During last semester, I acquired a MacBook Pro and immediately began using it to take notes in class. It's been invaluable. I can take notes, record lectures, look up spellings and explanations if I miss something, create tables and charts, flag important items, bullet, highlight... And our Internet is blocked from certain websites, providing less of a distraction.

I've never been able to use one in school when I went (I haven't been in a college classroom in about 3 years; mostly took online courses til a year ago). But I've already thought of ways they could be way useful for people like me, at the very least. For instance, because of my hearing loss and my lack of fluent sign language, I have to rely on notetakers in classes. And most of the time, notetakers suck. (They take notes of the written stuff, not the verbal stuff; i'm not blind, I'm hard of hearing). And my idea was that there'd be someone in class with a computer, and I'd have a computer, and we'd be connected through wifi service whereas they type me EVERYTHING being said, right on the spot. Maybe some top colleges do that, but I haven't heard of it being done yet.

But it depends if the instructor allows it. If he or she gives permission, then full speed ahead.