You make a good and interesting point. I've stopped running endless "real world" tests on PCs, because, in my experience, such PassMark's Performance Test, based on focused components tests, generally run pretty close to the results you get from tests such as FutureMark's PCMark or 3DMark. Also, remember that Tom's Guide is oriented toward a less technical audience, looking to get a quick take on consumer electronics products, even at the business computing level.
I think what is important about the findings in this review is that the future of all workstation-based computing is very likely to be significantly different from what we have know in the past. Think more cloud, more nearly thin client. Sure, there will always be a place for smarter workstations, but, in my opinion, that is going to become a smaller and smaller piece of the pie.
I can't resist the following. My newest desktop is an HP Pavillion with a Core i7 920, 12 GB of memory, an ADM-ATI 4850 graphics card, 1 TB HDD and another 1.5 TB of removable HP Media Drive space, and a Blu-ray burner and DVD player. So, I've not bought into the low-end, cloud computing model yet.
Further comments on the HP Pavilion: First, this is the first desktop I have every had that I didn't build myself. Second, this PC costs me $2,100. No it was not a freebie from HP. Third, I'm using Casper 5.0 to make a regular image back up the 1 TB drive's boot/applications/data and Factory_Image partitions.
Now for the other side of the story. I have my own personally purchased ASUS Eee and find in useful in a number of situations. But, between the desktop, ASUS Eee, a Toshiba laptop (again personally purchased) and my Apple iPhone 3Gs (upgraded from the original iPhone in June, upgrade and monthly fees paid by me), I find myself doing most of my mobile computing, including accessing the HP Pavilion, on, drum roll .... the iPhone. The world is definitely changing.
Enough said.