I have it installed on an SSD and there is still lots of texture pop in. Must be a limitation of the engine.
Overall I, too, was impressed with it. I was dead against it when watching the trailers that they released over the past year or so, but actually playing it for the last month has turned me around. I've found it's rewired my brain in terms of how I quest in MMOs. WoW was all about accepting instant quest text and then running to wherever it was on the map. All i looked at was xp/hour and getting that next level as fast as possible.
Now I sit and listen to the story and care about what's happening, and I hardly pay attention to what level I am, or should be, or could be. It's by no means a replacement for pre-CU SWG, which is unmatched in my opinion (housing, vendors, crafting, no levels), but it's got potential.
Yeah, I hardly cared what level I was. I had a blast on the flash point missions, and in the space combat. I didn't really have a chance to play around with the crafting all that much, but it felt kind of like just a filler for something to do with your companion as you were in town.