Or is there some reason you expect a significant drop in the hash rate growth rate very soon?
I think in the future the best case scenario for hashrate will be leveling towards flat, I can't imagine a scenario short of a algo change or a major blow to Bitcoin where the hashrate will actually drop in the foreseeable future. Could be wrong though, also interested in ralree's explanation for his optimistic outlook.
I don't expect the hash rate to ever drop, so long as Bitcoin continues to grow. I was talking about the hash rate growth rate dropping, and whether there's some reason to think that may happen soon.
I suppose the only way for that to happen would be if all or most of the 28nm products are delayed considerably or ship at an extremely slow pace. Unfortunately there is no way for any of us to know how successful each respective company will be in their ASIC endeavor but my money is that we will accelerate growth or at a minimum stay our current course for at least 3-6 months.
A few members have made some good threads estimating the total hashrate planned to be deployed by 2014 (and a bit beyond) based on announcement from various companies. I'm too lazy to find links but I don't think you'd have to dig too far into Custom Hardware and Mining Speculation to find them.
If you plan to receive the 60GH in a month or so the big question is will KNC complete their deliveries to their first Sept/Oct batch of customers and will Hashfast ship product in a few weeks like they claim. If both these fail then you might look at a nice return, if KNC gets their act together and Hashfast delivers as promised it might be very rough for you keeping the unit.