looking for tablet for handwriting notes

I have purchased two 10.1" Digiland tablets from BestBuy ( tried them for a week and both went back). I went and got an Asus Transformer Tf103 and while it's ok, I'm realizing that 10.1 in is a bit annoying for me to hold / I'm not sure I want such a big screen ( I write fairly small and its annoying that I cannot shrink the notepad size in a lot of writing apps). I tried using my jot pro with it and it wasn't all that different from using a rubber tip stylus. I haven't tried a fiber mesh tip stylus yet.

Overall I was planning on returning the Asus tablet for a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4" but I'm super disappointed that it doesn't have s-pen capabilities. I'm trying to make myself love the 8" note by Galaxy, but it just looks unappealing to me (physically). I'm strongly considering an iPad Mini, however I am just not sure if android / os apps will be sufficient for note taking (from everything I've read here it seems like they would work fine).

I'm a bit against getting a windows tablet primarily because I already have a 15" pc that is running Windows 8 (just ordered a new battery and ac adapter for the laptop, it's been dead for a little over a year and I've owned it since 2012).

I'm basically sick of buying tablets and returning / exchanging. I've been researching since a couple weeks before christmas and I've come to the conclusion that I need a bit of advice from you guys. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!

Also if you use an android tablet, what app do you use? I'm in college and plan on using this in lieu of paper and pen.