If the HP were still available, at the firesale prices, then I'd probably have recommended that, since as Rob says, it's pretty much the best constructed tablet out there apart from the iPad. The trouble is that it would then also require some hacking on likely an ongoing basis to run Android.

Heather, the ASUS comes broken from the factory. Instead of a recall ASUS is giving customers a sort of brick that must be physically attached to the device, occupying its expansion port and making it so that it won't likely fit into all its cases, etc. It's absolutely ridiculous. Apart from that we have tablets with abysmal screens, poor performance, very old software, won't be supported by manufacturers for more than a couple of months, etc.

There is nothing out there that comes in at even half the iPad in fit, finish, stability and performance, but I'd like to think that there's at least something out there that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the garbage.

Right now my recommendation is to wait until the next iPad is released and try and get the iPad 2 on super-clearance. They weren't so happy about that.