ShoobieRat, what you say is true, but you give the wrong impression.
SATA 2 prices are higher than IDE prices, however, they do perform better in some applications. SATA 150 drives perform at a similar or lower rate than comparable ULtra ATA drives.
Also, woot6600GT, saying newer=better does not do much to explain why SATA2 is better than IDE. Newer is not necessarily better. Take the PIII 1.4 vs the p4 1.4. In that case newer is not better.