Currently, I am at one of those conferences. A few hundred professors of computer science, philosophy and related disciplines converge. Also, a couple of journalists. Fewer macs than a few years ago (back then, the audience seemed to be split between Powerbooks and Thinkpads).
From here, I can see a couple of MBAs, a bunch of MBPs, two iPads, but the majority uses Acers, Thinkpads and Sonys (at least 4 Vaio X). And guess what: the majority uses subnotebooks (mostly <13in).
Why? These guys are not price sensitive, so you dont see many netbooks. Usually, their departments buy the hardware. All have big screens in their offices. On the road they want something light and compact. They are going to take notes during talks, whip them out during coffee breaks to jot down a sudden idea, or to apply last-minute changes to a presentation. The computer scientists often also run IDEs, and occasionally demos.
If Apple produces a robust, light, compact and sufficiently powerful subnotebook with a good keyboard, this crowd is going to buy it like crazy.
If you are a poor student who does not want to cram the dorm room with a secondary display (or, god forbid, a secondary computer), you are probably much better off with a MBP, though. And if you consider buying an iPad instead, then you probably don't need a computer for work, so go ahead and buy the iPad and a bluetooth keyboard already.
