Lots of mixed responses here, I thank you all for the input.
I should explain that, of the three courses I've chosen, only one requires me to do coursework, the other are 100% exam at the end of the year, and the coursework I do have to do is researching then writing case studies based on that - no complex table formatting or anything is needed there.
The other lessons will simply require me to make notes.
I am aware that the netbook runs a full OS (Windows XP in my case) whereas the iPad does not, but I don't think I need a full computing platform for typing things out, which is why I thought about using the iPad like this in the first place. And, of course, the battery lasts a lot longer and there's textbook apps avaliable for it too.
As for citations - I'll type a list out manually like I did anyway when I using Microsoft Office, I don't see why I need any special features for that.
I'm not suggesting I use the iPad as a main machine at all, either - my house has no shortage of computers, both Mac and PC, to use for "real" computing stuff.
I should be getting my very own iPad in a few months' time, so I guess I'll play around with it then and see what I think of it, and of course see what software updates add to the functuality.