[pr0xZen]

I'm currently using a USB 3.0 flash drive with OpenELEC and the NUC boot is about 28 secs.
Would a something like the Kingston SSDNow improve OE boot time?

Another reason I'm pondering a SSD is that suspend isn't supported in USB installs.
Does it work flawlessly with SSD drives?

The interface of the USB stick doesn't necessarily matter to much - 2.0 or 3.0 - most usb sticks have memory too slow to be able to push the limits of usb 2.0. Memory speed and real-life transfer rates is what really matters in those terms.

I get a boot time from post to XBMC with win8.1pro (if using xbmc launcer into XBMC as shell), of about 10-12 seconds. If I boot with explorer as shell (if you want to load other windows stuff at boot time, this is needed) - Its more like 35 seconds.

This is with the 120gb Kingston SSDNow V300. In terms of SSD, its a pretty slow one - but its cheap and fast enough for me by far. Beyond boot, my NAS mechanical drives are really the limiting factor. No problems with resume and suspend - but then again... its windows, not linux. Apples, oranges.