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So what hardware updates do you see as coming up this next year? I just read about esata, and usb3 in the last week or so.

I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. ;-)

eSATA= external storage, maybe RAID, faster than USB, easier to get at than internal drives. Already here though, not a huge advancement computer-wise, but a better alternative, storage-wise and for backups. Redundancy is good.

USB3? What can you say? Faster is better. Flash drives might become the next best thing to physical RAM, for one, but their lifespan needs to be improved when used for more than just storage. But anything that uses usb3 is going to be faster at least. External hardware will benefit most.