The average home PC has always been vastly more capable than the uses most people put theirs to. I guess it was always likely that their star would fade as soon as dedicated, lower- powered devices became affordable and practical.
I disagree re. usefulness of tablets though (and iPad in particular) ... Our main home computer (an iMac) is sometimes not switched on for a day or two at a time since we got our iPad, because most of what we did on the computer we now do on the iPad (taking B&B bookings, which requires email and calendar, both of which work wonderfully on the iPad and sync through MobileMe back to the mac anyway, plus invoicing through Paypal, and general web browsing, which is much more pleasant when sat on a sofa than at a desk).
There are certain productivity tasks that I still need the computer for, but those are the sorts of things I would want to sit at the desk and do. The iPad frees me from the desk for all the things I shouldn't need to sit at a desk for. And it is frankly amazing at amusing bored children when it's raining.
