I pretty much did the same thing in 10-11th grade. Regretted doing it to. Here is a a quick cut and paste of what I told someone else on Tomshardware.
"Just a bit of a advice from personal experience using laptops in high school and college.
Take note of the weight and battery life of the things. These two little factors don't sound like much but they add up fast. The gaming laptops while they sound nice and light at 8-10lbs they add up to weighing more quite fast as thats what my first laptop was. 10lb laptop + spare battery 2lbs + charger +2lbs + other equipment and laptop backpack being heavier 6lbs = 20lbs of additional weight I ended up lugging every time I brought that one to school and I had to bring it all that because the battery life sucked, and I wasn't going to bring the lighter backpack that didn't protect it. Not to mention the extra bulk this adds is VERY annoying and makes it difficult to carry more than 1 text book.
Current laptop, is actually ARM based samsung chromebook, what I carry when I go to class. Chromebook + protective cover = still under 3lbs. Battery life is good enough to last through any class and I can take notes online or offline and do everything I need for college. Also at $270 after tax it's cheap enough that I don't feel like I have a large steal me sign on the thing. And this takes up the same amount of room as a notebook roughly.
As for using a stylus for taking notes in terms of tablets, I have played around with that. I be honest it really sucks as a method of taking notes in my opinion and most people I have talked to. Same story with trying to use a tablet to take notes by typing on it, tried it and hated it. And most people I know who tried doing the same stopped after a few days in class. Tried to even justify the Asus Transformer for school in the past though for that I couldn't after research as what I found was that it was lacking in what it could do from what I heard after trying to find reviews from students trying to use it in school. Now the touch screen laptops are another case, I haven't looked into and won't comment on. But I imagine the stylus being used on it will still be a lesson in frustration compared to pen and paper unless you have a good hand writing recognition software.
From my experience the best combo is a cheap lightweight laptop with excellent battery life paired up with a notebook and pen. Use the laptop to take notes (and record lectures if you want, just get it cleared by instructor) and use the notebook to write down math formulas, diagrams, etc. And than latter put it in the laptop when you have time, or take a picture/scan it in. You can write down "fig 1" and refer to that in notes and put "insert fig 1 here" etc, to make life easier. This is the type of thing I do. Also a bit of advice use dropbox, skydrive, or something of that nature to quickly upload your work and notes online and sync with your home computer. I guarantee you this will save you more than once and just make life easier.
Also keep in mind your laptop is mobile and used on the go it is a good idea to note keep any sensitive information off it. And have the browser never remember passwords, etc on it. And if you do please use encryption. These things have a habit of going missing or getting stolen. And don't leave it in plain view in a car, I know someone who had their netbook stolen that way and they lost almost all their notes for nursing school and work they did. (Also why I recommended things such as dropbox.)
As for what I would recommend you to get. I honestly wouldn't get a gaming laptop despite you having the money. Weight adds up quick for when you want to do that with batteries, charger, mouse, etc and you already have a good desktop for that from the sounds of it. And I be honest you'll most likely makes friends and hang out with them during the time in between classes, study, or find some way to kill time. I want to recommend the same chromebook I have for you but with how you may be a CE or CS major I can't as you most likely be using some specific programs you like if you go that route. So my advice try to keep the laptop reasonably lightweight and small (under 6lbs and resonably thin so you can still fit books) and if you want to make it all 4 years of college 7+ hours of battery life or close to it as you can get. You will likely have some days where you have multiple classes in the same day and at one point in your college career be in class for over 8h+ in a day and not having to be near a wall outlet will make life easier. Not to mention the days you forget to charge it or go from class directly to studygroup or something along those lines and don't get a chance to charge it.
Just thought I try to depart some of my experience of using a laptop in a school enviroment for you, as I know everything wasn't how I expected it to be when I tried going this route at first. And just a heads up some teachers don't allow laptops to be used in class as they expect students to do everything but take notes and study (facebook, instant messaging, etc) and to be blunt they are right some students do that. Just do us a favor as a fellow student if you do that, sit in the back as people WILL look at your laptop to see what you are doing as you are a distraction weither you are taking notes or on facebook/gaming/etc."
Most of that will still apply to you and should give it some thought. But if I were you I just buy a cheap netbook/laptop or even a chromebook will work even if it's offline most of the time as long as you remember to download your notes to a different format so you can read it offline after you upload it. Chromebook also has the benefit of being cheap/lightweight/great battery life/encrypted by default (handy considering how many people will try to steal your laptop, keep your eye on it. Heck I've had people try to swipe cheap tool sets by walking in front of me in high school before.)
So what I would honestly do after you buy the cheap netbook/laptop/chromebook is put the rest into a desktop computer you get more performance out of it, it's upgradeable, and is easier to keep cool as some gaming laptops have a tendency to run too hot.
Oh just a few things to further emphesise from bringing a laptop in high school when I was younger. Keep in mind it's a target to be stolen. Encryption or keep all private info (passwords, photos, etc) off it as people if given half a chance will search it for things like that, get something with long battery life as I learned it's a pain asking the teacher to steal a desk near a power outlet or getting someone to run it by them so you can power your laptop and hope no one trips over it and brings your laptop crashing down. And from my experience a lot of teachers don't like students to use laptops to take notes or use them period in class, and almost every one of the ones who let me use one had a "no BS" policy as in if they caught me doing something not school related 1 time I am not allowed to use it in class ever again.
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