LinuxQuestions.org - RedHat 7.1 Security Updates

I have a 48MB/233Mhz computer which I decided to play with and install Linux. Being a cheapskate (and poor) I decided not to spend as little as possible. Therefore I loaded RedHat 7.1, which was literally as little as possible, i.e. nothing, and away I went. It has been about a month and a half, and I have to say that I am sold. Just love it. However, after getting the firewall and such up and running, so that I could do some more serious online activity, I started looking into the updates offerred from RedHat. There are 164 of them, and 150 or so are labelled security updates!!! I am on a quite pathetic dial-up (remember I am a poor cheapskate) and this is not going to work at all. So, I am wondering, is there a way to figure out which I actually really, really need and download only those? Just how dangerous is the 7.1 pachage I am currently running, and do I absolutely need all of that stuff?

Or, if that is really not the way to go, should I simply pursue a different distro which is more up to date in the first place and change over to that? I also was able to get Slackware 8.1.01 for nothing, but it is also not the latest release, and I have gathered that updating that one is much more difficult than the likes of RedHat. So what might be one worth going with on a fairly slow computer like mine? Or is that really an issue between distros? I know that in Microsoft, as soon as an OS is updated, the RAM needed to push it quadruples. Is Linux like that? So far "system requirements" information is severely lacking in things LInux. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

cothrige