External Hard Drive. Can I connect direct to Macbook via Gb Ethernet?

Hey,

I have a Macbook 2.2 SantaRosa.. I'm looking to get an External HD for storing Media and as a Time Machine back up..

To give me flexibility in the future I'm considering a NAS drive (1TB or higher). This is so I can network it off my router when at home and stream data with my PS3 other computers. BUT I want to be able to use it directly with my Macbook while at University.

There seems to be some debate over whether Gigabit ethernet will be faster in real world, than firewire 400 or USB2 Highspeed.

The Real question here is: Can I connect a NAS via Gigabit ethernet direct to my macbook (without switch/router). What functionality, transfer speeds (obviously this depends on lots of stuff but an idea with someone who has done it would be good) and Limitations I can expect..


Cheers guys.. Really appreciate the time

To the best of my knowledge the only way Time Machine will work is either
tethered to the usb or firewire port and option 2 with either Time Capsule or
Airport Extreme with external drive attached to the usb port and enabled .