I have to say I don't exactly find computers at the gaming table "distracting." I have tried it in the past (before laptops were viable options so it was a desktop PC off to the side of the table) and it didn't really distract me. But I found that it didn't really help me organize things all that well (computers don't organize people...people organize people...nothing can organize my scatter brain). In all fairness I swore off computers at the table at a time before PDFs were really an option so I still had to have the books on hand. In fact I might have started using computers if not for the "true" reason:
I use game sessions to "unplug" and have fun. I spend 8 to 9 hours a day at work staring at a computer (and an our or two checking e-mail and playing games at home) so I just need a break from it all. RPGs have been, and always will be my main outlet for that sort of "shutdown."
On the other hand I did have one GM not too long ago use a laptop for a Mutants and Masterminds campaign. Aside from it being the coolest laptop I had ever seen he used it with good results. Instead of having 3 or 4 books set out across the table he was able to jump to bookmarks and leap between books with lightning speed. The screen of the laptop could turn 180 degrees around and lay flat on it's "back" so it was no more obtrusive than a single book. I don't know...I'm a tech geek, but every geek needs his low-tech outlet.