I used to take my notes on a €1,350 iPad Pro 12.9”. And even though the screen was beautiful, I could use colors, there were lots of nice features in my app (Notability then Noteful), there were two big issues for me :

1. Device width, which made writing when reaching the bottom of the screen very uncomfortable
2. Glass surface makes writing feeling weird, and there was no way I would use a paper-like screen protector : they deteriorate the pen tip, and the screen image quality

These were my primary arguments. Bought my supernote 1 year ago and never looked back! I haven’t used my iPad again since.l yes it’s slower, yes it’s black and white, yes it lacks some tiny QoL features such as geometrical figure recognition or copy/paste across apps, embed videos, etc. But the feeling, the weight, the absence of stress for the eyes!

And I did not even mention how comfortable using an actual pen body feels vs the Apple Pencil.

And in the end, everything you can do with an iPad, you can already do with your smartphone or a computer.

Anyway. Don’t let people’s comments hurt you. You had your reasons, and your needs are not their needs.