Well before Apple jumped into the tablet game with the iPad, Axiotron was transforming MacBooks into touchscreen slates. Now the company has returned as Modbook, and it has announced that it will ship its brand new Modbook Pro ($3,499+) starting next month. Unquestionably expensive by iPad and other contemporary tablet standards, the entry-level version is a converted base model 13” MacBook Pro, featuring a 2.5GHz Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. To cut down on weight and moving parts, Modbook swaps out the hard drive with a 64GB SSD by default.
Unlike an iPad running iOS, Modbook Pros are full-fledged Macs with OS X. Modbook tears the MacBook Pro apart, putting its guts into a new body measuring 13.86” x 9.65” x 0.93” and weighing 5.5 pounds. It has a full array of I/O: the MagSafe power port, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800 port, Thunderbolt port, a USB 3.0 port, SDXC card slot, headphone port, and the SuperDrive. The company also includes a digitizer pen in the box and heavy touts the stylus compatibility. If the base model’s specs aren’t enough for you, you can choose to go up to a 2.9GHz processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 480GB SSD—maxed out, Modbook Pro will run you $4,579.