We as hardware enthusiasts (or "geeks" in pop-culture nomenclature) usually think in terms of the latest 2GB single-stick DDR2 modules for our fire breathing AMD or Intel based babies, or perhaps the fast read/write capabilities of a Compact Flash Card for our multi-megapixel SLR cameras.

Yet there exists running in parallel to our cozy, geeky world a "professional" world where the hardware that we lust after aren't so much put on pedestals and worshipped as they're used and abused. they define for us wannabe "power-users" what Hardcore really means.

There's the more obvious examples of Panasonic's Toughbook series designed for surveyors, outdoorsmen and the like. Then there's also Nvidia's Quadro series of graphics cards which produces sucky performance in games, but renders that huge CAD file in seconds. Transcend's 8GB rough-and-tumble memory is the least example of this professional world.  It's like the difference between buying a Miata to run around town, and getting an Abrams M1-A1 Tank to get anywhere beyond. Both are gear-head's dreams come true after all.

This is not to say, of course, that we don't put our new hardware through their paces, rather, it means that the professional users of hardware rely on the products in a level that mere enthusiasts can never hope to achieve.  The most strenous workout we can devise usually involves a run-through using the latest games - not really hardcore after all.  Lustworthy as the latest 2GB DDR2 modules and latest graphics cards are, the hardware used by professionals deserves their own brand of respect.  If we salivate over them a little, well all the better.

Essentially, I believe that geekery and being enthusiastic for the latest hardware at least ascribes to the professionals who use professional hardware a certain aura -  as symbols of how hardware is meant to be used and implemented.