[Nomadic Mentor]

Just my $.02. In my opinion tablets are the way to go. I have brought my laptop to my college classes and consistently not used it because of the lack of room.
To me the necessities are long battery life, input/output ports (Ipad fails here), wireless connectivity, hardware you can upgrade.

I'm also a huge proponent of opensource software so Linux (or android) of some variety, open office, ext. These programs are free so save licensing fees and the students still learn the skills necessary to use any industry standard programs like Microsoft Office. And the variety of free programs available through Linux distributions can add a lot of choice for the users without extra cost.