Can you use a base element and mod_rewrite to alleviate the need for absolute URLs?

[danatanseo]

This is a follow up question to Scott Parsons' question about using absolute versus relative URLs when linking internally.

Andy King makes the statement that this can be done and that it saves additional space (which he claims then can improve page speed). Is this a true and accurate statement? Can using a base element and mod-rewrite alleviate the need for absolute URLs? I need to know before going off on a "change all of our relative URLs to absolutes" campaign.

Thanks in advance!

Dana