jmarsch :
Thanks Foolycooly. I'll probably either go with the F3 or just wait until I can get a larger SSD for less money. The SSD is really tempting, but I'm afraid I'd fill a 60GB, and then be dealing with all the nonsense that comes of having a nearly full boot drive.
jmarsch - You know I used to think the same thing. In fact, I recently posted a question about upgrading my boot drive to a RAID0 Samsung F3 (2 x 500GB) like I recently put in a build for my parents. The info provided on this forum lead me to further info and I ended up buying an SSD about a week later. I decided on the OCZ Vertex after reading all the reviews (supports TRIM, great Random Read & Write 4kb speeds). Then, it turned out to be on sale for $99 at MicroCenter (after MIR) - normally $160. You can get the 60gb version for $180 right now after MIR (normally $210).
I too was worried that I would fill it up too quickly. So, here's what I've got going. Windows 7 Ultimate, MS Office, Norton 2010, Firefox & IE are installed on the boot drive (I still have 10GB free of 30GB, so I could throw on CS4 too if I wanted). I have some other less accessed programs and all of my media, docs, etc on my 7200.12. I'm thoroughly happy with it and doubt I'll ever go back to a traditional magnetic HD for my boot drive. And, once 160GB drives drop significantly, I'll throw one in my laptop in a second.
Really, if anything if you're worried about filling it up, then
I'd focus your research on finding tests people have run on new drives & then full drives (I was able to find this on the Vertex before I bought it and was satisfied with the results)...
Pointertovoid :
My 7200.12 (take multiples of 250GB) is fast, but I didn't have the opportunity to compare with equally recent models. Fabulously silent anyway.
F3, yes.
Hitachi's 7k1000.c (500GB/platter, hence better than 7k1000.b) would be my choice now because my older 7k160 is so good, but I couldn't compare with recent competitors.
Pointertovoid - here are some specs on my: 7200.12 1TB (partitioned to about 350gb / 650gb), (2) Samsung F3 500GB in RAID0, and my OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD loaded with the above apps... The tests were run in Crystal Disk Mark