This is probably, hands-down, the best budget tablet there is out there! Yes, that is a bold statement but don’t stop reading because I’m going to tell you exactly why you should go out and get the Archos 101if you’ve got a tight budget but want a decent tablet experience.]

Firstly, the Archos 101 is a 10.1 tablet armed (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) with a 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor. This makes for relatively lag free switching between applications as well as multi-tasking. The 10.1 inch screen is bright with a 1024 X 600 resolution (WXGA) that allows for watching movies on the go. The graphics accelerator with the 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor plays 720p HD videos smoothly so there are no complaints in this department.

Speaking of media, this Archos tablet has great support for multimedia via the many codecs it supports (such as mp4, AVI, H.264 HD, M-Jpeg, MKV and even FLV and WMV) since it is an Archos device.

The A8 processor also makes browsing the web a fun experience. Moving from webpage to webpage is also quick and easy and if you do have problems it is probably the connection rather than the hardware. There’s also a Flash-plugin to enable full Flash 10 support. This means most rich-content webpages will play nicely on your Archos 101.

In terms of battery life, this nifty tablet gives you about 10 hours of surfing the net or 7 hours of video which is really good. However, if you do move the clock speed to 1GHz (factory default is dialled down to 800 MHz), then battery life does decrease. However, the trade-off between performance and battery life isn’t that significant unless you are always on the go!

The best parts of the Archos 101 however, are the dimensions and weight of the tablet. At only 0.45 inch thick and 1.1lbs light this Archos tablet is both lighter and thinner than Apple’s iPad. That’s quite a feat since the device is at least $100 cheaper!

The Archos 101 comes with pre-installed applications such as Aldiko, eBuddy, Wikipedia, Touriteur (for Twitter), Fring and more. While it does not have 3G connectivity, Fring and eBuddy will keep you connected via voice and chat as long as there is Wifi nearby.

For $349 or less, this tablet does provide a fantastic value; practically unbeatable at this price and for an Android tablet no less.