Options for hard disk upgrade on my MBP 15" (late 2007 - Santa Rosa)

I suspect this is a common question here in the discussions forum, judging by the similar questions posed by other members.
I am however, half-way into my research on hard disk options for that matter and would like to ask some specific questions in order to ensure that my upgrade is not problematic (I have been quite happy with my MBP so far :-))
The model I have is the A1226 (Intel Core Duo, 2.2Ghz, 4GBs. This currently has the 111.79GB Fujitsu MHW2120BH hard disk, which is almost full now; hence, the need for an upgrade.
I quite fancy the WD Scorpio Blacks, particularly the 500GB ones, even though the 320GB ones will also do to a lesser extent. My questions on this brand/type are:
(1) Will it have an impact on the heat generated inside the Macbook (vs. my current situation)?
(2) Will it have an impact in the battery consumption (vs. my current situation)?
(3) Will there be an issue with the SATA speed? My MBP supports 1.5GB/s while this drive operates at 3GB/s.
(4) If I opt for the respective model with the free fall sensor, will this function work with my MB? (NB: Not sure if relevant, but the System Profiler reports: Suddem Motion Sensor: State = Enabled)
My aim is to clean up my current disc, upgrade it to the new bigger one and then re-install Mac OS X Leopard, upgrade to Snow Leopard and then re-install all apps. All files are backed up anyway with TimeMachine, so no issue there. If you can think of any potential issue with the upgrade and what I intend to do further after, please share it.
The machine is out of warranty - but that doesn't mean that I want to cause damage here...
Thanks.

Nikos Lazaridis wrote:
(5) What other safe options are there for upgrade drives with a 500GB capacity?
For loading/unloading heads, I'm not sure one model/brand has been found to be better than another.
Can I avoid this problem if I get the Scorpio Black 500GB w/o the free fall sensor? (Model: WD5000BEKT on http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=854).
The SMS conflict, yes.
In such a case, will Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor work?
Yes.
Or to paraphrase, can SMS park the heads of a WD hard disk w/o the free fall sensor?
Yes, that is what it was developed for. Since that time, more and more HD manufacturers have incorporated it into the HD itself. There are two schools of thought on this: 1. The "SMS" built in to a HD is more properly "mated" to the HD mechanism itself, so could save a nanosecond or two engaging. 2. In the nanoseconds it takes to engage, a nanosecond here or there is not going to matter. Personally, I believe the latter. There is no need for an "SMS" enabled HD in an SMS enabled Mac. I'm sure some others believe differently.
(NB: Interesting that the issues with SMS and the WD Scorpio have been documented in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuddenMotionSensor).
Ah, good old wiki. I hadn't seen that before. Thanks for sharing.
No mention there of whether it is applicable to the drives with the free fall sensor or the ones w/o it (or even both).
It actually does state it is in reference to the "aftermarket hard drives already equipped with anti-shock features." That writeup is dated however, as I believe there are more issues reported with Seagate these days.
Message was edited by: tjk

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