Can a wacom tablet be used with MS Word in notebook format?

Yes, I just tried it. You can type notes with the keyboard, then switch to Word's "Scribble" tool to sketch diagrams with the Wacom, all in Notebook view. If you wanted, you could also use the Wacom to write out text notes using Apple's "Ink" handwriting recognition technology built into OS X, so that you wouldn't need to use the keyboard at all. But I find the handwriting recognition to be much slower and more error-prone than typing.

While some programs like Photoshop can use the advanced features of a Wacom tablet, like pressure sensitivity, you can still use the tablet in just about all other programs like Word, where it is recognized basically as a mouse. When the Wacom is plugged in I hardly use a mouse or the trackpad at all.