The proof is simple engineering. If you have two otherwise identical integrated circuits, with one running at half the clock speed of the other, the slower chip will consume less power, every time. This is a fundamental of electrical engineering. It's the same reason your mobile CPU will clock itself down whenever possible. It saves power - and the same principles apply to a serial communications interface such as SATA.
A couple thoughts come to mind:
1) The 17" is of course physically larger and can hold a physically larger battery, making the concession less of a priority
2) The 17" retains an expresscard/34 slot, which could theoretically be used to provide a means of external expansion that could take advantage of a fast SSD on a 3.0 gigabit bus