Macworld: Axiotron launches tablet version of MacBook Pro

Macworld 2009

Axiotron, a company that modifies Mac laptops to turn them into tablet computers, launched a 15in MacBook Pro version of its product this week at Macworld.

The ModBook Pro is 0.4mm thinner than the unibody 15in MacBook Pro that Apple launched late last year, on which it is based.

Axiotron achieved this by removing the system's motherboard and putting it into its own casing. Like its predecessor the ModBook, based on a 13in MacBook, the system uses an integrated Wacom tablet to pick up signals from a supplied stylus. This enables the user to write and draw on the screen.

Unlike the ModBook, the Pro version includes the firm's new Synergy Touch technology, which allows users to manipulate the screen with their finger as well as the stylus.

This can be used to simulate pressing the Alt button, for example, along with bringing up other software-based menus, according to Axiotron chief executive Andreas Haas.

"We have a slide pad on top that only shows up when you touch it, and it lets you zoom in and out in Photoshop," he said. "At no point does the touch interfere with what the mouse does. The mouse is completely controlled by the pen."

The device will ship in May or June in North America. Pre-modified laptops start at $5,000 (£3,317), and the company offers a service to modify existing laptops starting at $3,049 (£2,022). It is currently negotiating contracts with sales partners in the UK.

The primary market for the company is creative professionals such as graphic designers, illustrators and animators, although there is a healthy trade in third-party independent software vendors serving markets such as healthcare and the dental profession.