Upgrade from old MBP questions; SSD Startup Drive w/HDD Storage Drive?

Hi!  I currently have a 2.4 GHz Core Duo 13" Macbook (old) with 160 Gb HDD and 2 GB of memory/RAM (4 years old in February).  I love the OS and how everything (computer, iPhone, camera, internet, etc) all sync up together and how easy everything is to use; I don't think I could buy another computer that wasnt an Apple.
My laptop is sadly slowly showing signs of sluggishness and the battery life is not doing so well...  also, I am starting to get sick of looking at such a small screen.  I am considering upgrading to a new 15" Macbook Pro but am concerned as to whether or not to upgrade to a SSD (mainly for the lightning fast boot time). With an already steep price tag, I am very reluctant to shell out an extra $550 for a smaller 256 GB (albiet SSD) hard drive.
I have a few questions before I decide to upgrade and am seeking some assistance from a knowledgable community to assist in my decision making...
1)  In regards to comparing the 13" Dual Core to the 15" Quad Core - is the processor making THAT big of a difference as far as how quick the OS and programs are running?  I had a friend bring this up and although I stated I would like to upgrade to a larger screen, the $$ makes a lot of difference...
2)  Regarding the SSD's...
     a)  Are they truely worth it?
     b)  Is there a "third-party" vendor where I can purchase a similar sized SSD and upgrade/install myself for less than the $550 Apple is asking for?  (256 GB or larger)
     c)  Does either notebook (13" or 15") have the internal capacity to house a second hard drive to hold the OS and boot programs (SSD Boot/Start-Up Disc)?My thoughts here are to have a large capacity HDD for storage (music files, documents, mail, programs/apps, etc) and much smaller SSD used simply to get a lightning fast boot-up time.
     d)  Is the technology expected to take a turn in the near future (6 months to a year) to either become the standard or greatly reduce cost?  Should I wait?
3)  What to do with my old Macbook... is there a place to sell it to get cash to cover the cost of the new notebook?  What is the most efficient way of migrating data from the old hard drive into the new?
Your thoughts/speculation/opinion are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance for your responses to help me through this dilemma.
Thank You,
Shaun_Levins

shaun_levins wrote:
2)  Regarding the SSD's...
     a)  Are they truely worth it?
     b)  Is there a "third-party" vendor where I can purchase a similar sized SSD and upgrade/install myself for less than the $550 Apple is asking for?  (256 GB or larger)
     c)  Does either notebook (13" or 15") have the internal capacity to house a second hard drive to hold the OS and boot programs (SSD Boot/Start-Up Disc)?My thoughts here are to have a large capacity HDD for storage (music files, documents, mail, programs/apps, etc) and much smaller SSD used simply to get a lightning fast boot-up time.
     d)  Is the technology expected to take a turn in the near future (6 months to a year) to either become the standard or greatly reduce cost?  Should I wait?
3)  What to do with my old Macbook... is there a place to sell it to get cash to cover the cost of the new notebook?  What is the most efficient way of migrating data from the old hard drive into the new?
Your thoughts/speculation/opinion are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance for your responses to help me through this dilemma.
Thank You,
Shaun_Levins
2.
a) yes, I had an HDD and switched to a 3rd party SSD.  So I am speaking from firsthand experience.
b) yes, check here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ as an example.
c) yes.  you need to remove the optical drive and use something like this: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other+World+Computing/DDAMBS0GB/
d) who knows?  if you need something now get it, if not wait
3. try craigslist or eBay.  To get old data from old hdd to new hdd use a cloning program such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper!  you will need an external enclosure for the new hdd..with the new hdd in the external enclosure plug it into  usb port on the new mac, clone the old drive to the new one.  make sure to format the new hdd a mac os extended (journaled).  swap drives.

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