College Student with new Macbook Pro. Help me out?

Hello all. I'm new around these parts. My name is Mark. My college required me to get a macbook pro for my visual arts major. So, now that I have one, I'd love to start taking class notes with it. I've google searched the answer to this question more times than I can count, and I've found alot of out-of-date answers, or apps that cost $30+, and I just don't want to pay that.

So, here's what I need in the app:

• Easy bulleting
• Preferable: "tab"-like categories, etc for different classes
• Search feature/searchable (command+F, etc)
• <$25

If you could help me out here, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks alot.
Mark

I use Circus Ponies Notebook. Forgot how much I paid for it but it was well worth the money.

Then there is always Evernote which is free but I heard it's buggy. >_>"