I agree about minimalism being key, but I would add one thing beyond search and sync, which is a way to restore context when I've been away from a project for a while. Tags or a notebook structure works for that. Search for the tag or notebook for a project, click on it, and there are my notes, with the most recently touched notes at the top, helping me reorient myself and pick up where I left off.

It adds a bit of friction for note-taking, the need to appropriately tag or locate the note, but I find that doesn't hold me back. If I don't assign a new note in a notebook, it goes into my default, where it sticks out and will quickly get reclassified.