I used to use a notebook (the kind you write on with ink!) all day to take notes and had done since beginning my career in IT. I’ve always recommended to any tech that I have trained that they do the same, from training days to just using in the office and meetings.
The problem is that you end up with lots and lots of notebooks that you need to either shred if you are going to get rid of or they take up space. Plus you need to be careful what you record in them for security reasons.
Why not consider a wiki on a stick method instead? A html page that you store on your machine and you access via your favourite browser and can add notes that way.
I don’t recommend taking your laptops into most meetings though or on most training days, a notebook is best there. Perhaps type your notes up into the wiki though and a good way to make sure you didn’t miss anything in the notes.
However for daily work on the move or from your desk a wiki on a stick is ideal. You can create pages for projects, months etc. Plus it has a search option, which is ideal. Perhaps even a different wiki for different projects to record your notes and make easily searchable.
Plus for us laptop users it is less to carry about and you can also include the file as part of your backup procedure.
http://stickwiki.sourceforge.net