To the guys worried about ROI on their hardware:
Alot of the doom and gloom is strictly predicated on the current BTC/USD exchange rate.
Bitcoin has come a looong way from $0.05 usd / btc to ~$125 usd / btc, so hang on to those bitcoins, an re-examine your mining investment in a year or too. I believe you will be satisfied !
That said, it is probably true that it is more lucrative just now to buy btc and hold than to mine.
I'm mining because I wanted to learn about BTC from "the trenches" so to speak, and don't regret it one bit.
Love the BitMinter !
we need guys like you. this is why i try to sell the am sticks at a low markup on ebay with no preorders and now hopefully the newer 2.4gh sticks next month. The only way btc will make out in the longer run is to have many small miners. yeah every talks about big investors and they have lots of power in anything they toss money at. But if you have 5 million to invest in BTC maybe hoping to hold it a year and sell it for 6/7 million does it look like a better "stock" if it has lots of customers and room to grow.
Think McDonalds in 1970 a big investor sees room for growth and a large customer base. Plus a new customer can start on the cheap (ie a burger and fries).
same concept a new miner can get started with a few sticks.
so
A) a no preorder stick is important
B) play n play is important
C) pretty low cost for a stick
McDonalds in 1970
A) fast food a drive up window
B) you can start to eat it quickly
C) low price
Just 1 analogy as to why a big investor may see putting money into btc as a good move.