<p>I’ve actually seen someone take notes on one. He had a keyboard to go with it, though. I’m considering doing something similar, since my laptop’s battery time is going from bad to worse, and I tend to like putting my classes one-after-another (and crowding them into 3 days of the week). I’m also fairly used to typing on it already, and as long as I keep my nails short (which I have to do for piano anyways) I’m almost as fast as I am on a computer. I’m planning on taking notes with Pages and emailing them to my primary computer, converting the notes into .pdf, and moving them back onto the iPad. (As complicated as this sounds, it’s easier than my previous notetaking system, which was pen+paper, then typed into laptop, then put into .pdf format, taken to the school computers, and then printed)</p>
<p>Other reasons for iPad over computer: it’s lighter, reading pdfs on it is amazing, it’s smaller and more portable, and there’s much less of the typing sound. Also because I have a secondary screen and the Windows secondary screen program sucks so every time I unplug and re-plug in the screen, the computer gets my primary and secondary screens confused. </p>
<p>The only bad things I can think of are: iPads have smaller screens; keyboard shortcuts are useless; harder to get onto Facebook during class; and typing any “weird” symbols. Only the last one is seriously important, though.</p>
<p>Seriously, I think that for most text-heavy notetaking, iPads will suffice. (Old-fashioned pen and paper or Latex best for equation-heavy notes, methinks.) For other work, however, a laptop be better, although since you’ll be able to use the school computers, maybe that will be enough. </p>
<p>I dragged both my iPad and my laptop to the IBO and ended up using the iPad far more than my laptop. Just so much more handy for cramped seats and no regular access to outlets. (Two conditions that, IMHO, may apply to some college classrooms…)</p>
<p>I doubt the Air is the best of both worlds for everyone - personally, I’d find it not powerful enough to be a good computer for calculations (Mathlab, etc.) and other processor-hogging stuff (ie GIMP). If all you want to do on a computer is documents, small spreadsheets, simple presentations, email, Facebook, basic photoviewing, minor photo processing, web browsing, online TV, Youtube, and Twitter, and you don’t care about the rather small screen, perhaps the Air is best for you. (I admit this describes most computer users I know.) But, honestly, I’d rather pay less for a Windows machine and then install a GUI-ier Linux on it. Dunno about Chrome OS - I actually like the idea (One GPU is so much more efficient than separate CPUs) but dunno about the whole everything-online part.</p>