I also agree on the iPad.
I do big, 100+ million dollar construction projects and am constantly having to mark up items on the fly, make notes, etc. I have OneDrive on my work computer, and also have it installed on my iPad. I can pull up a PDF drawing in the field, mark it up on my iPad, and that automatically syncs to my desktop computer.
I had considered a surface pro, but that’s more of a laptop than a tablet in my opinion. Mostly because you have to boot it up and it operates similar to a laptop would. The iPad, is more like a phone. I can leave it turned on all day, all night, stick it in a backpack where I don’t have to worry about it overheating. Unlocking it is as fast as my phone, as is accessing things.
It has truly been a HUGE contributing factor to the success of my career since purchasing it. My productivity with this thing has soared.
Also, like you, I was ALWAYS a huge “hard copy” person. I liked to have every single specification printed, drawings, code book, etc. I wanted hard copies of all project documents. With my current job, I was spread between a job site, company HQ, and two separate engineering firms. It was not possible for me to keep hard copies that I could access at all times, like if I was in one singular office. So now, I have virtually zero hard copies of anything. It took some work, and I’m still fine tuning, but it has been much more convenient.