What to get for going back to college?

I will be going back to college to become a RN and currently have a BA in History. At home I have a 24in iMac with Leopard OS. I'm in the market for something to take notes on in class and have come to the choice of an iPad with wireless keyboard, 13in Macbook Air with the I5, or a Macbook Pro 13in with either the standard hard drive or upgrade to a SSD or just upgrade the memory to 8gb. Which one should I get since I already have a desktop at home but no longer have a laptop?

What's your budget?

I can tell you to get a Ferrari...but if you only need a Hyundai...why get the Ferrari?

- Nick

Also, how do you like taking notes? Do you like typing them in(Laptop) or would you rather hand write them(iPad)? Both can record audio/video.

My wife is a nurse, her professors were old school.The mostly Printed out documents that she generally did not have the ability to have in digital form. I can think of a couple forms that were odd shapes (extra long) that made her days difficult. The most infuriating of all were careplans i highly doubt those would be allowed to be typed at any institution. There is A LOT of notes as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if they told their students no computers as well. Check and see if it's even permissible to have one in lecture.

Like they said above, budget is almost always factor. The new airs seem sharp, you would much rather want that on your back/ arm than the MBP. Or an iPad. Regarding the iPad, the apps on our iPhones (same as an iPad) helped in college more than extra ram in an already expensive piece of hardware ever could have.

To expound on the ram mentioned above, 98% of my wife and I's college computing involved Word, PowerPoint, Office, and online databases. The other 2% were lesser programs not worth mentioning. You probably won't be using AutoCad for this degree. I would invest the ram $ in MS office suite or IWork depending on what your institution uses.

Looking back, if I could choose one (I studied Nuclear Medicine (subset of radiology)) I would have preferred an iPad over anything you described above. Reason being; Small, light, can type if needed (iWork for iPad) BT keyboard, note taking (built in mic...idk if it is uni or omni directional), note taking apps, helpful apps, and cheapest of possible options.

Good luck, it isn't a carrear it's a lifestyle. One that is not for the faint of heart.