Gizmodo
It was exactly a year from the time Axiotron first debuted their touchscreen MacBook at Macworld 2007 to the time we got the first hands-on of it at Macworld 2008, and that year of development time seems to have done the company some good. Not only is this ModBook the touchscreen Mac Apple fans have been looking for, it's got all the components of a MacBook, which means it's not a low-powered, stripped down, gimped version (MacBook Air) that sacrifices performance for the tablet pen sensitivity. And for that, we're thankful.
The Pros:
• It's essentially a MacBook. They've taken a Core 2 Duo MacBook with Leopard, replaced the standard screen with a Wacom Penabled Digitizer and even stuck a GPS inside.
• The screen is bright, but matte (not glossy like the new MacBook Pro models), so images are a bit fuzzier than my MacBook Pro.
• Handwriting recognition works well in inkBook (the included app)
• The screen is scratch/fingerprint free and pretty durable
The Cons:
• It's heavier than a standard MacBook, because of its "aircraft grade magnesium alloy", which means it's not quite as portable as you'd like
• The standard digitizer pen is usable, but slightly flimsy
• No keyboard means typing is a pain
• Expensive! $2279 and $2479.
• No way to orient the screen vertically like a clipboard
If you're looking for a touchscreen Apple laptop that lets you actually draw on the screen (similar to the idea of the Wacom Cintiq Jesus reviewed), the ModBook is perfect for you. For $2279 or $2479 (the difference is in CPU speed, slightly more hard drive space, twice the RAM and a double layer DVD drive), you'll be able to get a MacBook and a touchscreen tablet in one—great for traveling cartoonists and caricature artists.
I'm no Photoshop or art expert (obviously), but the ModBook was even better than my current Wacom Bamboo because it allowed me to draw directly on the screen. For an amateur digital tablet user, that's the huge difference between being able to draw something that looks like what it's supposed to look like and an unintelligible blob. The two drawings below are what I whipped up in ArtRage on the ModBook. Bender is a trace, in case you thought I killed Jesus and usurped his talent.
The good news is that the screen works perfectly. It's scratch and fingerprint resistant, durable, bright, but somewhat fuzzy since it's not a glossy screen. The bad news is that it's heavy, and will probably be too heavy for you to walk around like a gym teacher with a clipboard. The white built-in pen that slides into a built-in pen holder is good, but isn't as sturdy as the Wacom pens you're probably used to. It'll take you a few weeks to get used to not hitting either the "right mouse button" or the the on-screen keyboard button when you're drawing.
Speaking of the on-screen keyboard, this is what you're going to be using to type. There is no built-in keyboard. Forget about writing long emails with this thing unless you've got a USB keyboard handy. It's solely for drawing. But, if you really have to write something long or take notes, the handwriting recognition is actually great and fairly accurate. For the times when you're forced to use the keyboard (like in OS dialogues), here are the options you can choose from.
There's also a GPS inside, which gives you the same result as attaching a GPS unit to a regular MacBook. It works, and you can rig it up to do navigation or look up where you are in Google Earth, but it's not a practical GPS device that you can take into the car and drive to grandma's with.
The people who are in the market for a ModBook are people who want to draw and make art with a laptop, but have another computer for their normal email and internet browsing. If you're one of these people, the ModBook is a definite buy. For others who just want a touchscreen MacBook so they can do art sometimes, but rely on a keyboard most of the time and want a regular laptop more often than not, the ModBook isn't quite right, and we recommend a standard Wacom tablet instead. [Macsales]
Comments
I'm glad to see the review. I was excited about this when I first saw it.
Now I'll have to give it more thought. Thanks for the writeup!
For art alone, I'd so get one of these. A paperless art pad like this is Kaiser's happy place. I wouldn't even bother with an optical drive, and opt for the 2nd HDD option in place of it.
It has bluetooth, so I can use my wireless keyboard and mouse with no problems.
Dammit. I'm tired of being poor.
I forgot to ask:
How's this thing with display mirroring? were you able to use it well while interfacing with a bigger external display?
@ripfire4: Late 08 release: the iPod Ghetto and MacBook Poor.
@Kaiser-Machead: Wouldn't that make it just a regular Wacom tablet then? A hella expensive one?
BTW: thanks for the article Jason. One of my friends was lookin' for something like this lately. Ill have to point him toward this. Form-factor USB keyboards are probably easy to come by. I'm sure you can find one for decent price. He'll be using the thing allll the friggin time hehe.
i would like to see a split iphone keyboard built into this thing that would allow you to type with your thumbs.
@SchruteBuck: Hey.. Whatever it takes just to get me into the "In" crowd.
The magnesium alloy doesn't seem to add much weight to it though. The original Macbook specs have it weighing in at 5.0 lb where as the Modbook is 5.2 lb. I wonder if anyone could even tell the difference. Though I also wonder why they bothered to go with magnesium in the first place when the Macbook's casing is made from plastic. Why not just stick with the original casing material? The combination of white plastic and magnesium is teh suck.
@kodo: It's more that you're holding it with one arm and drawing with the other, which is hard for a weakling who doesn't do anything but type all day (me).
entreperneur sense kicking in:
hmmm make a kit so you can use it at your house...
sexy =)
Hold on a sec—this only works with the Wacom pen, right? Or does it respond to fingers as well?
The word "touchscreen" is tripping me up.
It looks nice, but it really needs a "Speak N Spell" handle!
@TheSohnly: It would make it an expensive Wacom with a computer built in, which is exactly what I'd want.
_how_ accurate is the handwriting recognition? Percentage-wise? Because from my Palm experience (yes, I am probably the only Palm user ever who uses Graffiti all of the time) I know that even 90% can be a real pain in the a... And if you have to write passwords or account numbers, even 99% doesn't cut it. Well you could use the keyboard for that, but, hey - it's a touchscreen!
Second question: how does it deal with palm or finger contact? Or does it only react to the included stylus? Which would make it more accurate on the one hand, but on the other it would be a shame to just drop the possibility of pointing at things on the desktop with your fingers if you're too friggin lazy to pull out the stylus.
@yogibimbi:
Hell I can't even recognize 90% of my own handwriting so how is this thing going to do it? I spent a lot of quality time in the 6th grade trying to learn how to write my letters according to some sado-masochist teacher's idea of perfect cursive. If i have to go through all that again I'll probably turn homicidal.
WANT!!!
I saw the ModBook at MacWorld 2007 and was impressed. Got to play with it hands-on and everything. I wonder if the handwriting recognition is anywhere near as good as what's been in Windows XP Tablet Edition, and now Vista? I have a Motion Computing LE1700 (which cost about $2100 new) that I use for school (taking hand-written notes), and the handwriting recognition under both XP TE and Vista is superb. I haven't had to "teach" it to recognize even my cursive script, and it gets things right about 99% of the time.
If Apple were smart, they'd go buy Axiotron out, and engineer this from the manufacturing plant instead of having a third party essentially modify a MacBook.
Had these been available at the time I bought the LE1700, I might have considered going this route.
I've never really been fond of pure-slate tablets... I prefer convertible tablets.
Does it do finger guestures, like a ghinormous iPhone? Which would be very very cool.
wonder if they'll release an aftermarket kit for all those nerds out there that want to hack up their macbooks
Why no comparison to the tablet features in a Vista based tablet? I'd like to see a handwriting recognition comparison/showdown.
......pen n paper works for me .....n i'll still keep my $2 grand....
@mrsteve007: prolly Vista tablet or XP tablet will beat the modbook ..especially since the softwares for the newer tablets have been updated.
@mr_oshodi: I highly doubt that. Maybe in terms of handwriting and what not but in terms of design / production Id say the modbook wins hands down just because of OSX.
"eat up martha"
I would freaking love one of these, but the price and obsolete-ability of it made me go for the Wacom Cintiq instead (just the 12 incher).
yup, nearly every current gen Vista Premium/Business/Ultimate or XP TabletPC edition is better value for money [both in terms of usability, efficiency, features and cost] for those who need this functionality.
unfortunately no *nix / OS X running "tabletPC" device is available that works as well as XP/Vista-based ones right now
e.g. the HP Pavilion tx2000z:
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Turion64 X2 TL-60 2GHz,512KB+512KB L2 Cache
12.1" WXGA BrightView Touch-screen Display(1280 x 800) 2x 512MB DDR2 PC-5400 667MHz RAM
nVidia GeForce Go 6150 (integrated)
HP Imprint Finish (Echo)
VGA Webcam + Stereo Microphone + Fingerprint-Reader
802.11b/g WLAN
160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW Double Layer 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
ExpressCard/34 Slot
3 USB 2.0
HP base-station expansion
S-video, RJ-11 & RJ-45
2 Integrated Consumer IR receivers
5-in-1 digital media card reader
built-in digitizer pen
Altec Lansing stereo speakers
HP PhotoSmart Essentials
Muvee AutoProducer Basic Edition 6.x
Microsoft Works 9.0
Cyberlink DVD Suite
Sling Player from Slingbox
the Sims Life Stories laptop edition
HP Quickplay
Corel Painter Essentials 3
options: EV-DO ExpressCard, 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, digital/analog ExpressCard TV Tuner and MediaCenter remote, Vista Ultimate, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 2.4GHz Turion64 X2
WEIGHT: 4.26 lbs
PRICE: $999 for base config
now and again, you can get another $100 off with some HP coupons, and anyone with a .edu email address can get another $50 off.
My former roomie bought it for $756 w.tax [free shipping]
So when do we see the:
a) Jesus Drawsmodo (vs a Cintiq)
b) Vista Tablet Battlemodo?
Ps. What are Gizmodo rocks? Basalt? Shale? Cause I kinda took it for Granite....
This sounds a little expensive for a 'second computer.' I'm not a big fan of the fact that is has a little bit of a lip at the edge of the screen too.. most tablet pcs and cintiqs are all flush, perfectly flat even past the very edges of the screen - much better for a tablet pc!
I still think there are better options than the modbook, especially for the price.
I count 33 icons across the bottom, are those all launch icons? wtf
if this has the same pressure sensitivity as my cintiq
I'm in
OK GREAT, but when is Apple releasing this? I am a slave to brands ok, I don't care about some second or third party hardware, where is that silver or white Apple tablet? Ill buy it the second that mafaka hits the shelves. Ill be like BAM slap my wallet out, ZWOOOP slide out my VISA (I like earning points) and SHA-ZAM Apple table sans keyboard.
Can't you use the screen rotation settings in the Display System Preferences to rotate the screen for a portrait mode?
Yea, That is freakin tight. I was thinkin about gettin one but I already have a macbook so it would be kind of a waste, and new things come out all the time so, yea. Don't get me wrong, it's a tight laptop but I am very used to a regular computer keyboard.
yeah, great, it's amazing, but how about actually being able get one??? you say it's available now? really? there's a lot of frustrated customers waiting waiting waiting to receive the modbooks they ordered in 2007, and not just december either. from what i've heard there are peeps who ordered in march 2007 (yes, 2007!) who still haven't received their orders yet, so while the product may be good, its only as good as your ability to order one and actually receive it, say, within a year........
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