macos - Internal Small SSD, External (usb, firewire?) hard drive

This is three questions in one, but: I'm thinking about getting a Macbook Pro with an internal SSD, and the prices are prohibitive for anything aside from the 128GB SSD. So the questions are (links to other Superuser questions welcome!):

1. Is SSD really that much faster than 7200RPM? I've seen some Youtube videos that make it look 4-10x as fast with OSX


2. Is Firewire 800 really faster than USB 2.0 for a 7200RPM hard drive? I have seen some questions on Superuser arguing that, but they've had no hard data (just anecdotal "in my experience" stuff)


3. Can Firewire 800 drives be powered by bus-power only? Or do they need a power source as well (that would be a serious buzz-kill).

Note: Regarding #3,the Macbook Pro has only the little firewire connector (Firewire 800, I think).