I think the benefit here is that handwriting forces you to be parsimonious. You simply cannot mindlessly transcribe words onto a page as fast as you can type on

I think the benefit here is that handwriting forces you to be parsimonious. You simply cannot mindlessly transcribe words onto a page as fast as you can type onto a screen. As a result, you have compress the information into a distilled format - this requires understanding. If you're just typing - transcribing really - you are not forced to understand, only touch type. If this is the actual mechanism - that handwriting forces you to understand - then I have also have an alternative which includes typing. That is, "take notes twice." I always have a transcribed set of notes (anything which could possibly be relevant), and then a "curated" set which compresses the relevant and tosses the irrelevant. Yes, it takes more effort; yes, it takes more time. That is the cost of understanding. Personally I've found this to work better for me than handwriting.