A shop vac is designed for low volumes at high pressures, 100-300 CFM, and 110" of water. Dust collection requires more air than that, and if designed right the pressures will be in the 7-9" range.

The shop vac will be better than nothing, but a small dust collector will do a much better job.

: Thanks to Xmas-and a Sears charge card-I now have a table saw and will begin
: cutting strips soon. The saw has a provision for dust collection,
: basically just a short section of PVC under the table, which I understand
: can be hooked up to a shop vac. I was wondering how effective this is-have
: any of you used this method? I will be doing this in a finished basement
: and need to keep the dust down as much as possible.
: Thanks in advance.