sHARD>> Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Want to know what a hub-bub the iPhone caused? Well everyone forgot about the sleeper hit of the expo, Axiotron's ModBook tablet. Sure, it doesn't have state-of-the-art technology on board, but people have been clamoring for a tablet Mac for ages. So what's it like? Expensive for one. It starts at the low, low price of $2,200, getting you a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, 512MB of RAM, a 60GB 5200 RPM hard drive, a combo drive, and all the features of a low-end MacBook. Of course, what's more important here are the tablet features. The ModBook packs a Wacom digitizer featuring 256 pressure levels below it's strengthened glass cover. It's compatable with Apple's Inkwell technology, offering the full set of tablet features. Along with the writing system comes a new LCD, offering improved contrast and wider viewing angles. Interestingly Axiotron also chose to pack a GPS module into the unit, enabling location tracking. It's all packaged in an attractive case, featuring the aluminum stylings of the MacBook Pro. Unfortunately it doesn't look like Axiotron was able to pack a keyboard into this thing, limiting it's potential as a convertable laptop. What's the catch? We've heard previous reports that the Mod in ModBook meant you'd have to do the work yourself, but interestingly the website makes no mention of this fact. The best information we got was from a product spec sheet: "Mod-kit for MacBooks: Convert your standard MacBook into a tablet computer". Sounds bleak. Our verdict? A fun toy, but the lack of keyboard and joy of a do-it-yourself project is going to stop all but the hardcore Mac user, if the price hasn't already. Pre-order or view the brochure [PDF] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 id rather just get a new macbook or macbookpro and send it to trolltouch and from there mod/tweak it to my needs. thats just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackt283 Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 What a god damn stupid thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbidangel Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I hope we will soon get our hands on the drivers for the Wacom-Technology . Lets see if there will soon be a possibility for a convertible hackintosh with Pen Input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takuro Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 QUOTE(sHARD>> @ Jan 9 2007, 09:07 PM) What's the catch? We've heard previous reports that the Mod in ModBook meant you'd have to do the work yourself...I'm confused. Basically you only get a conversion kit to make your own ModBook? Then why did you bother to post specs if it doesn't even come with any actual MacBook components inside... blah. I find that hard to believe, especially with a price tag of $2,200. There's no way anybody would pay that much for a to-it-yourself job. I'm taking this with a pinch ton of salt. Compared to the prototype ModBook case, this thing is gorgeous. Much better than that ugly, plain, square monstrosity. They really captured Apple's trademark design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Geek Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I hope we will soon get our hands on the drivers for the Wacom-Technology . Lets see if there will soon be a possibility for a convertible hackintosh with Pen Input ? Wacom drivers are already available on their site. They also have a few XCode examples of their code that they provide with their SDK. I played with it once trying to make a drawing app that was pressure sensitive. To make a Mac Wacom compatible you just instal the driver. I presume a hackintosh would be the same since it's not kernel dependent. Getting hardware is more the issue here. How many of you have Wacom-enabled touch LCDs lying around? There's the catch. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandmanfvrga Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I thought this would go over and a big thing, and now many don't like it? Tablets are high. Just now the PC tablets are going down, but many businesses use the $2000 plus versions cause they are better. This actually seems reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takuro Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 (edited) I thought this would go over and a big thing, and now many don't like it? Tablets are high. Just now the PC tablets are going down, but many businesses use the $2000 plus versions cause they are better. This actually seems reasonable. The other tablet PCs were built from the manufacturer as tablet PCs. The ModBook is basically half a gutted MacBook stuffed into the spot where the keyboard would normally be, with a smaller display. In other words, you're actually paying for half the MacBook casing, keyboard, and LCD display, which all wind up being scraped in the long-run. It seems like a big waste. IMO, it'd be better if they converted the MacBook into a tablet notebook, keeping more of the casing and keyboard intact. The concept has been out there for a while. Basically, you use it like a laptop, and if you want a tablet, you just rotate the screen and close the laptop, leaving the touch-sensitive screen exposed outward (where the outside case with the Apple logo would normally be when the notebook is closed.) Edited January 10, 2007 by Takuro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbz Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Yeesh, what a waste of a product. Maybe (MAYBE!!!!) I would like it if I recieved it as a gift. Are they crazy charging so much? Thanks, I'll keep the Macbook, not some gutted version thats amputated and expensive and has a really ugly name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandmanfvrga Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 OH OK! Duh. I thought this was a new apple product, and thus I don't like tablets I never clicked the links. Ok, then this is a bunch of {censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aberracus Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 (edited) It;s not a bunch of {censored}, love the mac tablet...modbook, why not? its perfect really, a convertible tablet is clumsy and clunky, and its not really a tablet with some EGO, it CAN work as a tablet but ir really isnt, the Slate tablets are the best, have a small form factor, and you can have a dock station at home and office (just a bluetooth cable and mouse) so you can really use it on the go the way its intended. i dont need a graphic accelerator in a tablet pc, i dont plan to play games, and i prefer to leave the keyboard at home so im forced to use it as a tablet, way to go OWC! oh BTW its not a fo it yourself thing. Edited January 10, 2007 by aberracus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Geek Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 My ONLY gripe is the 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. That may not be enough to produce professional illustrations for some media. It should ship with ArtRage free version on it. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sHARD>> Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 I'm confused. Basically you only get a conversion kit to make your own ModBook? Then why did you bother to post specs if it doesn't even come with any actual MacBook components inside... blah. I find that hard to believe, especially with a price tag of $2,200. There's no way anybody would pay that much for a to-it-yourself job. I'm taking this with a pinch ton of salt. Compared to the prototype ModBook case, this thing is gorgeous. Much better than that ugly, plain, square monstrosity. They really captured Apple's trademark design. Facts are a little hazy right now, but it seems that for now you can *only* buy the conversion kit with a new MacBook from OWC. Meaning the $2,200 includes the base price of a MacBook ($1099) + ModBook kit + Reseller upmark. Still a terrible deal considering you have to do it yourself, if you ask me. Though personally I might enjoy doing such a conversion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oregano Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Yeah, I just went on Yahoo! to do an article about new technology for my tech class, and I saw something about the iPhone, so I went to apple.com and decided to do my article about that. At first I thought, oh {censored}, I just bought an iPod and wasted all my money, if I had just waited 2 weeks I could get an iPhone, but I don't need all of that stuff. 1. Portable web browsers are still not that good, so I won't like that feature. 2.I'm not sure how much space the iPod feature on it has, but I'm sure it's less than a regular iPod. 3. I don't need a phone right now, and if I did I wouldn't want one that big. I would rather live with a laptop, an iPod, and a regular cellphone than the iPhone (although if you can't afford those seperately you should just get the iPhone). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takuro Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 1. Portable web browsers are still not that good, so I won't like that feature.2. I'm not sure how much space the iPod feature on it has, but I'm sure it's less than a regular iPod. 3. I don't need a phone right now, and if I did I wouldn't want one that big. 1. The iPhone's real browsing innovation is that it has a "mini-Safari" browser that renders things just as well as it's bigger brother. Basically, if you visit a page in Safari in Mac, then Safari in iPhone should render it basically exactly the same. It's nothing like Palm's weak browsers, which try to reformat and simplify things to force it to fit the screen. 2. The $500 model has 4gb of flash memory, and the $600 model has 8gb. That memory has to be shared between phone numbers, contact data, videos, music, and any other content/data you put on the iPhone. I wouldn't recommend putting a full-length feature film on it, but it can hold a decent amount of songs. The ModBook definitely has the upper hand though, because it's hard drive capacity blows away even the 8gb iPhone. The iPhone uses lower-capacity flash memory (as opposed to a hard drive, like in iPods) to conserve battery life. 3. If you watched the keynote, the iPhone is roughly the size of a 5th generation iPod with video. I think it's roughly a little narrower and slightly longer, but definitely isn't "big." When it comes down to deciding whether an iPhone or ModBook is better for portable communications and internet browsing, ask yourself this: would you rather be mugged holding a $500 piece of hardware, or mugged with a $2000+ piece of hardware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe75 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Portable web browsers are still not that good The web does just fine on my PSP and I have posted to this site from it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sHARD>> Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 The web does just fine on my PSP and I have posted to this site from it Screw that, NetFront (the browser which powers the PSP) is second class. Now Opera, that's where it's at. Already does Google Maps and all that jazz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmaniac Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 While the Device Formerly Known As iPhone (if Cisco plays hardball) is really cool, I don't really need such an expensive, easy to loose, easy to drop uber-gadget. I just want a cheaper, simple Apple branded cell phone. Mr. Jobs pointed out the size of the entire cell phone market, but really, how much of that market is for $500 "smart phones"? Not much. Still, its going to be the must have gadget of 2007 among the gadgeterati. I'm holding out for the iPhone "Nano". Oh, and one more thing. Somebody should tell Apple Canada to update its website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INFNITE Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Apple will eventually come out with cheaper phones I would imagine. But for a first one, it's always great to make a splash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbidangel Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 (edited) ? Wacom drivers are already available on their site. They also have a few XCode examples of their code that they provide with their SDK. I played with it once trying to make a drawing app that was pressure sensitive. To make a Mac Wacom compatible you just instal the driver. I presume a hackintosh would be the same since it's not kernel dependent. Getting hardware is more the issue here. How many of you have Wacom-enabled touch LCDs lying around? There's the catch. =) Im talking about my HP Tc4200 for example. I only need to get the pen input working and then replace the mini-pci wlan card and I would have my nearly perfect MAC-Convertible for a nice price ;-) The Wacom-Driver that was out some month ago and only supports USB and for a Tabletpc you need to have working communication via the internal Serial-Port Edited January 11, 2007 by morbidangel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbidangel Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 My ONLY gripe is the 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. That may not be enough to produce professional illustrations for some media. It should ship with ArtRage free version on it. =) Im working with Z-Brush and Painter on my Tc4200 and never felt that the pressure sensitivity isnt enough ... Tilt would be nice ;-) but wacom only licenses the old technology as far as i know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrates Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 So now that there is a mac tablet, because it's not made by apple, are you all not gonna buy it? I sure hope not. That would really show your fan-boyism then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volvox Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 In my opinion, I don't like this tablet from Axiotron (no keyboard and rotating screen). I'm still expecting a tablet from Apple somewhat similar to Tecra M7 from Toshiba... Probably won't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzuka Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 It IS NOT a do it your self, they ship it to you with the touch screen, and this is interesting, If I had 2000 dollars laying around, I deffinatly buy one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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