Speaking for myself, in college (2008-2012) I used an HP EliteBook 2760p. It was a very solid device and I was able to completely eliminate carrying paper binders/folders by using that machine.
The software I used for handwritten notes was Microsoft OneNote. It was even somewhat successful at translating my scrawl into text behind the scenes in order to make my handwritten notes completely searchable.
The school has been purchasing laptops from the Fujitsu Lifebook T series for a few years now. They swapped out old models for each student after 4 years of use.
I loved those tablets, the stylus and screen digitizer felt top notch back when I used them.
Software-wise, most students used OneNote for note taking/annotating text and a few professors required https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Journal for assignments. Not sure the preferred approach these days as Journal seems dead.
