How many people other than super nerds or apple hipsters do video editing and audio conversion? As for gaming, most PC gaming isn't my bag anymore. I'll take Civilization IV, but that's about it. And it needs more memory than ridiculous processing anyways.
I'd hate to tell you this, but most people use computers for productivity software and communication. You don't need parallel processing for those things as they aren't that CPU intensive.
I hate to tell you this, but....
Digital camcorders far outsell analog models - I think that it is safe to assume that people are editing and burning their home videos to a dvd so that they can share with friends (and I f*cking hate it when it happens - I don't give a shit about your vacation, unless you have topless beach footage). Youtube content also has to come from somewhere, and not everybody in the videos look like dweebs. You can't swing a dead cat around without hitting an iPod, so I don't believe that only dorks are converting audio files. Some people still buy CDs and the songs won't migrate to an MP3 player by themselves.
I agreed that people only surfing the web or checking e-mail don't need the extra power of a multi-core processor, but that equally applies to speedy single-core processors. Not that it matters, but I use an Athlon XP 1700+ with 768MB of RAM. I don't have a need for any more processing power, but I don't expect that the majority of people are like me (limited gaming, no MP3 player, no video editing, and no multi-tasking). We'll have to agree to disagree on what 'most' people want and need.
