Are specs relevant?

Nowadays I believe specs are relevant and apart of every computer users life. If to consider the fact that a huge amount of people use their computer for gaming then specs are exceedingly important for them. I mean you cannot play MW3 20 fps. This is just blasphemous. Also with the advancements happening in everyday programs like Microsoft Office, Windows Live and so on then better specs are needed to run those programs smoothly.
If people want to watch videos on their computers then they have to have good specs in order for it to run normally without any lag spikes. I mean sure it is obvious that you need good specs if you want to play games, watch videos, make movies or 3d objects but a user needs good specs anyways. If you just hold on to your computer for ten years then the programs that you used to run really fast ten years back will now probably run really slow.
The problem here is that the hardware is just outdated and the programs and processes demand more because they are all becoming better and fancier. The best examples of this would be with iPhones and iPads. When the iPhone 4 came out then iPhone 3G become practically obsolete because the processor was so weak that it could not keep up with the advancements that came with the iPhone 4. The same story is with the iPad. As soon as iPad2 came out all of the apps were made better for the new and improved screen and processor of the iPad2. The iPad then started to encounter some lag issues with some apps.
When software evolves then it is only logical that technology needs to develop as well and vice versa. My personal opinion is that specs are very essential nowadays and should be kept up to date. Without good specs there is no development, there is no progress and there is no productivity.