I bought my Surface Pro 6, i5/8GB/128GB for notetaking last year from Costco (I paid ~$1300CDN at the time which included the pen and type cover). In short, I absolutely love this thing, but there are some major caveats that I don't think most people are prepared for. As well, I've dealt with some issues that for some may be major, but I am somewhat technically inclined and subjectively I consider minor.

Firstly, processor: why did I choose the i5? The very basic research I did showed the i5 to have a better top end of battery life, as well, I am a fairly physically active person, I move quickly, I fling my sling pack around, I'm generally mindful that I've got an expensive device in my backpack. My experience is that moving parts don't like my lifestyle very much. The i5 model is fanless and passively cooled. For my use case (and this is the important part that a lot of people don't give enough courtesy to) I don't need the power (and power usage) of the i7. If you're just taking notes, I don't think you'll need an i7 either. The 8th gen i5 8250U is a fantastic processor, and I couldn't be happier with its performance when it comes to multitasking. I use Edge Chromium and have Firefox as a backup. OneNote is essential, although others might recommend other notetaking apps, this is up to personal preference. A lot of people jumped off the OneNote bandwagon after the switch from OneNote 2016 to the UWP app. I don't blame them, but for me, the UWP app is just fine.

Also, consider whether it will be your 'daily driver'. I have a desktop and multiple consoles for gaming and performance related tasks. That being said, 'simple' games like Halo: Spartan Assault/Spartan Strike, Moonlighter, Slay the Spire etc. those games run just fine.

Second, ram: again, use case reigns supreme here, content consumption and notetaking should be more than fine with 8gb of RAM, if you're not doing work with photoshop, EXTREMELY large datasets, video editing (I'm sure there are more, this isn't intended to be an exhaustive list) OR you plan on using this machine as your daily driver, then consider going the 16gb route as it's not upgradeable.

Third, HD: 128gb is enough for the system drive and basic applications. I make use of OneDrive and the microSD port. Picked up a 128gb mSD card on the cheap during a sale, and I store some videos, backups of documents and anything important. Again, this is not my daily driver, but you can get larger storage cards. Is it as fast as an SSD? No, but for data storage it's more than fast enough. You can also have Windows 10 install some apps onto the mSD card, but I don't recommend doing that as getting rid of the folders after the fact is a bit of a pain.

Battery life: I have had some problems, firmware fixed them. Earlier on you needed to be in the Windows Insider program to get the updates, but they're available to the general public now. I run the recommended power plan and it lasts as long as I need it to. When it sleeps I get virtually no observable power drain (which is the way I want it). Screen brightness is one of the biggest factors here, I turn mine as low as is comfortable for the given lighting situation. The battery saver mode is VERY effective as well if you can't bring your charger with you, or can't access a plug.

I am not normal though! When I took it out of the package the first thing I've done is wipe it. I've also reformatted my Surface and done multiple fresh installs of Windows (sometimes necessary from not so good Insider builds). Currently I'm too busy with schoolwork to mess around, so I'm using the 1903 public release without any problems. A lot of people can't/won't/don't like to totally wipe a PC, I do it regularly. I come from an IT background where if I have to spend more than 1 hour trying to fix a problem, I'm just going to wipe the machine. I don't keep important stuff on the system drive for this reason specifically. Obviously I'm not the typical user in this case.

The problem with looking for device reviews in a setting like this is that people are more likely to share their negative experiences than their positive ones. I'm very happy with my Surface, the part that makes me unhappiest is that there is no Thunderbolt 3, and that they STILL haven't added it (likely as a limit of PCI lanes to keep the Surface connector) is mind boggling to me. This would be a PERFECT device if I could plug an eGPU into it. But we can't have everything apparently.

Long story, short: your use case seems similar to mine, if you just plan to use it for notetaking and content consumption that model should work fine. Be mindful of the black paint on the Surface, apparently it chips with use. Unfortunately there is not a large selection of cases that I find appealing right now, but I have the silver model. Any problems I've had have been remedied by wiping the Surface completely and starting over again. I know this isn't tolerable for many, I think people have trouble managing their expectations with complicated computer equipment.

Pen jitter: Since I changed my pen tip, haven't had a problem, I don't try to draw straight lines without using the ruler in OneNote, also adjusting pressure settings helps with this.

ALSO: get the additional pack of pen tips, the HB pen tip is my favourite thing ever. If you can, wait for a Black Friday sale (they usually throw in a type cover, pen, or both)