This week Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities issued an in-depth 85-page note on Apple, saying the company will continue to grow, grow, grow -- and don't count out the Mac as part of that growth.

"We believe Apple is still in the early stages of capitalizing on the trend toward a digital lifestyle, while transforming itself to seize large opportunities in the enterprise market, advertising (i.e. mobile, TV, etc.), "cloud computing and social networking," White wrote.

He mainly talks about the iPad, which is taking the world by storm. But the iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, etc., are actually offshoots of the personal computer and even run a variant of Mac OS X. But they still need a computer to anchor them -- and the best choice is the Mac, which will remain the center of Apple's digital lifestyle focus.

In 2008, Forrester Research predicted that Apple would become the hub of the digital home by 2013. The research firm said that Apple had completely remade itself from a computer only maker to a consumer devices and digital music leader.

Apple isn't ditching the Mac. Instead, the company is offering offer key products and services to connect computers and digital content to the HDTV-stereo audio-visual infrastructure in consumers' homes, according to Forrester.

They're right, and the personal computer is only going to grow in importance. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs once described the Mac as the digital hub of the digital lifestyle. iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs and whatever other iDevices Apple comes up with are great. But they need to tie into a personal computer. And with the increasing abundance of music, video and publications going online, the Mac will increasingly become a necessity for a digital lifestyle even as the Mac OS borrows features and ideas from the iPhone OS.