What does it mean when someone says I need a faster camera? Does this have to do with ISO or shutter speed?

Answer 1

well, faster does not really specify anything tho. as you may find that a device nowadays can shrink smaller or thinner and how low can they go? there's a limit to it. But in terms of speed, we're always craving for more speed, thats why we've been putting up more transistor into processor.
Cutting edge camera is replacing its engine every once in a while, like Lumix has Venus engine, and canon with Digic.
Faster may mean faster shutter speed,
Faster transfer rate,
Faster recording speed to storage media internally or externally,
Faster speed to get the camera ready to take a shot from off-set
Faster burst speed, means how many pictures you can take continuously in one second or simultaneously ...
Faster way to set the camera up to have the best shot
While ISO simply indicates how well the camera can record the still picture in a low light condition..

Answer 2

That's one possibility. Another, if you're using a digital camera, is that you need a better transfer speed. When you snap a picture with a digital camera, it takes time for the camera to read the image and write it to the memory chip. Higher end cameras do this faster, but that costs more. If you're just shooting vacation shots, it's not such a big deal. If you're shooting professionally, say at a sports event, you may miss some great shots because your camera needs 3-5 seconds between each shot.