MacBook Pro 2011 17" SSD Optibay Questions

[virtuoso902]

Hi everyone. I've been trolling the forum waiting for someone to ask the same questions as me and nobody has. I also tried googling but have come up with nothing. Thanks ahead of time for your help!

I have the 2011 MacBook Pro 17" w/ 8gb ram and 750gb hd.
I would like to do an intel X-25 120gb SSD Optibay upgrade but have a couple questions. I will probably install the SSD in the Optibay and run bootcamp for Mac and Windows off of the SSD unless there are issues. I will keep the stock HD and use it as storage.

1) I've read a lot about SSD sleep issues. Does this apply to the 2011 models? (does this happen only for optibay installs or for all forms of ssd installs?). I also read a post that it might be brand related. I haven't really been able to pinpoint when this is the case. I never shutdown my computer and usually just sleep it, so the mbp sleeping correctly is important to me.
2) If i can afford it should i consider buying a sata 3 capable ssd and installing that in the hd slot?
3) I have read that running bootcamp off the optibay has issues. I plan on running both Win 7 and Mac off the optibay ssd. Do the issues apply to the 2011 mbp in my situation?

This laptop without SSD is honestly super fast already. I just do business stuff on it. i'm a huge lightroom 3 user but haven't gotten around to installing that as of yet. I also have insane engadget tech fever and want the best even though I don't need it. I just get jealous when people talk about how fast their ssd is.

 

[dagamer34]

1) As far as I know, it's not a sleep issue but a hibernate issue (low battery power forces laptop to write RAM data to HDD for backup). I've had my computer on for 5 days straight and sleep it at night without any problems. I just turned off hibernate to "fix" this issue.
2) Most people recommend having the SSD in the original HDD slot. That's where I have mine. OSX may act funny when it expects the boot drive to be in a certain location (and not power up the opitcal bay immediately) causing freezing.
3) See above. Better to boot from normal HD bay.

Most people prefer SandForce based drives because they have their own garbage collection that prevents the drive from eventually degrading in performance. They also have higher sequential read/write speeds (though that's not the main benefit of SSDs). If anything, I'd say we are so close to the launch of the SATA III capable OCZ Vertex 3 drives that it's probably better to wait. These numbers show that the Vertex 3 drives blow the Intel X-25 G2 out of the water: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4186/ocz-vertex-3-preview-the-first-client-focused-sf2200/1