Help buying a Tablet PC

[Baxter]

I started graduate school a couple of weeks ago and all of the lecture materials are on PowerPoint. I'm thinking that instead of printing off all of my notes from my PC, it would be smarter to buy a Tablet to take to class. I'm in class from 8am-5 or 6 pm.

The tablet would allow me to take handwritten notes on the PC, and also type on it, so if the lecture changes I can change with it (drawing on slides vs. regular note taking, etc). Are there any major drawbacks to a Tablet?

Lastly, I'm thinking of either getting a semi-old (used) tablet and only using it for class, or getting a brand new, nice one (re: Tecra M4) and using it to replace my PC. Are there any suggestions on this line of thinking? And does anyone have any suggestions on models to buy? The ceiling of my price range is $1200. Thanks.