You mean control surfaces? Considering that the Mackie HUI came out around 1997 and that it wasn't the first one, they can hardly be called the latest rage! It's not that computer-based recording is "returning" to hands-on control, it's that it has grown and more and people are buying them.

In any case, it isn't an either/or situation. I've been mixing inside Pro Tools since before I had the DA7, and I have one of the first ones.