The Kindle Paperwhite (as another poster mentioned) would work. The Kindle Basic would not be good for taking notes (five way button for onscreen keyboard). A used or refurbished Kindle Touch would work. You might also take a look at the Sony T2 -- still only $50 (refurbished) at Tiger Direct.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...017&CatId=6847
These come with a stylus so you can write short hand-written notes -- it also syncs to Evernote, which is why I decided to try it. At first I didn't like the fonts (thought they were too light) but it's beginning to grow on me. My Kindle (and Nook) fonts seem almost too dark to me now.