Because I can’t help being contrary (and I’ll have plenty of time before I can afford to do anything about it anyway) I’ve started pondering whether I want an iPad or would rather have something like an Archos 9 Tablet. Many of my friends have Archos media players and I don’t think I’ve heard anything negative about them. Amazon user reviews on the 9 are biased toward the negative, though I’m inclined to think some of that is because it needs a bit more thought to set up (but is consequently more adaptable) than an iPad.

The Archos 9 is better value storage wise than the iPad. It has a smaller screen, though it claims 1080p display capability compared to the iPad’s 720p (though how it does this with a 1024 x 600 screen is beyond me). I don’t think it has the iPad’s orientation detection- it’s landscape all the way. And, most obviously, the Archos isn’t going to have the mass of apps that the iPad will. I’m not sure this is a deal breaker, I’d only really need a text editor, ebook reader (it’s Windows, I can run a version of Kindle on it as well as pdfs, rtf etc.) and a lightweight drawing package such as ArtRage. Anything more, as my nice new desktop proves, and I get distracted from doing any real work far too easily.

I’m definitely conflicted. But it’s going to be at least six months before I could afford either tablet, so I have plenty of time to think about it. Of course, the obvious way to work out which one is best for me would be if Archos and Apple would both be so kind as to send me a review copy for a month or so……….