i can not speak to the particular SSD drive apple has chosen.
when it comes to SSD there is no straight shot answer to: "is SSD better than 7200rm whatever drive"
there is a lot to research as the technology evolves... MANY people have been burned spending a premium on a drastically under-performing variation of SSD tech. i read a TON of reviews about many SSD drives till i settled on the x25-m.
i can tell you my experience with the intel x25-M MLC:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820167005
i have an old asus g1s - 3gb ram - 2.19ghz processor - 256mb geforce 8600M GT videocard.
it came with vista...
...on a 7200 rpm HD.
i was wanting to push content on 3 screens with a matrox Triplehead2go with dxv encoded files from 640x480 up to 1920x480... the output was simply not possible with the current system... in a "hail-mary" attempt to revive this laptop i bought the 80gig intel x25-M SSD for $320...
i threw winxpPRO on it and it as a night and day difference... when i add a couple effects it slows it down to 40fps ( but for my use, i don't use video effects, just trigger clips on different screens across 4 layers:
layer 1: 1920x480 across 3 screens
layer 2: 640x 480 on right screen
layer 3: 1280x480 across left and middle screen (assigned A on crossfade)
layer 4: 1280x480 across left and middle screen (assigned B on crossfade)
90% of the time i am running 60fps while utilizing video on 3 of those layers.
when it comes to the intel x25-M SSD drive.... it was the best investment for clip playback. (keep in mind, the os, program and content are all on the SSD drive...) (not to mention winxp cold boots in 25 seconds to a completely loaded tray... fastest i have ever seen from nothing to everything)
it took a modest 3-year-old laptop and juiced it into an insanely powerful res ave machine that will suit my application for a good year or 2.
so depending on what SSD drive apple uses, it could be one of the best investments you make.