Then I managed to get a Tablet PC-just an HP TC1100 to start out with. That’s when my suspicions became confirmed-I didn’t want to replace the pen, but the paper. If I just had a good notebook app and digital versions of all my textbooks, I could easily cut down on what I had to carry to class and back (though college was already much better than high school in the respect that I didn’t have to carry six subjects’ worth of big, hardcover textbooks around the whole day).

It became even more obvious when the college gave me a whole Office 2007 license at no extra cost…including OneNote. I just wrote, and it just recognized it in the background in its original ink form, making it searchable if I felt the need. Everything was saved as I wrote it-no need to keep hitting a save button. I could easily undo, erase, and move things around as needed.

I had a keyboard, and I am a proficient touch-typist (I even hit 93 WPM once), but I still choose to handwrite all my notes despite the speed penalty. I don’t know why, but I just do. Perhaps it’s because I don’t want to frantically switch between keyboard and Wacom pen whenever I see a math formula, diagram, or other non-plain-text form of information.

I may not write fast, but I do write very legibly and have no problem reading it. (If I write a letter and am not satisfied with the look, I quickly undo and re-write it.) Conversion to plain text is not necessary for me and even largely defeats the purpose, though OneNote is capable of doing it.

The Courier concept would’ve been perfect for me-a device distilling my core uses of the Tablet PC into something more compact and hopefully with much better battery life. Unfortunately, it was just that-a concept, one that Microsoft apparently has no intention of delivering. It’s like they want some of their best products (Tablet PC + OneNote) to remain obscure-to the point where people don’t even know about tablet computing attempts prior to the iPad (something not even remotely built for inking)!

The other oddity is that drawing helps me focus. It’s like it keeps me mentally on task because my brain’s actively working, but without taking focus away from the presenter because it uses a separate part of the brain. So when I *do* take paper notes, it’s usually more drawings and doodles than it is words.