Naturally, you can draw and take notes on any tablet (or smartphone), with a passive stylus that looks like this:
And costs close to nothing (1.50€ on AliExpress)
https://aliexpress.com/item/1005002346357482.html
However, for the best experience I strongly recommend that your tablet comes with the following three features:
Palm Rejection
is a function that allows you to write or draw on the tablet using the stylus without registering your hand touch on the screen. This is useful to avoid accidentally drawn lines or triggered gestures caused by resting your hand on the touch surface.
There may also be situations where the tablet does support palm rejection, but only with the original (expensive) stylus. And absolutely no other stylus (no matter how much you ponder about the settings and additional applications).
A budget alternative to palm rejection is to use gloves (even regular winter gloves do not conduct electricity - you can try to touch the screen in winter and the screen "does not know" that it is being touched).
Stylus Pressure Sensitivity
is a function that allows you to adjust the thickness or intensity of the line drawn on the tablet with the stylus, depending on how hard you press on the screen.
For pressure detection to work, it must be supported by both the tablet, the stylus, and the application used at the time (e.g. notes in Google Keep completely ignore the pressure sensitivity).
This function is very useful for drawing. But if you intend to draw a lot, it is worth ensuring that the tablet (apart from supporting palm rejection) is also fast enough. Because even a half-second delay between switching from a thinner to a thicker line can ruin the entire drawing experience.
Active Stylus
it is a stylus that communicates wirelessly with the tablet. Thanks to this, the tablet "knows" where exactly it is, how fast it is moving, at what angle it is tilted, etc.
Without an active stylus, the Palm Rejection and Stylus Pressure Sensitivity functions described above will not work.
Active styluses are like "micro computers", and they have three major inconveniences:
• They must source the energy for this communication from somewhere, so (unlike "ordinary" styluses) they need to be charged from time to time
• Specific styluses only work with specific tablets (e.g. Apple Pencil 1st Gen will work with iPad Air 3rd Gen and iPad Mini 5th Gen, and Apple Pencil 2nd Gen will work with iPad Air 4th Gen and iPad Mini 6th Gen)
• Prices range from a bit expensive (around 20€) to absurd rip-offs (up to 150€)
The cheapest reasonable tablet that comes with the aforementioned features would be the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022 (with ‘free’ Galaxy S Pen included), usually priced at around 250€.
If you are on a really tight budget, you could consider Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen). It sounds like a good deal at just 150€. However, you have to purchase a compatible Lenovo Active Pen 3 for another 30€. And for a total of 180€, you get only 32 GB of storage and pretty mediocre performance of Mediatek Helio G80. It is usable, especially for simply taking notes.
But you get much more for your dollar (or euro) if you choose Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022.
Galaxy Tab S6 Lite purchase reflink:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/275547886790?couponcode=ebay-voucher20183&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=707-53477-19255-0&toolid=10001&campid=5338345295&customid=&siteid=77
Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen) purchase link:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0B8DT57NR/
Compatible Lenovo Active Pen 3 purchase reflink:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/305396349221?epid=6060527591&itmmeta=01HR56JY1ZEJ9J8DYX73NG25KQ&hash=item471b0a7925:g:6EUAAOSwmORlx7Xq&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwLGvSCE1tHOaCy3wC%2Fo1zxTIA2xKTuO6LffwhucAfAln55%2F6G2KjYUUxbPKttOAgUgZei65FQNp1BjbebEGTcwPqdZ1f4QSRzGOqOb8MqahyaWFMP8Oi%2B8p9hAqd9CSLt9pQe%2BKCI2qq%2Bzv8PTt8ZWixd8UvgXNnO1ju5MIr7HSFcb2B71EI61UCd8CdpvnwDXL%2Fi97WXunmMM8Ukph1l%2B%2BC%2FJoeaKdW0%2F6Vy3Z2shEipCTp3eoZQEkuBYwSHBY6Eg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4jhy6bBYw&mkcid=1&mkrid=707-53477-19255-0&siteid=77&campid=5338345295&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1