Edward C. Baig
USA Today
Pricing on the Modbook starts at a steep $2,279.
It is billed as the “one and only Tablet Mac.” But the cleverly designed Modbook I’ve been testing is not from Apple. The portable, slate-style computer is engineered by an El Segundo, Calif., start-up called Axiotron.
Apple, at least for now, seems to be looking the other way.
Is Apple going soft? One of the reasons often given for Apple’s success is that the company closely guards its own hardware and software. Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulled the plug on the Macintosh “clone” business several years ago.
Third-party computer makers are not permitted to load Mac OS X software on their machines, though not always for lack of trying. South Florida upstart Psystar recently started peddling a $400 desktop it says can run OS X Leopard.
It turns out Modbook is actually an Apple computer after all. Axiotron took an off-the-shelf MacBook notebook, deep-sixed the keyboard and display and slapped on its own converter kit. The result is a modified machine that, in lieu of a mouse and keyboard, lets you draw or write with a special pen.
This isn’t exactly a mainstream computer, especially without that keyboard. Modbooks are expensive, too — systems start at $2,279, nearly a $1,200 premium compared with a basic MacBook. And they are available only in the USA through an online Mac dealer called Other World Computing.
For much of this decade, Microsoft has been the one — via its Windows-based Tablet PCs — trying to convince the public that the pen is sometimes mightier than the keyboard.
But Tablet PCs (generally not cheap and manufactured by most of the usual hardware suspects) haven’t exactly made a smash. Research firm IDC says only about 3.2 million tablet computers shipped worldwide in 2007, representing less than 3% of all portable computers shipped. IDC expects just over 7% by 2011.
So Axiotron’s German-born co-founder and CEO, Andreas Haas, a former Apple employee, figures Apple has been reluctant to pour its own resources into a Mac tablet.
In building Modbook — because he wanted a Mac tablet — Haas insists he’s playing “within the rules.” Axiotron has said Modbook was “authorized” by Apple through the obscure Proprietary Solution Provider program, a point hammered home in Axiotron’s promotional materials.
Although Apple won’t comment directly, Axiotron does not appear to have its complete blessing. There’s no Apple warranty for Modbook. You must get it serviced (under its own one-year warranty) through an Axiotron authorized dealer, not in Apple Stores.
A closer look at Modbook
The dramatic makeover that turns a MacBook into a Modbook eliminates the keyboard and MacBook screen. Post-surgery, the screen is replaced by an LCD digitizer display and pen from a company called Wacom, which also makes external devices that add tablet capabilities to regular Apple machines.
It’s nicely designed, and the scratch-resistant machine has the look and feel of an Apple pedigree. My test unit actually arrived in a regular MacBook box.
Here’s how a MacBook becomes a Modbook:
•Design. Axiotron makes it almost sound simple. You take a MacBook, jettison the display panel, track-pad and keyboard, and swap in Axiotron’s conversion kit, featuring a digitized LCD screen that lets you draw and write with the special Wacom pen.
It all looks seamless. Axiotron says it didn’t solder, hack or tamper with the MacBook’s innards. Components plug into existing connectors and screw holes.
The result: You have access to regular MacBook ports on the left side — including two USBs, FireWire, ethernet and so-called MagSafe power connector. And you can still use the integrated CD/DVD burner on the right, though without a keyboard, you’ll have to tap a screen icon with the Wacom pen to eject a disk. Wi-Fi behaved normally.
Modbook’s top shell is crafted from a magnesium alloy and protected by metal plating. All this adds some heft. It weighs about 5.5 pounds; MacBooks weigh 5.
Some Windows Tablets are convertible models. They twist and/or fold (sometimes awkwardly) to turn a conventional notebook into a pen-based slate, and vice versa.
Modbook is all slab, all the time — a major disadvantage to anyone who needs to pound away at a traditional keyboard. And you can’t alter the screen orientation from portrait to landscape, as you can with Tablet PCs; Modbook is always in landscape.
There is an onscreen virtual keyboard that is a barely adequate replacement for the physical keyboard. Using the Wacom pen, I tapped out my home network password and various Web addresses. Anything more is a hassle.
Of course, you can connect a keyboard and mouse, via USB or wirelessly with Bluetooth. But conventional computing isn’t what Modbook is all about.
Basic system configurations remain the same as whichever MacBook has been modified — mine had a 2.2-gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM and a 120-GB hard drive. The 13.3-inch widescreen display is the same size as well; it wasn’t the brightest outdoors. One minor adjustment: The integrated iSight video camera on Modbook has been mounted so it tilts slightly downward, to better frame your mug.
The underlying software, including OS X Leopard, is essentially unchanged. Axiotron does add a driver for the pen interface.
•Putting it to work. My initial instinct was to press my fingers against the display as if it were a touch-screen. It’s not. Modbook works only with the supplied pen. But that means you can rest your hands on the screen while drawing. The pressure-sensitive pen has two programmable side buttons and a digital eraser. It doesn’t require a battery.
I’m no artist, but I had fun scribbling away in Corel Painter X. The system is compatible with Apple’s Inkwell handwriting-recognition technology, a remnant from its long-ago ill-fated Newton PDA. Handwriting recognition is built into Leopard, but you’d need a third-party device (from the likes of Wacom) to convert your jottings into text.
I had so-so results testing handwriting recognition on Modbook inside a program called InkBook. “Mary had a little lamb” became “Mary had a liHK lans” It might have had more to do with my lousy penmanship.
The machine has GPS, which I used with Google Earth to locate nearby pizza joints. But there aren’t a lot of practical uses for the technology. You can easily turn GPS off to spare the battery, which seems to deliver three hours or so.
Modbook is a fine, if pricey, tool for artsy types who need to draw on screen without adding excess hardware. It’s just not a mainstream computer.