Archos 9 confirmed for October 22nd with $499 price tag
We heard the Archos 9 tablet was due alongside Windows 7, but just in case you were worried that preposition would be stretched to the limits of its definition, the company made clear at IDF that October 22nd was the target, making it day and date with Microsoft's latest OS. As for US price, it's a better-than-expected (at least as far as UK currency conversions go) $499 for the ultra-thin tablet. Mark your calendars accordingly, the diehards in the audience have less than a month to prepare their bank accounts. Now if only Archos would do something about that maladjusted resistive touchscreen...
[Thanks, Anthony]
[Thanks, Anthony]






















very interesting. I'm looking closely to this one.
Don't forget that at least 5 other tablets are due to hit the shelves between october and december and that this one seems the least desireable of all.
The only Archos product I feel a strong attraction for is their Android PMP/smartphone; if it will ever materialize of course, which is probable but still not sure.
can i upgrade the memory?
looks amazing!
Looks amazing till you find out it use a 1.1GHZ atom cpu........
Shut the hell up and just focus the show (which I will be watching
Oh, you wanted 1.6ghz version with fan and half battery life?
If it uses a video chipset with full acceleration support, the CPU won't much matter.
My ION does BD rips quite nicely.
A PMP that can accept my home media server files without modification would be a nice convenience.
Damn, my credit card is booked for that month. Storm 2 replacing 8330 takes precedence over another underpowered computer, even if it is a tablet.
Great deal. Win 7, large touchscreen, a buck under 5 Benjamins, I like it. Might make my holiday list this year, if I can fit it in between everything else.
All this great new hardware releasing on October 22nd - a reason to like Windows 7?
oh no now all the resistive touchscreen lovers are going to get mad...LOLCATZ ZOMG
OH noes! How are my fingers going to reach that TINY X button! I should've used a stylus! OH noes! Engadget hate forced them NOT to include one! DAMN YOU ENGADGET!
seriously engadget, phones are a different thing, it may be reasonable to ask for capacitive there... but a small portable TABLET touchscreen running windows 7?? how the hell will we get enough accuracy to do anything properly on it?????
and besides, if you ever put your apple iphones aside and acutally tried to use a resistive touch screen phone, you'd realize that they're actually pretty good.....
this thing is poo
The atom cpu is a bitch for this device. Needs more POWAHZ.
Resistive touchscreen...gah! What seems so obvious...never comes to fruition. This device is dead on arrival.
Yeah, because who'd wanna use a stylus on such a device, right?
/s
No, your post was dead on arrival.
Resistive Touch Screen + Stylus + Handwriting Recognition + One Note = a no brainer.
This device will not be successful...I guarantee it. I've used so many resistive touchscreens and they are so bad, I actually own a Nokia N800.
- Screens are really unresponsive: Can take several taps to trigger, even with a stylus
- Handwriting recognition is a pain in the ass to use: You have to adjust the way you write so that the software can pick it up
- No multi-touch: It's hard to go back to a non-multitouch after using a Zune HD or iPhone to web browse
I've used a lot of these types of devices too, about a dozen different ones over the last couple years, and the experience is nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be.
Furthermore, this comes with Windows 7, which has AMAZING handwriting recognition capabilities.
Don't believe me?
Start > All Programs > Accessories > Tablet PC > Tablet PC Input Panel
Now, using *just* your Mouse, go ahead and start writing.
Don't tell me that isn't impressive.
With a tablet (especially resistive) + stylus, the accuracy is extremely precise.
I'm.typing. this-comment with my mouse andl_ I have to say its A\ot better than other hand writing recognition software I've used.
Ok enough of that, back to keyboard. I stand correct, with Windows 7, that's definitely doable (I hope that it would be able to keep up with my quicker writing speed with a stylus).
BUT, I still think that these type of devices can benefit from a capacitive screen. I think there will be cases where a user wouldn't want to have to bust out a stylus and opt to use their fingers to navigate around on their tablet. Again, multitouch is a big think that can improve the experience.
Can a stylus be used on a capacitive touchscreen? If so, I think that would be a better solution for this. Quick, easy use of the finger and accurate, precise input of the stylus.
Yeah, you guys are totally right. What was Apple thinking with the iPhone? Multitouch gestures and simple touch to click gestures just seem so stupid now. Why did Apple kill that Newton thing so many years ago? It had stylus input and handwriting recognition and everything...
@L: They can put in a capacitive touchscreen and use a Wacom digitizer. That would be kick butt considering the possibilities. Of course I don't know anything about the cost of adding a Wacom Penabled to a low powered device.
@Cass
You cannot use an ordinary stylus with current capacitive technology. And even if you could you still wouldn't get the same precision since the capacitive layer is relatively low resolution. Having a Wacom digitizer gets around these problems, but these do add to the price and consume a fair bit of power.
Also multitouch technology is not exclusive to capacitive touch screens. Resistive multitouch displays do exist now.
And............. roids?
No Aero? :-(
lol, integrated graphics, underpowered CPU, what gave you an impression that it would have aero?
Most integrated craphics can at least do aero these days.
I'm sure you could enable it if that's all you would buy this for
Who the hell buys a computer for Aero?
I meant the Aero Basic theme is horrible and I can't bear to use Windows 7 without Aero.
I want this SO badly, but that resistive touchscreen is holding me back. I'd be willing to pay a couple hundred more for capacitive
8.9" capacitative does not exist on this planet dude.
Quit asking for capacitative dudes.
Capacitative only works on tiny small low resolution ipods.
Let me guess, you also said hard drives would never get beyond 500MB, right? Think forward, dude
The largest capacitative surface computer peripheral is the newest mousepad on the Macbook Pro. I think software complexities are holding back the Apple Tablet -- if you're holding the device, how does it know which screen contacts to ignore? Analogous problems exist for resistive touchscreens -- starting from 8.9", the software has to exclude contact with your wrist if you're using a stylus. This can reduce the apparent overall sensitivity of the screen, but it's not the screen that is insensitive, it's the software.
Just my two cents. It will be interesting to see how this tablet actually performs for things like taking notes.
Cuz the first thing I think of when I see a device like this is--wow, a device without a keyboard, that would be so great for taking notes! LOL.
Dude, I don't think you represent a typical consumer for something like this. What would people do with this most of all. Pick one of the following:
a) Web Browsing
b) Watching Web Video
c) Games
d) Note Taking
One of these things doesn't belong on this list. I'll give you a hint: Its the last one.
And nobody is suggesting you have to build the thing without a bezel or with a touch interface on the back of the device. How would they know if your wrist is a touch? How about--they wouldn't have a touch panel there?
please. it is just another window based, touch screen tablet. Archos brings nothing to the table but some good looking hardware but they do nothing for me . I'm a Mac guy so this shit can get flushed!
I'm a pc guy and also think this thing should get flushed.
Please. Just shut up. What you probably don't know is that this "shit" beats an iMac in processing power (video below):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
I'm a pc guy and also think this thing should get flushed.
meh.
After getting burned on the first hard drive archos I bought, having to pay an extra $30 for the "cinema plugin" to play avi's and a _bunch_ of money for accessories, this time around I am looking at those cheap 16gb chinese avi players on ebay for about $100.
Tell me this, how would this work for taking notes in class? Right now I use a Thinkpad with a USB wacom tablet, but it's kind of a pain to get everything out and plugged in. Something like this would be nice.
I'm wondering the same thing. I'm going to hold off on pulling the trigger on this until some in depth reviews come out. I like the size and the form factor, the hardware is... disappointing but not a deal breaker. As long as the screen works well for note taking I think I'll be sold.
You know what you could do for taking notes with your Thinkpad? You could use the KEYBOARD! I know, I know its a radical idea. But somebody had to say it...
Speaking from my own experience, the keyboard is woefully inadequate for jotting down things like math equations or flowcharts.
I'm a satisfied Archos customer (who was aware of the machine's capabilities BEFORE I bought it) and can't wait to see a few reviews. If it's snappy enough it will be my living room web browser.
DAYMMMMMMMMM
Not sure what's wrong with the stylus and resistive screen. All the tablet PCs to date have a stylus and resistive screen. It makes handwriting writing and drawing natural. Great for use in a classroom for notetaking. A capcitive screen is great for simple point and click on large buttons. But on a large sreen like this tablet, the buttons are large enough to click anyway, resisitve or capacitive. Accuracy of resistive screen is more important for me here.
needs android dual boot
Can we get a video of you doing what you'd rather do please?
Please NO capacitative screen for this, EVER. Inaccurate pieces of laminated dog shit. Give me something like the HTC Touch HD's resistive screen any day. It does both finger AND stylus, and is accurate too.
So yes, this device is number 1 on my Xmas list. Unless we Europeans get raped on pricing again. Wouldn't be surprised if $499 turned into E599 instead of the other way 'round.
As much as I wanted to spend my hard earn money on this, I opted not to after hearing myriad of bad news on customer service. That said, hardwarewise it's very tempting to say the least.
I wonder if u can change the HD I'd want to toss a ssd into it? Or ram?
According to the Archos website this has the "new Intel Z510 Atom processor" - "new" ? The Z510 has already been superceded several times by Intel - see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Atom_microprocessors
Where's the logic in marketing a device with the latest version of Windows but with a processor that's already virtually obsolete ?
So is this out today or what? trying to find somewhere to order it?