Pros/cons of painted vs polished aluminum?

Sorry should had mentioned it was a old airplane rudder that I was making a table out of

Lawson Laslo wrote: I have a polished aircraft, takes a couple of days to polish but looks great, I use NUVITE C&S well worth it,
i wouldn't recommend stripping paint, ive tried in on an old aircraft wing and took forever, ended up using a wire brush on a drill

I hope you really did not use a wire brush on a drill, using any wire brush other than brass is asking for trouble as you can embed steel into the aluminum and give it a place for corrosion to start. fine Scotch brite pads are good to use.
As far as chemical strippers, most these day are wimps compared to what used to be on the market, one way to help them to do a better job is to do 2 things. 1st apply the stripper going in one direction only, either up and down, or side to side, but not both, the other is, once you have a area covered, wrap it in plastic and leave it for a hour or more.

Stripping paint can be hard, depending on the paint and primer used. I used a chemical stripper on the painted portions of my plane (use lots of rinse water, stripper is caustic). Some paint came off easily, some was really stubborn, especially if an etching primer was used. I wouldn't want to strip an entire plane.
Now that I have a polished plane, the effort required depends on your goals. If you want a mirror finish show plane, plan on a day of polishing several times a year. We do a quick polish and wax every Spring (mostly visible top sides), and that serves our purposes.

Let me know if you get a polished one and i can give you some pointers on polishes and buffers to use

I have a polished aircraft, takes a couple of days to polish but looks great, I use NUVITE C&S well worth it,
i wouldn't recommend stripping paint, ive tried in on an old aircraft wing and took forever, ended up using a wire brush on a drill

Polished takes more "elbow grease", paint adds weight.