ModBook: Interesting, But Niche Only

I hadn’t thought about the ModBook for a while, until I saw the recent news that the professionally altered MacBook is now on a late June timeframe for release and they’ll be using the latest update of MacBooks as a basis for the ModBook. The ModBook is exactly what it sounds like — the company, Axiotron, takes MacBooks apart, “mods” them with a touch-sensitive screen married to the bottom casting of the MacBook, and then Other World Computing sells the tablets at, presumably, a profit.

The idea of having a tablet-based Mac is certainly intriguing…I could think of a number of different uses, from drawing to brainstorming to note-taking to sales presentations and order taking. And you’d certainly get a comment or two from seatmates on airplanes and in cafes.

I’ve always been interesting in (and have never spent much time with) those Toshiba and other notebooks that swivel from laptop to tablet. Which, of course, is the major thing missing with the ModBook. As it is, it’s sort of a one-trick pony. Yes, it can be attached to a VESA mount and used as a desktop with a keyboard and mouse, but who has VESA mounts? I’d be interested to see, for instance, a stand sold by OWC that would allow the ModBook to be placed on a desk and used with a keyboard and mouse. And, of course, it’d be idea if there was a portable keyboard solution, too, for using the ModBook at the kitchen table or on the desk in a hotel room.

It’s disconcerting to think you’d buy a $2300 MacBook and you’d have to rely on handwriting recognition for everything. As a portable it isn’t flexible enough to merit the extra cost; without the ability to flip into a standard laptop configuration, the ModBook should be closer to the MacBook’s price. (I understand why it isn’t, because I’m sure the modifications are expensive. But that cost is also why the ModBook will only be interesting either to gadget freaks or creates in a niche that really need the pen input, which probably means artists and musicians.)

Of course, the opportunity to switch to a Mac that included handwriting recognition would be great; I’ve thought for a while that we’d have fewer office ergonomic issues if we had the freedom to handwrite more of our computer data entry, whether it was for pen strokes for document editing, flow-charting and notetaking or true handwriting recognition for responding to e-mails or, well, blogging. The problem with the ModBook, I’m afraid, is that it won’t be easy enough to switch to the default entry method — keyboarding — and that being stuck with only handwriting as on option isn’t good enough for all but a handful (no pun intended) of Mac users.