It’s the start of a new month and I thought of making a list of the best tablets you can find in stores now. I’ve written about most of them so there’s plenty of info here (an all over the web for that matter) about each and every one of them. All you need to do is pick the one that better suits your style and, of course, needs.

    So let’s not kill the pace by rambling about what this top is about. I’ll tell you what it’s not: it’s not a ranking of some kind, but a mere ‘gathering’ of the ones I find the most interesting models out there, so bear with me. The first one is a model pretty talked about here, one that needs no introduction, but read on.

    Tablet netbooks or Netvertibles

    • dAsus EEE PC T101MT (484$) – we’ve reviewed it extensively, twice, because the first sample sent to us has lots of problems with the touchscreen. I ensure you the model you find in store has none on those problems, as I reviewed an early sample, not the final product (for the first review). This kind of cash brings you an Atom N450 CPU, 1GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 10.1 inch multi touch resistive touchscreen, Windows 7 Starter OS and a few hours of battery life (no the 6.5 promised by Asus)
    • Lenovo S10-3t (478$) – this is the main rival of T101MT, as it went heads on already with it here and ups the game by bringing a capacitive multitouch display and a bigger hard drive (250GB). The rest of the specs are the same. There will be available models with more RAM and a faster Atom CPU, but the price will break the 550-600$ barrier, going into the ULV tablet area
    • Viliv S10 Blade (1127$) – no, there’s no mistake with the price here, as Viliv S10 is simply the most powerful netbook tablet out there, featuring a 2GHz Atom CPU and a lightning fast SSD 64GB drive. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. The 10 inch screen is multitouch, of course. More info about the Viliv S10 is found here
    Asus T101MT

    Asus T101MT

    Slate tablets

    • Archos 7 Home Tablet (199$ for 8 GB model) – you can’t get any cheaper than the Archos 7 Home Tablet, a multimedia slate meant as a home companion. It’s powered by Android and does all the things the iPad is capable of cheaper, if you are the type that likes to simplify things. The 7 inch 800 x480 pixels screen is good enough for eBook reading, web browsing and media watching. Read about it here and here. Archos 7 Home Tablet is exclusive to Amazon and will ship in a few days to weeks
    • Archos 9 PC Tablet (540$) – this is an entirely new approach compared to Archos 7. It’s a fully fledged netbook (with no hardware QWERTY keyboard), powered by a 1.2 GHz Atom Z CPU and running Windows 7 Started Edition on a 8.9 inch resistive touchscreen (1024 x 600 pixels). We’ve previewed it here and here
    • Google Android bSocial xE Tablet PC (169$) – well, it seems you can get cheaper than the Archos 7 Home Tablet, as the bSocial xE Tablet PC sells for quite a few dollars less. We can’t tell you much about it as it’s the first time we write about it, but at this price don’t expect too much. There’s an upside to that also: you don’t loose too much and you get to take the pulse of the tablet madness that surrounds us without digging too deep into your pockets. 169$ brings you a 7 inch 800 x 480 pixels screen, Android OS, 2GB internal storage that can be expanded through SD cards and an unnamed CPU, probably ARM

    bSocial xE Tablet

    bSocial xE Tablet

    Tablet PCs

    • HP Touchsmart TM2 (877$) – this is one of my favorites: powerful ULV CPU at 1.3 GHz, compared to Atom, 4GB RAM, 320 GB 7200 RPM HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium, 12.1 inch 1280 x 800 pixels display and an advertised 9.75 hours battery life. It’s one of the best compromises between portability, computing power and price. Read a hands on preview here

    And before I end, remember that the iPad 3G model has just arrived. Personally I find the WiFi model to be enough for a gadget I would use at home (see my personal review of the iPad here). If you agree, here’s the list of the stores that sell the iPad WiFi. The 3G model is currently limited to Apple Store and Best Buy. Enough for today: Roger and OUT!