Here's the advantage with SSD.
Startup times are much faster. Applications open with a pop. Everything will seem to take less time. And you will almost never hear the whirring sound of the SATA mechanical hard drives.
But here's the best part. If you have a SSD and SATA, make sure you move the OS files onto the SSD. Then your apps will be fast. Apple's Mountain Lion OS has the option to make this combo as a fusion drive. Basically, fusion drive is a special Mac driver that manages the movement of files between the SSD and the hard drive.
Fusion Drive automatically and dynamically moves frequently used files to Flash storage for quicker access, while infrequently used items move to the hard disk. As a result you'll have shorter startup times, and as the system learns how you work you'll see faster application launches and quicker file access. Fusion Drive manages all this automatically in the background.
Do you need it from Apple? No. You can buy and install an SSD on your own (from Other World Computing (OWC)) but realize that Apple is getting clever by making it hard to update on your own. Apple makes a killing on the margins of these drives so you are better off buying on your own.
Heck, I just got a Mac Mini to setup as a media server and the only things you can upgrade are RAM and HD. I am going to install a SSD and complement my 2010 Macbook Pro that is still going strong. I can get all my media work done on the mini while I use the portable to show off stuff and browse/email/edit docs.
Regarding fast non-SSD external Thunderbolt drive to for media storage, I would not recommend Thunderbolt drives as they are too expensive. Thunderbolt is just starting to come into the market and will take some time for traction. You are better off with a Seagate (I bought the Backup Plus) or the Western Digital HDD. Just plug it into the mac and Time Machine will automatically back it up.
Quote: (05-09-2013 11:56 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
specially on the MacPro, it says the Mac Pro comes with 500GB Serial ATA drive capacity but to upgrade it to SSD, the 128GB SSD it's an extra 200 bucks. Why would I lower the capacity of my machine from 500GB to 128GB and still pay an extra 200 bucks for that privilege? What I am missing in here guys? What's the scoop here guys?