Notes by hand are my preferred choice. I also tried downloading all my textbooks and running it off a tablet, which worked out pretty decently. I'd say a combination of both.

You can also find a lot of your textbooks online, so try that as well.

the cost of first year textbooks alone will buy you a tablet, And thats used. Im going into 4th year and still expect the tablet I got last year will save me money.

As for notes...I planned on taking them every year and stopped a week in every year. I often prefer the textbook and posted notes and create my own notes later as a means to study. That said some courses you will need notes and a good old notepad is still by far the most practical solution.

Everything is up to your personal preference. Sometimes the PDF versions of textbooks are cheaper/free. I personally prefer hardcopies, but you really can't compete with free.
As for note taking, I prefer old school pen/paper. But that's because most of my profs will post their lecture slides so it's convenient to print them out and then make notes on the slides themselves.

It's definitely up to your preference and what you're most comfortable doing. This topic has been discussed in a few threads in the past that you might find helpful. Check them out:
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea... ghlight=notes
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea... ghlight=notes
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea... ghlight=notes
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea... ghlight=notes

Thanks for all the help. I think going paper route will be best. Numbers and symbols are faster by hand. And maybe a tablet for some textbooks.

I would recommend the same. Have a notepad with you at all times. additionally, few lectures do provide you with pdf files that could be directly printed off for note taking in class. For math, be prepared to write down notes.

You'll find that a lot of students bring laptops to class to jot down notes during class. I still live in the stone ages, so I bring my notebook to write down anything the lecture notes don't cover.
Everyone has a learning style they're comfortable with, though . Just try different things out and see how you like them.

This is a great discussion topic, with classes starting back up today. I personally prefer using a laptop to type notes because you can easily move around bullet points, quickly make study sheets out of your notes, and can print the notes with a laser printer so it is easy to highlight them without smuging the page. Plus, if the lecture gets boring, you can always go on Facebook or... MacInsiders

Disadvantages: not all lecture halls make it easy to plug in a laptop... so your laptop better have a kick ass battery otherwise you'll have a big brick to carry around hoping you'll be able to snag an open outlet in your next class. Always have a notebook and pen backup handy in case this happens and you forgot to charge your laptop battery the night before a long back-to-back class.

Second, it's hard to draw diagrams on a laptop. So if you're in a class with diagrams or lots of charts connecting ideas, then it is hard to quickly jot this down. Most classes have handouts for diagrams, which you can then draw on if you have a pen handy and take notes on the handout sheet if need be.

it depends on the course I guess

I have used my laptop in class since grade 11, so I am pretty use to typing everything. When it comes to diagrams I use OneNote, and for math I use either Microsoft Math or the formula generator in Word.

I always used pen and paper until this summer. I still love pen and paper, and I wish I could continue using it, but this summer, after using my laptop to type notes for both summer courses, I found the benefits much greater. Mainly, Ctrl+F. And mind you, I hate using my computer for studying.

Also, it's a lot easier to share them with other people. For the first time, I ended up being the unofficial notetaker for the course (since so many people did not come to class, for whatever reason). Definitely would not have done that if I had written notes, as scanning is too much a hassle.

Anyways, before this summer, I found it incredibly hard to read/study anything (notes or slides or textbook material) from a computer screen, and I disliked the lack of freedom you get when having to take notes in a word-processor. And I guess I'm just a die-hard pen and paper fan. But for the first time this summer, my notes were actually complete, organized, and legible.

So I stand today, on the first day of school, with the hardest decision I've have to make all year.

It depends on the class.
Math ->Paper and pencil.
Other classes where there are slides and such ->Tablet/computer FTW.