It seems to me that mining is about dead for the average person.  The return just isn't there considering all the equipment mining currently.  By the time you buy all the equipment, and pay for all the electricity, it makes more sense just to buy the coins and play the market.  Seriously.  I don't think anyone will see an ROI, and the longer it takes to see an ROI the less likely you are to receive an ROI.  Once the new technology does hit the market, returns are going to deteriorate even further.  The people that got in early and have already paid for rigs through the system are the only ones going to be left standing.  They won't shut down the rigs when the new tech breaks, because it just makes more sense to keep adding to them with better technology.  Naive newbies will jump in on GPU's dreaming of free money, but it'll takes months for a single BTC. 

I personally see no benefit in purchasing any equipment at this point, and I don't care if you're pushing 60ghash.  I think it's best to ride it out until the returns are nill, then play the actual market directly buying and selling the coins.

All anyone is doing right now is converting their current electric bill to BTC.  You may as well buy them directly and bypass the electric company (middleman).