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Yesterday at Macworld, Axiotron announced the ModBook Pro.  Adreas Has, the CEO, and Steve Wozniak were both there, and so was I. I got a chance to sit down with CEO of Axiotron Andreas Has and view a nonworking model of the ModBook Pro. We talked about more announcements than just the ModBook Pro, but this amazing new product makes use of them all.

The ModBook Pro is the answer to a lot of requests from users and even the makers of the product. It’s made out of, you guessed it, an unibody MacBook Pro. But it doesn’t use all of the parts. As you can probably tell from the image, it doesn’t use the unibody enclosure.  Their case is also made completely out of black aluminum. I wish I could accurately describe just how sturdy this thing is. There’s no sheet metal anywhere on the case, so there’s not a single point on this product that twists or flexes, unlike the lid of the MacBook Pro. I can’t believe how excited I am just by the case, but it really is beautifully designed. It’s distinct from it’s Apple origins, but fits very well within the clean realm of Apple-like styling.

Another reason the new case design is so nice is that in the future, if Apple upgrade their hardware again, Axiotron won’t have to change as much about their products.  They’re all about taking your current notebook and upgrading it, and this makes it more possible for them to continue to do that.

Inside the case, there are most of the parts that came from the MacBook Pro. They replace the screen, the speakers, a few other parts, and move some things around. The power connection is moved to the lower portion of the left side, which is logical for a tablet. You don’t want the power cable hanging off of the top left, you wouldn’t be able to hold on to the device very well. The disk drive is moved to the top right, also more logical than the right side.

On the bottom there are grippy feet that allow you to either tilt the device with one hand without it slipping, or prop it up on some books to watch a video. The pen catch is magnetic, which is really the way you want it to be.  It doesn’t have any moving parts, so it will never break.

Now, on to that screen. Remember I said they replace it?  Well, they use the same supplier as Apple, so you know you’re getting a good screen, but it gets better.  The screen not only has the tablet pressure sensitivity we’ve all come to know Axiotron for, but they’ve added touch support with Synergy Touch technology.  When the ModBook Pro ships, it will only be single touch capable, but the hardware supports multitouch, and as soon as they can get it working, they’ll be pushing an update.  Did I hear MacBook Touch?

Synergy Touch works completely independent of the tablet functionality, so both can be used at the same time.  There are so many features built in with this that I’ll only be able to cover a few.  There are defined spots on the screen that will bring about functions just by touching.  For instance, since there is no keyboard on the ModBook Pro, if you need to start up in a different mode than normal, you can touch (at least) two specific spots on the screen to do that.  There are 8 predefined “corners” along the edge of the screen.  All ModBooks can be upgraded with Synergy Touch.

I got a chance to meet with Adreas Has after the announcements to ask some questions about the device.  There has been one question burning in the back of my mind for a long time about ModBooks.  Why the GPS?  All ModBooks have GPS, but I couldn’t figure out why.  The real reason?  Andreas has a boat.  I’m serious.  That’s really the only reason for GPS.  Oh and the pen catch is on the right side…why?  Because Andreas is right handed of course.  In fact, the whole reason he started this company was to make the tablet that he always wanted.  He didn’t want to be the CEO of a publicly traded company; all he wanted to do was make the world’s best tablet computer.  And with the ModBook Pro, I think he and the rest of the folks at Axiotron have done it.  And not only that, it’s the world’s biggest tablet, the only one that supports touch and pen work at the same time, and it’s also the world’s only tablet Mac.

Axiotron is really a great company with great workers.  Adreas is one of the nicest guys you’d ever talk to, and you can tell how passionate and excited he is about making the world’s best tablet.  Plus, I love that he’s living the dream.  He set out to make a product that he wanted and found out along the way that a lot of other people want it too.

Now here’s the only bad part.  Axiotron’s products and services aren’t cheap, though you’re getting an amazing product.  ModBook Pro’s start at $4,999, and upgrade services for current MacBook Pros start at $3,049.  But, if you preorder before January 12th, 2009, you can save some cash.  You pay nothing until it ships or is upgraded,  and you save $400. The ModBook Pro starts shipping in May/June 2009.

Product [ModBook Pro]