Writing on the ipad feels kind of like stabbing at food with a fork.

I've now made 3 completely different DIY styli for the iPad and while they're OK for hubby, I'm too used to tablet PCs, Wacom tablets etc. and I can't get over the size of the tip. We have a stylus on order from a start up who is taking a different approach to the stylus: making something more like a whiteboard marker. That's a great analogy, I think. So the tip won't be fine, but the barrel is going to be pretty big so it will feel finer in comparison to those very think stick styli with a tip that's the same width as the barrel. So except for needing a lot less arm power because you're not actually writing on a huge board, think about the difference in writing your notes with a whiteboard marker (with the ability to select a thinner line through the software) vs. writing using a pen. So, you can still get a finer line, even with a larger nib, but you still can't actually see the intersection of stylus and screen very well, which is one thing that makes writing with the iPad more disconcerting: your vision affects how you perceive the experience. That's my take on the physical experience between the two.

The other thing about the capacitive styli is that even the highest rated ones (which isn't necessarily saying much) seem to wear out within about 6 months, according to reviews. So you will probably go through at least 2 or 3 to find one you like well enough, and then you might need a couple of new ones each year, especially if you're predicting heavy usage.

Palm recognition is improving, but only in apps that are attempting to do so. Some still don't have palm recognition at all. The app you'll want to use depends on your overall organization system and how you need to use those files.

I will say that zooming in, writing, and zooming back out again is as sleek as you'd expect it to be on an Apple product. So depending on your needs, you can sort of get around the precision by simply zooming in, writing largely, then zooming out so that what you've written is actually normally sized.

But as someone who knows the options, I just can't get around to liking the feeling of writing on the iPad. Many people who don't know any better seem happy with it, especially if there's an app that happens to fit into your normal workflow or offer the right combination of features for exactly how you intend to use your notes/annotations/files. So I can't rule it out for the average person, but for people used to tablet PCs or Wacom tablets, it will probably feel kind of crude.