Using a tablet as a drawing device?

I would like to draw a bit more than I do. I have a sketch pad but I do like how I do colors on paper. I know you can just get a tablet and draw but I was wondering if you could attach it to your computer and draw say in Paint.NET. Would windows register the drawing?

I did look into some "really good" drawing displays but they are flipping EXPENSIVE! I would rather prefer a touch display over just a drawing tablet.

And if you could do this what tablet would you recomend? Obviously if its like a 700 dollar tablet I would proably just buy a 1000 dollar drawing display.