Another Mac question: SSD vs Serial ATA?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20067621-1/storage-talk-why-you-should-get-an-ssd-and-keep-your-hdd-too/

That explains it well enough  I think.

I have an SSD in my work laptop and that convinced me to buy one for home, too.  Performance increase was quite noticeable.

SSDs increase performance quite a bit.  They do have finite # of read/writes so not the best choice for things like database servers that do lots of read/write operations.

All our CAD stations have SSDs.

I've got both versions of Macbook Pro. The new one with flash is really nice, fast and light. Start up from full off is a matter of seconds. From standby, even faster. Both will serve you well. If you need to haul it around a lot, get the SSD. Play with them both at the store. The SSD has retina display which will either appeal to you or not. Look at em both to decide yourself.

 Forgot about memory! The SSD Macbook comes hardwired and you arent able to upgrade memory after purchase. Be sure to get as much as you think you'll need. The other version you can open the back  and upgrade it yourself for less.

I meant customize one at order time.  But yeah, what you said

Ok, that's the kind of information that I need to understand, thank you.

I was aware of the lack of moving parts and the inherent durability, but I didn't know if they're faster or less prone to other types of problems. So, they're faster in some ways, which is good. Any down-sides other than cost?

I believe only the retina display MBP has the RAM soldered in this year.  However next year I think they will all be like this.

I saw a review that said Apple is using a Toshiba SSD, but it might be a rebranded SandForce. Since I know almost nothing about this subject, I did a quick search and saw them listed as "high-end", but that doesn't tell me more than "they're expensive compared to others". 

Since I don't use a lot of storage space, a 512 GB SSD is very likely more than enough to last a freaking long time before I eventually accumulate enough stuff to come close to filling it (if ever). Also, I expect to be leaving my MacBook at the house most of the time and using an iPad when traveling. My intention is to be able to travel light while letting the laptop last a long time. At least that's my plan right now; it's subject to change as my research progresses. I may decide to nix the iPad and stick with the laptop. Heck, with as little as I use my computer, I could potentially use an iPad as my primary and only device and do any word processing at work. I'm still trying to figure out what to do.

I did, but the Pro has more options for storage, processing speed, I/O ports, etc. I had looked at the Air first, but I like the capabilities of the Pro more.