Mobile note taker?

Hello, I am looking for some form of mobile perhaps tablet? to help me take notes and organize. this is where im at, I am part management at a set of apartment buildings and we are expanding. I have to take note, phone numbers, appointment times, and detailed descriptions of the persons i meet. my hand writing is so bad i can barely read what i write... I am looking for some form of small, battery efficient device that i can type on, use excell, word, and is able to sync to my desktop. I do not need this device to have active internet or a cell connection. I would also like to be able to record voice with the intent of putting it into dragon naturally speaking on my desktop to transcribe into text. I would also be using a document scanner with this via USB, BT, or wifi. can anyone help me out with this? i was thinking perhaps an ipad but im not sure... depending on what devices are out there i might prefer to install linux in place of there default OS for pure usability restrictions, i would be open to this.


thank you for your help.

You can do all of that with a modern smartphone (Apple, Android, or even BlackBerry based).

If you don't have and don't want a smartphone, or want a larger screen or larger keyboard, look for a cheap netbook, or pickup one of the ~$100 tablets on sale this holiday season. They aren't high-performance, but would accomplish what you are after.