um...i would imagine that if SSDs provided the illusion that applications loaded faster without actually improving performance, people wouldn't be shelling out $$$ for them.
You'd be surprised. CVT's (Continuously Variable Transmissions) in cars will smoothly adjust upwards in engine power, RPM, effective gear ratio, and audible pitch instead of pitching down and jerking at upshift like a traditional transmission. Supposedly, people had the illusion that CVT's weren't powerful because they didn't have audible "shifts", so CVT's were actually redesigned to provide the illusion of behaving more like traditional automatic transmissions.
