I think this depends a lot on the particular courses. For example, I nearly always want a textbook in an upper division math class, because they're so heavy on

I think this depends a lot on the particular courses. For example, I nearly always want a textbook in an upper division math class, because they're so heavy on theory, and the concepts are very dense. It's useful to see it all written out on a few pages, and be able to refer to it easily. In most of my engineering classes, well done lectures work well because the concepts can be explained more clearly, and I'm a lot more likely to actually learn the material while it's being explained (because the material is not as dense). Similarly, google searches are sometimes useful as supplementary reference for math classes, but are much more helpful in programming courses. In the more theoretical upper-division software engineering courses (theoretical computer science, AI, etc.), I find that google does not perform all that well, at least compared to other programming classes.