Archos is finally ready to start shipping their latest budget Android tablet offering. Recently announced as the 97 Carbon, this 9.7-inch single-core Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet is finally available today. It might not be the best around, but it’s a decent little budget offering.

When Google released their Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, quad-core powered beast of a tablet in the Nexus 7 all the budget tablets instantly got sidelined. Sadly for Archos that is basically their specialty, or was. The Archos 97 Carbon is a decent tablet, but now that the specs are so much lower than competing tablets, while costing a similar price I don’t see it ending well.

The Archos 9.7 Carbon comes with Android 4.0 ICS, a 9.7-inch low res 1024 x 768 display, a single-core 1.0 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a few cameras. They give you 2 megapixel on the rear and VGA front. The tablet also has micro-USB, micro-SD, HDMI out and a few other connectivity options too. For $229 this would be a great tablet 6 months ago — but not today.

If you’re a fan of Archos, or want the larger screen for the price the 97 Carbon is available right now. It’s $249 but for a limited time the coupon code: MAC45Z will save you $20. What do you guys think. Does Archos and other budget tablets still have a place in this market? Or will their hardware need to seriously improve if they’d like to continue at this price point?