Buying: Have...several questions.

Hey guys, I'm not new to lurking on these forums, but I'm a new member (haven't been in the market for a new Mac for the last 4.5 years...) I'm a graphic design/animation student and I'm looking to pick up a new computer in the next few weeks here and I have some questions about which way to go with things!

Okay, so first off I'll be starting with a 15" MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz i7. I'll be leaving the RAM at 4 gigs and I plan on buying the Crucial 2x8GB kit to upgrade it to 16GB total. That much is fairly set.

Now for the harddrive questions... I was thinking of several options:

1. Keep the stock 500GB 5400 rpm drive and upgrade to a third party 7200 rpm drive and take the 500GB drive and put it in an enclosure to use as an external drive.

2. Upgrade to Apple's 750GB 7200 rpm option

3. Leave the stock 500GB drive in until SSD prices get affordable.

I'll be doing a great deal of video/animation work, along with heavy graphics and sound processing, which is why I'm opting for the 16GB of RAM (Crucial says that these computers are fully tested with 16GB, does anyone have experience with this upgrade?)

But I'm still unsure of what way to go with the hard drive. If you guys have ideas about which option (or a totally different one) to go with, that would be great. Also, actual brands and specific hard drive upgrades that you are familiar with would be appreciated as well.

I plan on continuing to troll the forums looking for answers to these questions, but I figured I'd ask and get a jump on things! Thanks you guys!

Chris