5 Great Budget Tablets that Won't Cost You and Arm and Leg

Let's face it: tablets are awesome, but they are usually too darn expensive. With the average tablet bearing price tags between $500-$900, it's a surprise that they're flying off the shelves, but following are great tablets that won't leave you broke.

Nook Color - $249

The Barnes & Noble Nook Color is likely the most advanced eBook Reader on the market, but with its vibrant 7 inch touchscreen display and advanced hardware under the hood, it makes for one heck of a mobile tablet. An early exploit (root hack) of the Nook Color allowed it to take advantage of the Android Market, which made the Nook Color the lowest priced 7 inch tablet on the market, but due to a recent update, the Nook Color can access the Android Market without a hack at all. At $249, the Barnes & Noble Nook Color is one of the lowest-priced and most powerful budget tablet that you'll find.

Toshiba Thrive - $429.99

When it comes to high end tablets (think iPad, Galaxy Tab 10.1, etc.) the Toshiba Thrive offers the best price just shy of $500. The Thrive is powerful with a dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8-32GB of internal storage, and an NVIDIA graphics card. In addition to its great hardware features it also has room for ports (USB, HDMI, SD, etc.), supports Adobe Flash, and has great battery life. At $70 less than the entry-level iPad, the Toshiba Thrive is a great option.

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 - $299.95

At first sight, the ViewSonic ViewPad 7 is usually brushed off as a cheap tablet that doesn't offer much, but not only is this not true, this tablet stands on its own merits. The ViewSonic ViewPad 7 is the first tablet that has dual operating systems and can run on Windows and Android 2.2 OS. The ViewPad 7 sports a 7 inch touchscreen display and is great for games, reading eBooks, browsing the web, and running apps.

Acer Iconia Tab A500 - $389.30

At the budget price of $389.30, one wouldn't expect the Acer Iconia Tab A500 to boast a 1GHz dual core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of Memory, a 5 megapixel camera rear-facing camera, and a 2 megapixel front facing camera. At more than $100 less than the iPad 2, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 promises better specs than the world's leading tablet and will handle anything that you throw at it.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi - $349.99

The Samsung Galaxy Tab (Wi-Fi) was on the biggest competitors for the original iPad, but was horribly priced when it was first released. Now at only $349.99, the Samsung Galaxy Tab (Wi-Fi) is a great 7 inch tablet for those that don't mind having a first generation tablet. Although this tablet is over a year old, it still handles games, eBooks, apps, and web browsing very well and at the budget price of $349.99, it's a steal.