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To my mind, it's a 78 vs. 33 1/3 thing. ≤}B^)

But seriously folks, My present camera uses CF ("Compact Flash") cards. My tower computer now has a built-in slot for it, and my notebook can get by with a CF-to-USB adapter. BTW, "Flash" in this context means the type of memory technology ("Flash erase"); nothing to do with a camera flash. All current portable solid-state memories actually use "Flash" EEPROM. This form merely has it in its name.

My audio recorder uses SD (Secure Digital) cards, and both my computers have slots for those.

For general storage, such as for my encrypted username-password file and various project files, I have been using USB memories, but just recently decided to start using SD cards for this purpose. Both my computers read/write these without adapters, and the SD card is small and maybe faster than the USB memory.

The only problem with the SD card is that it is so small that you can lose it or lose track of it; I have to take extra precautions now that I am using one regularly as a general purpose sneakernet storage medium.

All current laptops I have seen, including my two most recent ones, have an SD slot and several USB ports; either one would be fine for removable, portable, solid state memories. And the USB supports many peripherals, including hard disks with capacities greater than you can get with solid state memories. The only thing to check for with the hard disk choice is whether it needs an external power supply, or can run exclusively on the power provided by the USB port.

Personally, I prefer CF cards for two reasons.

They are faster (or at least can be faster. This is an issue in higher-end cameras, because of the size of the files. If you're doing sports photography, and want to dump a shot or to per second to the card, you to have a fast card.
You can label them. Micro-SD cards are just too freaking small IMO, as you can't put a useful label on them so you can tell what is on it. SD cards are a little better, but CompactFlash cards actually have a place on them to write what is on them.

Yeah, I know. Everybody likes these cool little cards barely bigger than your pinky nail, but I believe there is such a thing as something being too freaking small to be useful.