Windows tablets you can get today (photos)

Despite claims that the first generation of Windows-based tablets are delayed until 2011, we've been reviewing them for years. Here's a handful you can get right now (plus one that might turn up in within the next several weeks).

Dan Ackerman

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times

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Dan Ackerman

Sept. 30, 2010 11:41 a.m. PT

1 of 6 CNET/Sarah Tew

Archos 9 PC Tablet

The Archos 9 PC Tablet features a full Windows 7 OS in an effort to meld the media player and Netbook laptop into one attractively priced fusion device.

Unfortunately, nailing that recipe is apparently tougher than it looks, and the final result fully satisfies neither as a Windows PC nor as a handheld multimedia device. The most crippling design decision may be the choice of the 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z510 as the CPU.

Read the full review of the Archos 9 PC Tablet

2 of 6 CNET/Sarah Tew

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t

The $499 IdeaPad S10-3t could also be seen as competition for Apple's iPad, which has a similar-size screen and comparable pricing. It's tempting to make the comparison, especially since the S10-3t has more ports than the iPad does, plays Flash, uses a PC operating system, and has a full keyboard.

On the other hand, the S10-3t has laggy performance at times and a thick body that could keep it from being a definitive iPad killer.

Read the full review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t

3 of 6 CNET/Sarah Tew

HP TouchSmart tm2

HP's convertible tablet PC was one of the first consumer-targeted tablets, aimed at multimedia users. The TouchSmart supports multitouch gestures, and has a dual-core processor (and some models have had an optical drive). Using multitouch gestures is unquestionably fun and potentially useful, but this functionality requires a few sacrifices, such as slower performance and poor battery life, compared with comparable laptops.

Read our most recent review of an HP TouchSmart laptop.

Check out the current HP TouchSmart laptop line here.

4 of 6 CNET/Sarah Tew

Viliv S5

Viliv, a Korean company, has developed what is essentially a Netbook PC packed into a case that's not much larger than a personal media player. That makes it too large to be a smart device and too small to be a useful Netbook.

The touch screen is pressure-based and not capacitive, and can be used with bare fingers, but really works best with a stylus (a guitar-pick-shaped stylus is included, attached to a wrist strap). However, targeting tiny icons and window-close buttons can begin to feel like you're performing microsurgery on a regular basis.

Read our review of the Yukyung Viliv S5

The Viliv S5 is available here.

5 of 6 CNET/Sarah Tew

Asus Eee PC T91

The Eee PC T91 has a rotating display that can be spun 180 degrees and folded down, and its screen reacts to your finger or an included nonactive stylus. The custom touch interface, with big, easy-to-grab icons, works well--even if it's not as slick and responsive as the touch interface on, for example, an iPhone.

Our main hang-ups are the use of a slower version of Intel's Atom CPU and the small 16GD SSD hard drive (plus an additional included 16GB SD card, for 32GB total).

Read our review of the Asus Eee PC T91

Even though it's an older system, the T91 is still available here.