Is taking the laptop to the meeting a good idea?

Of course, the project leader needs to have one -- but the programmers -- especially those who only need to get straight instructions on what to do next on the project -- do they need to take laptops?

I feel it takes longer to save notes in a software -- and it's lot easier to just jot down "things to do" in a simple note book. That way you can keep up with the discussion and not lose track of what someone else is saying by spending too much time entering text in the machine.