If all you want to do is play games or perhaps do a little web browsing without worrying about viruses and what not, then a console is perfect for you. The web browsing being added by the XBox 360 I believe.
But buying a PC is not that big of a deal. I mean sure Dell has crappy systems but then the only manufacturers I have respect for are HP and Compaq. For the price the systems are pretty decent. But the average user doesn't particularly care. All the average user wants is to browse the internet, have email, etc. I even ran into a couple that wanted to just play
freecell.
Personally I wouldn't mind buying a console. But the only reason for doing so would be to install Linux on it. I'm sure somebody will be developing a distro for either the XBox 360 or the Playstation 3.