I have started using CF cards and some low cost SSD's for specific tasks where it already makes sense:
- I have a Popcorn Hour with a 4 GB Transcend Industrial (SLC) CF card to allow me to personalise the GUI of the PCH and install my own additional programs onto it without having to put an actual HDD into it (all actual media is on a Linux NFS server not on the PCH).
- I have a small passively cooled VIA C3 based Linux server used as home DSL gateway/firewall and other purposes running off a 8 GB Transcend Industrial (SLC) CF card.
It's in the living room so I wanted it completely silent and also as the PC is passively cooled a HDD in it would get quite hot and itself add further heat.
- I have a Empeg (Linux based car/living-room MP3 player) where I have put a 64GB IDE MLC Transcend SSD into it, to avoid noise/heat/vibration issues. I decided to take the plunge with this one as the 64GB Transcend SSD is more than big enough for all my MP3s and didn't cost much (approx. $150)
- My wife's HP 2130 netbook which came with a 120GB HDD is now using a 8GB Transcend SATA SLC SSD (running Mandriva Linux), which is more than enough space for the use she makes of it and has made it run cooler and more robust (no worries about head crashes anymore).
As you can see I currently favour Transcend, they seem to make good quality CF/SSDs at very competitive prices.
P.S: and I'm certainly not rich, that's why I use Transcend, not Intel SSDs!