You're right, those 1.8" HD's are a pain. Just find something cheap with a 2.5".
Umm care to explain why you need a 200MBps SSD just to mine? Downloading a new block from the network every 10 minutes is not what I call "IO intensive".
Also, I had an early Netbook, an Asus EeePc 900. Those mPCIe SSDs don't work in just any slot. The motherboard has to be able to accept mSATA daughtercards.
You don't, just some for like a couple dollars less run at like 60 read/40 write which is crap, lol.