I have an iPad and I think it will be useful for class related things. I can't speak to using it for classes yet as I will be starting my grad program in the Fall, but for the past 4 years I have been teaching at a college and it is really useful for that as well. Something to think about if you will be a TA, there is a great app I use called Teacher's Attache that lets me keep track of attendance, grades, etc. and it connects to dropbox. Also things I have heard you can do with it but haven't done myself are connect wirelessly to a wireless printer or wireless projector. I don't know about note taking, I guess it depends on how fast you type on the keyboard and for me note taking also means lots of equations so not that easy to do by typing. It is really great to have to quickly and easily check your e-mail, etc. and what others have said about keeping pdfs on it to read is a great idea.