As a frequent traveler (my “real” job is an airline pilot) I spend a lot of time in airports.  As your humble and dedicated technology reporter, I am ever vigilant in observing technological things.  To put it more plainly, as I walk through the concourses in airports, I notice the many diverse and varied people using diverse and varied techo-gadgets.  Phones, smartphones, iPhones, iPods, portable DVD players, and, of course, portable/notebook/laptop computers.

Notice I didn’t say “Zunes”, as I’ve never actually seen someone in an airport listening to a Zune.  But, I digress.

Notebook computers come I four basic “sizes”, and, as with people and their dogs, it’s always interesting to see how people match up with the notebooks they use.

Warning!  Generality alert!  Your mileage may vary.

First, there are the huge 19-inch and 17-inch screen notebooks.  In this category the Windows-based Dell XPS and Alienware type notebooks are usually toted by teenage and college-age men who are generally seated cross-legged on the floor, plugged into an increasingly-hard-to-find-in-an-airport power outlet, oblivious to the real world as they pursue aliens and creepy crawlers in a violent first-person-shooter game.  The 17-inch MacBook Pro users are usually college-age women (and some men) who are pursuing graphic arts degrees at their local liberal arts college.  All of these people have no problem using their big notebooks on the plane, even in coach, because they’re emaciated from studying, college food, and all-night Guitar Hero binges.

The second category includes 14 and 15-inch notebooks.  These are the machines used by businesspeople (PCs) and creative-for-a-living types (Macs).  Most of these people are also engaged in using a secondary electronic device, most likely a smartphone.  And, they talk to themselves.  Not with their phones held to their ears, mind you.  No.  They’ve evolved beyond that.  Their arms are free to hover over a keyboard and dwindle into tiny T-Rex arms.  Instead, they’ve got plastic “doomaflawchies” (technical term for “Bluetooth headsets”) attached to their ears.  They’ll be first in line for the Bluetooth cochlear implants that are surely gonna be a big hit at CES 2010.

Anyway, serious work gets done on these mid-range machines.  That is, until the users, carrying a bit of a midriff bulge from too many business lunches, try to use them in their cramped coach airline seats.  And that’s before the person in front of them goes from full-up to full-recline in a nanosecond.

The third category is populated by Apple MacBooks and cheap Dells – the ones we shuffle our kids off to college with.  College kids with these machines aren’t looking for power sources – their batteries last a long time.  The notebooks, I mean, not the kids.

They’re looking for a WiFi connection, so they can check their MySpace or Facebook page to see if any of their friends have stopped by and left messages or recommended any new music or fad YouTube videos to watch.  They set up small nomadic camps, generally in high traffic flow areas, where some sleep, while others sit on the floor, cross-legged, listening to their iPods.

The fourth category consists of ultralight, ultrathin, ultraportable “subnotebooks”.  This is the smallest and newest category, but it is the way of the future.  Because subnotebooks are generally on the leading edge of technology, they’re generally more expensive.  Plus, there are certain notebook features that must be compromised to keep the size and weight down – like screen and keyboard size and battery life.

However, this week Apple took steps to take the compromises out of the subnotebook niche.  Read the nearby column to find out how they’re doing it.