Axiotron ModBook on loan at SlashGear
Wasn’t it just the other day when James asked “where are all of the ModBook owners“? Well I wouldn’t call SlashGear a “ModBook owner”, but they do have a review unit that just arrived. There’s several pictures of the device along with some promised video and future impressions, so you’ll want to stay tuned to catch it. The modified MacBook they have on loan is spec’d with a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB of RAM, integrated Intel X3100 graphics, 120 GB hard drive and Apple Super Drive. Oh, and there’s a Wacom digitizer in there too of course… wouldn’t be much in the tablet department without one of those! At five-plus pounds this is a bit hefty for a slate form factor, but I’m still very interested to see how it works out. I’m just not interested in carrying one. :)
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Yup, nice idea, but way too heavy. Also if my [late... see below] Macbook Pro is anything to go by, she is likeley to be too hot to hold for more than a few seconds… I hope they’ve thought about those issues.
With a good digitizer it could make an outstanding artist’s slate.
Regards,
Dion
http://www.dionforster.com
PS. my Macbook took a sudden and sad death on Friday when I was knocked off my vintage 1964 Vespa scooter on my way to my office. The Macbook was BENT at a 33 degree angle from about half way along the casing. She still boots up, and everything except the optical drive and LCD works. So as soon as I get out of hospital I’ll do a time machine backup and replace her… Perhaps with an Air? For now I am recovering from surgery (I have some screws, plates, and pins as ‘added hardware’ in my left leg). I have my trusty Sony UX 180p, and iPhone to pass the days… Truck drivers…
Dion, what a terrible experience! Hope you get well soon. I’m amazed at the MacBook still booting even though it’s all bent up! Hopefully the Vespa is fixable too… bummer.
What makes the Modbook so appealing to me is the report from a reader who has one who says the Tablet bits all work under Vista under Bootcamp. This would be very cool, a real Tablet PC when you need it and a Mac Tablet the rest of the time. Yowza!
Yup, each operating system weighs 2.5-pounds! Sorry, I couldn’t resist… it is a cool looking product and I’m excited to see how it works as a tablet, both in Mac OS X and Windows. I’m not surprised to hear that it works fine as a tabby under Vista: if the Wacom drivers are installed, it should work just fine.
Is it me or the mod book is really actually Apple MacBook but being modified to slate mode? Even the box in the video says “MacBook” on it.
Muliadi, that is exactly what the Modbook is. They take a brand new MacBook Pro and convert it to a slate.