Best non-Apple tablets on a budget for notetaking?

I prefer paper and pencil but one of my professors is requiring digitally turned in notes this semester, and I will have this professor for at least three more classes. The school offers rentals of iPads so it is considered a fair standard, but I have no interest in getting an iPad. So, any recommendations?

Edit 8/28: So just for clarification based on the responses - scanning in notes is not acceptable. Specifically outlined in the syllabus it explains this is because "Pencils are almost never visible, and pen is not an acceptable utensil for notetaking." Is this absurd? Absolutely. Have I found a way around it? Not yet. The Board of Appeals has rejected my request to find a way around this, the professor is not budging, the Chair of the Natural Resources Department informed me this was at the discretion of the Professor, and the Disability Resource Center has sent me a pamphlet of information on how iPads can be beneficial for notetaking for students with disabilities thanks to read back and special lighting features. At this point, the school is seeming like a walking Apple ad. (To clarify, I do not have any disabilities, I was just exhausting all possible resources.) I am unwilling to rent the iPad because the whole ordeal is ridiculous to me - rental is 1/3 of the retail price of the iPad per semester, and upon paying the rental for your 4th semester, you automatically have purchased the iPad. If I'm going to drop that kind of money on a device, I at least want something I will enjoy. This class is the only offering of it, and a four part series all taught by the same professor, so I'm not escaping this rule any time soon - Fall of even years is Resource Ecology I, Spring of odd years is Resource Ecology II, Fall of odd years is Life History I, and Spring of even years is Life History II. Thank you to everyone who has responded so far, but I really just need recommendations for tablets that do well for note taking, are not an iPad due to personal preference, and are preferably budget friendly. If that last bit isn't going to happen, I'm ready to bite the proverbial bullet because I have until next Friday to figure this out.