the ps3 takes a laptop sized hdd which is the 2.5" standard.
ANY brand hard drive can be used however i would stick with samsung ,seagate or western digital. you seem to be forgetting that scorpio is just what wd calls their laptop drives (like how they call the 3.5" drives caviar) and that it comes in both blue (cheaper) and black (expensive) models. while prices can certainly vary from country to country its still going to be 1/3 of the cost of the ssd.
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Now on to my results.
Boot Times - Video
HDD - 10.2 seconds
SSD - 9.6 seconds
5% faster load time
Not much of an increase on this one. I was kind of expecting more since the firmware is now kept on the drive for the Slims. Sony seems to have a done a good job optimising it for fast startup.
Demo Installation - Video
Batman demo used
HDD - 129.6 seconds
SSD - 99 seconds
24% faster times
This is quite a bit of improvement. Definitly a heavier improvement then what my old 7200rpm drive could do.
GT5 loading - Startup Video, Track Loading Video
Startup
HDD - 25.9 seconds
SSD - 22.9 seconds
10% decrease in load times
Track Load
HDD - 14.1 seconds
SSD - 11.6 seconds
18% decrease in load times
Not bad. Definitly seeing some better times then on the 7200rpm drive.
Wipeout HD - Startup Video, Track 1 Load Video, Track 2 Load Video
Startup
HDD - 44.1 seconds
SSD - 24 seconds
45% faster startup (Impressive).
Track 1
HDD - 14.2 seconds
SSD - 9.9 seconds
30% faster load
Track 2
HDD - 13.3 seconds
SSD - 8.8 seconds
33% decrease in load times
boot up times are negligible. in game loading screens are a slight decrease but nothing spectacular. games do install a fair bit faster but nothing worth getting excited about. game loading speeds are also an increas but again nothing to get excited about.
the only thing which a ssd would be worthwhile for is if you have many games locally installed which run 100% off the drive (and dont need the dvd) such as items you buy on the store. if this is how the majority of the games on the system are to be played than it definitely makes sense to look into a ssd if its within budget. if this is not how most games will be played and if many are on disk format then it does not make sense to spend $100 extra for the drive.
i considered a ssd myself and went over this very same data. it makes sense if you buy on the store (which is normally overpriced) but not if you buy physical media.