to download 3 ISO's, but what exactly do i need to d/l here. Here are my choices:
arch-0.4.iso
arch-0.4.md5sum
arch-0.5-base.iso
arch-0.5-base.md5sum
arch-0.5.iso 641952 kb
arch-0.5.md5sum

is -0.4 the older version and -0.5 the newer? if so, is there only one ISO of 0.4 and what exactly is 0.4.md5sum?

Sorry if i sound like too much of an idiot here, just a little confused

arch-0.5-base.iso
arch-0.5-base.md5sum
arch-0.5.iso 641952 kb
arch-0.5.md5sum
download those

the files with .md5sum has a digital signature inside like this
dbde1b5a47a6282bf19c82c72950e126.
Just open the .md5sum files with notepad or nano or pico or whatever you got and look at it and you'll understand
You can download a program or use the utilities that come with linux to hash the checksum of the .iso files and compare the checksum with the ones inside the .md5sum and make sure they match.
If they match then the files have not been tampered with and are genuinue.
If they do not match then they got corrupted during download or they have been tampered with.

If you have a fairly good internet connection (broadband), I would recommend the arch-0.5-base.iso. This will only provide the base packages needed to get you up and running, the rest you would install from the servers with the pacman package manager.

If you have a slower connection, it would be better to download the full iso: arch-0.5.iso

HTH