…and I am happy!

Here are the results.

I'd love to see some benchmarks from a newer 7200rpm HD for comparison. 

Very cool.. thanks!
Love the benchmarks...

Wanted to get the results out in the open. Most of the people asking whether or not they should do an FireWire SSD boot drive were systematically fed "it'd be a waste, FW800 isn't fast enough to use an SSD to it's full potential." No, it can't …but somehow I'll still sleep at night knowing that an internal SSD could open that 200MB image faster.

As far as an upgrade goes, anyone saying it's not worth it hasn't actually tried it…

When I DO get my next iMac it'll have a Thunderbolt port on it, then I figure I can connect this SSD via a Thunderbolt > eSATA adapter and be able to use it at it's full potential.

Aha! yet another good use for TB.

Interesting....why did you go with the elite pro vs the on the go pro? Just wondering.

To get the eSATA port for later Thunderbolt use. Was only $10 more. Other than that, I wouldn't have had any qualms about buying the go drive.

So Thunderbolt uses esata ports? I didn't know that.

Actually no....
But eSata has higher throughput than FW800....
USB and FW have to convert the signal.. eSata does not.

http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/

Thunderbolt will be pretty much backward compatible with everything. USB, FireWire, eSATA, Ethernet, etc. I'm expecting some VERY sweet hubs to come out this summer. Technically you could have a Mac with a single Thunderbolt port that could be connected to a hub with whatever ports you need. I'm assuming since it's built in conjunction with the mini display port Apple will soon be offering displays with all the standard ports we see now (and possibly more), but everything will be neatly carried through one cable.

I'm just hoping that this takes off more than FW... but I think it will since Intel is backing it and putting it on their chips. as opposed to FW which was just a standard and didn't require chip level integration.

That's the dream.
And is unfortunately keeping from buying anything new!

ok, but if the connectors are different, how can you use a esata cable unless you get a hub? And is there a hub that gives you esata connection?

There isn't a hub now, but there will be. Or, they could probably make a cable that goes from eSATA to Thunderbolt on the other end. Kinda like those mini display port to HDMI adapters. It'll be a little while yet before they pop out, but I would expect OWC to be one of the places to go to find the solution.

Also, Thunderbolt connections are daisy-chainable just like FireWire. Lots of devices will have pass-through ports.

I hope so..that would be awesome.