Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Modbook Pro impressions

This post is to give my thoughts on the new Modbook Pro. If you're unfamiliar with the product go check it out at their site, here.

For those that don't know me or my work, I color comics for a living. I've worked for most of the major publishers as well as many clients outside the world of comics. I'm not a professional writer and I don't think I've ever reviewed a product before (no, not even on Amazon). Hopefully I can convey my opinions on the Modbook Pro and help anyone interested in the product gain a better understanding.

Why I wanted one:

I was in need of a new mobile work solution. With my job I can do the work anywhere, but my home setup consists of a 27" iMac and 21" Wacom Cintiq (mounted on this awesome arm) which are both rather big and not exactly portable. My previous travel work solution was a 15" Macbook Pro laptop and a 9"x12" Wacom Intous 3 tablet that was originally part of my home setup before I bought my  Cintiq in 2011. Because the tablet was originally intended for use in my home office it's a bit too big to really be considered portable and my laptop is showing it's age after 6 years. Also, to be honest, I've become a bit spoiled by working on my Cintiq and I don't really like working on a tablet anymore. I really want the Cintiq experience even when I'm away from my home office.

What's in the box?

What will spending all that money get you exactly? Before I give my impressions on using the Modbook I thought I'd show you an unboxing.

The cardboard box that the Modbook box came shipped in was sturdy and in good shape after it's trip from southern California to Georgia via UPS 2nd day air (the shipping was 40-something bucks, but at least it was fast I guess).

The Modbook box inside was also in good shape and undamaged due to the eight thick foam bumpers placed on each corner of the Modbook box.


Inside the shipping box is the Modbook box, and it's quite nice. Not that the box really matters, but they could've easily cheaped out and skimped on the presentation here. When charging a premium price it's nice to see a premium product even before you open the box.


If you really wanted to, the handle on the box would allow you to transport the Modbook from place to place, but I doubt many people will want to keep their new computer in a cardboard box. No matter how nice that cardboard box is. :)


Opening the Modbook box reveals the Modbook Pro and a screen cleaning cloth. The lid of the box has a thin foam layer, and the Modbook is surrounded by thick foam that fits snugly. Again, it's all well put together and at this stage feels like a well thought out product.



Lift the Modbook out of the foam and you'll find the rest of the contents, all placed in their own foam cutouts. Again, the components fit well inside their cutouts and all stayed in place during shipping.


Below you'll see the remaining contents of the box from left to right...

-The Modbook Pro documentation and the original Macbook Pro documentation (the Modbook manual cover wasn't printed very well, and was the first thing I come across that seems cheap or disappointing).

-Next, at the top middle is a USB 3.0 PortDoubler (their term, not mine). The Modbook only has one USB port, so this is handy in case you need to plug in more than one USB device at a time.

-Below the PortDoubler is a 8GB thumb drive. It's tiny and has a clip so you can clip it to something less tiny making it harder to lose (I guess). It also flips in and out like a pocket knife to protect the contacts. I don't think I realized this was coming in the package, and I'm not sure I'll use it, but it's a nice extra.

-The little plastic bag to the right of the USB PortDoubler is full of replacement nibs for the pen. There are 5 of the softer nibs, 4 of the harder nibs, and 3 of the springy nibs. That's far more extra nibs than I got with my Cintiq or Intuos, so that's nice.

-The two white cords are the power cords for the Modbook. They're the original power cords from the Macbook Pro that the Modbook was made from. The one on the left is the extension and the one on the right is main power cord (it's the MagSafe cord from Apple).


A closer look at the USB PortDoubler, thumb drive and nibs...


"I wish I could see this thing in a store before I buy one..."

Well, you can't. :/ They don't sell these at any retail locations, just online. Since you'll have a hard time getting hands on with a Modbook I figured it might be helpful to post some shots of the device a little closer up.

On the left side of the Modbook you have the ports and power button.


In the picture above, starting from the left you have...

-MagSafe power
-Gigabit Ethernet
-FirfeWire 800
-Thunderbolt
-USB 3.0
-SDXC card slot
-Headphone
-Power button
-Mod Key (helps calibrate the pen)
(there's a speaker and a pen activity light tucked in there as well)

Of all these ports, I've only used the power and the USB so far. They are all a bit close together, which may get tight if you have multiple cords plugged in at once. Also, the ports are kind of recessed under the screen, which means they have a sort of roof over them. This doesn't seem to be a problem so far except for the USB port, which is also really close to a bit of the case on one side. I've tried to plug in one of my thumb drives to it and the plastic housing on the drive keeps it from reaching the port (this awesome C3P0 thumb drive, actually). In this case, I plugged in the PortDoubler to the Modbook and then plugged the thumb drive into the PortDoubler. That set up works fine and in the end it's not a big deal, but it's odd they didn't consider the cramped space when placing the USB port. I suppose things like this are bound to happen when trying to keep the overall size down. Anyhow, moving on...

In the pic below you'll see the Super Drive and another speaker. I used the drive to install Photoshop from a cd. Nothing special to report. It sucks the disc in just as you would expect. Also, to the far left you can see one of the vents used to vent heat (which I'll talk more about below).


The pen is located in the back, on the top right hand corner, above the Super Drive. There is a window cut out which exposes a ribbed section on the pen. You grip that portion of the pen with a finger tip or fingernail and slide it out. It's easy to do one handed and works well. There's a magnetic lock so the pen won't slide out on it's own, but again, it's not so strong that it's hard to remove the pen. When putting the pen back in you do have to make sure that pen lines up with the hole just right, because there is a grove that fits the pen buttons. But once you've done it a few times and know the correct orientation of the pen, you can easily put the pen away without looking at the hole.


The back is a brushed metal, and feels sturdy and well made.


For those that don't want to use an external keyboard, Modbook has installed QuickClicks, which is a QWERTY-style pen-enabled keyboard. You can change it's opacity, and move it anywhere on the screen. If it is over an open window or application your pen clicks will trigger the keyboard rather than the object behind it.

I used it at first, just to see how it felt. I found that I had to move it a lot because it was eventually over something I wanted to click on. It's also extremely slow for someone that's used to typing with all ten fingers on a regular keyboard. It's also slower than typing on other tablet devices like the iPad or Kindle. You can remove the QuickClicks keyboard from the screen entirely if you'd rather just use a physical keyboard, but by default it will always show up when you turn on the Modbook (maybe there's a way to shut that off too, but I haven't come across it yet).


My typing solution is a wireless Apple keyboard that originally came with my iMac (which I don't use with my iMac anymore, and was just sitting in a box in my office). I always thought it was too small for my desktop and I didn't like the lack of number pad, but it's the perfect solution for the Modbook since it's small, thin, and lightweight. I don't mind the loss of the number pad in this case, as I'm more concerned with having a small keyboard for travel. I looked at various soft keyboards that you can roll up, or keyboards that fold in half but the majority of reviews weren't very positive. In the end, I'm glad I didn't buy another keyboard since I already had this Apple keyboard and it works great for this purpose.



How is it to work on?

Short answer? So far, so good. There are some aspects of the Modbook that I find inferior to my Cintiq (listed in the cons below), but the ability to draw directly on the screen with a device as powerful as my home computer while sitting on a plane, or a convention table, and its small (but not too small) size makes up for most of its deficiencies. So far I've colored with the Modbook on my couch for a few hours at a time. Both trips I planned to take the Modbook on have been canceled or altered and I haven't had the opportunity to travel with the device yet.

Let's start with the bad news. Cons...
The first, and biggest problem that I encountered is the viewing angle. It's incredibly low. The Modbook site says the viewing angle is 70° horizontal and 60° vertical (here's the full tech specs). Reading those numbers by themselves wouldn't mean much to me, so my less technical summation is, "Don't move your head." That might be a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. Move your head too much, or shift the Modbook and your colors are going to appear off, either washed out or oddly inverted.

The next con is the levels of pressure sensitivity. When the specs for the Modbook were first released it only had 512 levels of pen pressure. Just before launch they doubled the levels to 1024. Obviously the higher levels was a welcomed upgrade, but that is still half of the 2048 levels my Cintiq offers. However, it's comparable to the current 12" Cintiq and the Bamboo line of tablet's 1024 levels. For me personally it isn't too big of a problem because my coloring style doesn't rely on a heavy use of rendering. However, that said, I can still feel those missing 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity that I'm used to on my Cintiq when using brushes that have their opacity tied to pen pressure. Well, OK, maybe I can't feel ALL 1024 missing levels.

While discussing the display and cons, I also have to mention the resolution. The highest resolution is 1200x800, and while that's not terrible it's not great either. If I had to qualify it further, I'd say it's a very minor negative for me, and almost not worth mentioning. However, I know there are laptops out there with much better resolutions, and some of you may prefer a higher res display and a small tablet so I thought I'd mention it.

Another con that I've barely experienced, but can see being a bigger problem with extended use is finding a comfortable position to sit in for extended amounts of time. The longest I've worked at a time has been two and half hours. By the end of that session I was beginning to get uncomfortable. Granted, the Modbook was in my lap and not on a desk or table (I put it on a pillow and off a pillow to test what worked best, I think a pillow was a bit better). This seems like another problem that will be bigger or smaller depending on your particular usage of the device. While I feel that I will be able to comfortably color a page or two in the airport or on a plane, I'm not certain I'll be able to sit comfortably for an entire days worth of work at my hotel or at a convention without actually testing those scenarios. As a side note, I've considered one of those lap desks/pillow things, but I'd rather not add something else to pack and carry to complete my mobile work station if I can help it. So far, just a simple throw pillow from my couch has worked, and I suspect my jacket or backpack will do if I'm sitting in an airport without a pillow. Otherwise a hotel room or airplane should have a pillow handy.

My last con is probably the price. The Modbook pro is very expensive, and almost certainly "over priced." That's not to say I regret buying it, but I'm sure that most people will be fine with other, cheaper solutions to working on the go. I know the Modbook's price nearly made me buy a laptop and a tablet. My decision to buy a Modbook ultimately came down to two things: I really wanted a Cintiq-like experience when I work away from home, and I still needed an equipment write off for my taxes this year.

So, that's really it as far as negatives go. For me, most of those negatives can be easily compensated for, or aren't that bothersome to begin with.

Good news, everyone! Pros...

Size. It's like that one bear's porridge, chair, or bed. It's just right! The screen size is 13.3" diagonal and the Modbook itself is 13.86 inches (35.2 cm) by 9.65 inches (24.5 cm) and  0.93 inches (2.37 cm) thick. It feels a bit heavy (5.5 lbs), but I think it only seems that way because it's a tablet and we've been trained to expect that tablets are light. Considering it's a full featured laptop and a pen display in one device the weight actually doesn't seem too bad. Also, for comparison, the 13" Macbook Pro that the Modbook is made from is only 1 lb lighter at 4.5 lbs and the 15" Macbook Pro is 5.6 lbs. So the Modbook isn't going to feel much different than most laptops while in use on your lap or being carried in a bag. I'll also say that the heft, and it's metal casing, make it seem sturdy and well made.

Another pro, which I didn't expect, was that the outer casing of the Modbook did not get too hot while in use. I had heard that the previous version of the Modbook got quite hot, and I also know my older Macbook Pro got very hot after just a short time of use. I often had to remove the laptop from my lap after an hour. During multiple sessions, all lasting at least two hours or more, I never had to remove the Modbook from my lap due to heat. Even when I placed the Modbook on a pillow to get a better viewing angle, I would regularly check the pillow and the Modbook for heat and I wouldn't consider either anything more than warm. Most of the heat is vented through the two vents on the longer sides of the back of the Modbook (top and bottom when looking at it in landscape).

Speaking of those vents and the noise that is sometimes associated with computer fans and vents, the Modbook Pro is actually very quiet. None of the usual culprits such as the vents, the hard drive, or the optical drive make much noise. In regards to the hard drive, that's because it's a solid state drive which I quite like. The discussion of solid state drives versus hard disk drives has it's own list pros and cons, which I won't bother with here. But in this case I like Modbook's choice of using a solid state drive for the faster response time and the lack of noise when running. My Modbook has the standard 120GB solid state drive, but can be upgraded to a 240GB or a 480GB solid state drive.

While I didn't upgrade the hard drive, I did order my Modbook with an upgrade to the RAM (from the standard 8GB to the max 16GB). I'd say this is half pro, half con, really. Normally I would do this upgrade on my own, ordering the RAM online and installing it myself, saving a bunch of money in the process. Unfortunately you cannot order the RAM separately and install it yourself without voiding the Modbook warranty. Obviously I wasn't about to void the warranty (1 year) on something that cost this much. So, while I really enjoy the speed the extra RAM gives me, it was hard to overpay Modbook for an upgrade I would normally do myself for cheaper.

So far I've been pleased with the battery in the Modbook. It seems to charge rather quickly and lasts a long time. I haven't timed how long it takes to charge while turned off, but I have charged it while working in Photoshop and that took less than two hours to go from nearly 0% to 100%. Once the battery was fully charged I worked in Photoshop for two and half hours and used about 50% of the charge.

It's finally over. Hooray!

Well, that sums up all the things that stood out to me during my first few times using the Modbook Pro. Hopefully this write-up has given you a little more information that you can use when deciding if you want to buy a Modbook Pro. For me the product is good, and just shy of being great. Even though the purchase price was steep, I'll be happy with the Modbook as long as it doesn't die in the next 5 years. :)

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or ask me on twitter.

MW 

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic sum up dude, thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for the review. Been eyeing this one for quite some time and this is the first real review I've seen.

FlatClem said...

Hi, that is a cool review. Thanks a lot.
I was waiting for reviews before buying one, since you cant really test it in apple stores for example.

It would be awesome to keep your review updated if you find out other problems in the future, or just to say if you really are happy with it.



Anonymous said...

Thanks for your review. I've also been waiting to hear some first impressions.

Kiki said...

I've been wanting to get one of these for a while, seeing a review (set with pictures as well) is very helpful. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for this really nice review! I haven't been able to find any other reviews of the modbook pro. Can you say something about the pen responsiveness (the latency between the pen moving and the ink appearing on screen). Is this latency better or worse than the cintiq? Or not noticeably different? Thanks again!

Unknown said...

i have the original Modbook and my BIGGEST concern would be this: have they fixed the cursor jump issue? Many sufferers of the cursor jump issue were able to fix it by adding more shielding around the digitizer and various internal cords, but others werent able.

Secondly, I completely uninstalled the quickclicks software (using a sudo command [SCARY]) because I was NEVER going to use it and it drove me crazy! This once again may be your only option there. (why isnt there a preferences setting?!)

Unknown said...

whoops, forgot to mention:

THANK YOU so much for doing a awesome review, its still the only one I have found (echoing an earlier comment), and its very thorough from a real-life use perspective. I get tired of all the reviews nowadays being The Verge and Engadget newpeople with no real world experience of using something for real world work. All they do is spat the specs (important in its own right, but not great for final decision making).

So I once again say, thanks, for your adventurous wallet and thoughtfulness to report the damages xD

kamone said...

Hi Matthew,

Thank your for a great review.
It was a great help for me.
I live in Japan and my modbook Pro arrived yesterday.

I found out that modbooks viewing angle is not so wide especially in the normal landscape mode, as you mentioned in the review.

I also foud that it improves on the other landscape mode(fan bottom) and portrait mode, changing it by using the Quick flip. So I am planning to use it mainly on landscape mode(fan bottom). I think its the best angle to use the modbook by just putting on the desk with no support to make angle.

The base Macbook Pro's display view angle is very narrow when you lookup from a low angle, but better when you look down from a upper angle.
And this works opposite for modbook users.

Aman said...

I am frustrated with bad quality of Fujitsu Lifebook T902 core i7 Wimdows 8 pro model.
The plastic quality is bad,scratchy even with slight unnoticed dust.More importantly even after callobrating 35 times,there's no improvement in pen input precision and accuracy.Sometimes,screen refuses to detect pen and touch unless I use mouse to restart the PC.Also Screen display rotates even in rotate off mode.It rotates in unacceptable manner in rotate on mode.
Does Modbook have the same pen Callibration problems.I have heard the new improved ModBook comes with Electromagnetic shielding solution for smooth pen experience which increases pen input precision and Accuracy.Improper electromagnetic shielding leads to Inaccuracy in pen input.

Matthew Wilson said...

Hey everyone! I'm glad everyone enjoyed the review.

I saw 2 questions about the cursor calibration, and if it jumps a lot.

Every once in a while the cursor will drift (I guess is the best way to put it). If you begin to move your pen from the center to the edge, the cursor will begin to get further away from your pen. This happens rarely.

The good news is, the Modbook has a button on the side to quickly recalibrate the cursor (next to the power button). You don't have to restart the computer or anything else. Just press the button, and point the pen at the middle of the screen.

Unknown said...

Drifting cursor I can deal with, but if the MBP has anything near the problems of the original MB then I will never buy one. Mine was supposed to be fixed by the manufacturer so I lived without it for 9 months and when it came back the cursor was still all over the place. Anytime there was CPU load it would just go crazy. So, who out there owns a new MBP and have you seen any problems?

My Real Genius said...

Anybody that buys this product is a complete idiot!

It's still a fantastic Apple computer in a brown bag poop wrapper from Axiotron. The Mouse pointer issue of it moving a little faster then the stylus is still like a Black Plague, and will never be fixed. Oh how nice that the Modbook Pro has a "Calibration Button to fix this right away." because you will be pushing this button 190 times an hour plus.

This is a company that took 2 1/2 years bring out the first Modbook after getting orders placed for it, and to the market two years later. They promised the Modbook Pro for the past three years. Had it shown at MacWorld two years ago and I was still waiting to get a delivery date from them. The company has never answered one single question about what the delays were from. Almost no support on any of their products for a ton of problems with the pen tracking that is like a Black plague. Jumping Cusor problems that required a mail back problem fix, No Bluetooth working for over a year after delivery, screen rotation blamed on Apple that became a hardware issue, the digitizer board has to be reset all the time to get it to work, every update that Apple did caused the Modbook to crash making it impossible to use, to use it with each crash it required all the parts of the OSX to be reloaded in this clunky guessing order to make the Pen work right...I can go on and on with tons of mind blowing problems. The Modbook was "Discontinued" and most don't sell them anymore, and no one wants to support them either when Apple changes their OSX around each time.

Support was done by one person, and the rest of us on many Modbook Fourms all feeling around in the dark on this ModJunk trying to help each of us the Suckers who drank the KoolAid of Axiotron's Leader Andreas Hass.

I own 22 Modbooks right now, I had setup a business to supply Doctor offices custom software for the Modbooks. The company made a ton of statements about what this would do, and nothing ever came about. I lost my company from my investment in the Modbook line, file chapter 7 bankrupt all because they never responded to any help requests from investors. The company is run like a KickStarter Project, with no concerns about producing anything that works! Yes I'm bitter! But do your reasearch before you spend the ((( $3,500.00 price tag on the Modbook Pro))). Yes! That's double the price of a Macbook Pro. You can buy 8 fully loaded iPads for the same price and add ipens to the mix.

It's going to take a Bunch of Real Miracles to restore any faith in this company and it's products, after treating the thousands of buyers of the first Modbook with the cold shoulder. Again the price is over $3,200 for a Base Modbook Pro!!! They are Nutz!!!

Aman said...

The Problem is so serious in my LifeBook T902,that the pen nib would allmost never coincide ever with the cursor at any location,even 3 cm away from the edges from all sides & even near the centre point of the screen.

"""Is the same problem noticeable in ModBook Pro??? """

I am not just talking about cursor drift at the edges.I am also taliking about pen drift at near the centre of the screen.

in the case of Fujitsu Lifebook T902,even though the cursor is not very far located from the Stylus nib,you cannot simply draw anything on screen accurately (car designs or product designs).

Unknown said...

The original Modbook digitizer was fantastic, except when the jumping cursor reared its head. Accuracy was good and feel was great. The jumping cursor just made it unusable at times.

Aman said...

Oh,
I am understanding that two types of problems with cursor drift are discussed here.One is the Cursor Jump problem and the other one is pen input location accuracy problem.
According to Tony,the pen input accuracy is good in ModBook Pro but cursor jump problem is always seen in ModBook Pro.

In case of Fujitsu T902(Windows 8),I haven't noticed any such Cursor jumping.Rather,there's a accuracy problem with Pen Input.

I doubt that Cursor jump problem is OS dependent and may not be a problem if you use optional Windows 7 on ModBook Pro.Is that correct?

Aman said...

Hi Mathew,
Its been over a month since I last interacted on the comment section of this review.
One of the strong points of ModBook Pro is stylus input precision and paper like gripy feel of the stylus nib on the screen which can be seen in various You-Tube videos of the Old Gen ModBook.And the ModBook stylus Nib dimensions are also designed to synchronise with the Paper feel experience on the Matt finish Paper like screen surface of ModBook Pro.

I tried the Wacom Cintiq 13HD in a demo and I can confirm that while screen has very good Pen input accuracy and very cool Ultra HD resolution,the stylus Nib slips extremly badly.There is no Paper like feel to the smooth screen of Cintiq 13HD and this is a shame as its a product from Wacom.The product design experience on Wacom Cintiq 13Hd was quiet poor.

However,I would like to know,after using ModBook Pro for a month or so,how do you find the overall quality and pen Callibration/accuracy?

Did you had any serious problems with it?

Arnaud B said...

I would also appreciate an another feedback from Mathew after this monts passed. How do you feel working with a modbook pro now ?

@Aman : on the cintiq 13", you don't test it with the felt nib option. Trust me it change the feeling a lot.

Aman said...

Thanks Amaud,

My sketching style when I design a car or product is such a way that FOR EXAMPLE : When I draw a wheel arch from point A to B,I may come back towards B slightly for retouching,back from A,following the same path.So grip is important for me and Old ModBook used to do it easily,and this I couldn't find in Cintiq 13HD.(It is evident from various YouTube videos that the normal nibs works great on old ModBook's Matte screen.)

Hopefully,
I should test the felt nibs on the Cintiq 13HD and see if they satisfy me!

Arnaud B said...

Hi Aman,

I use an "old" 21" cintiq for drawing purposes for years now and the surface of it is like an ice rink, I use the felt nip on my stylus wich change really the feeling, I can say it is mostly like drawing with pen and paper.
When I see the glossy design of the new 13" cintiq, I was afraid of not having the same sensation. When I test it with the normal nip it was quite a disaster but changing it for the felt one restored back that good feeling I was expecting. My two cents ;)

Aman said...

I assume that you get the needed grip when retouching over the same path too and forth.This was not the case with ordinary nibs on a Cintiq 13HD.
I will mostly try with Felt nibs with a Wacom Cintiq and experience it.
Thanks a lot for your suggestion,which is much appreciated.

In the mean time,since its been so long time,since there are many users like Mathew and others,I would like to see newer comments on ModBook Pro about their long term experience with it.

Initial impressions may be great,but whether the same good experience continues after a long term?
This is an important Question.

Car delivery service said...

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Aman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aman said...

Thanks Arnaud,this time I tried 13Hd with Felt nibs.And if not best,the grip was way much better and satisfactory if sketching speed is slow.
Also,Parralax effect is allmost zero in Cintiq 13HD and here is a great improvement it seems compared to its predecessor Cintiq 12WX.
Accuracy is excellent,even at the edges.

Whereas,according to a review on You-Tube,even though accuracy is good enough in ModBook Pro,there is a little parallax (especially at edges) in ModBook Pro.
The related You-Tube Video can be found here:

http://youtu.be/NiNUF6loHIY

jason haris said...

Hi Matthew,
I loved reading this piece! Well written! :)

jason
Hotel Room Investments

Matthew Wilson said...

Hey everyone, sorry for the long delay. I always forget to check these comments. :/

It's been months since I bought the Modbook and here's what I have to report...

Most of my initial impressions have turned out to be quite accurate over the long term. The small problems I had have stayed small and not bothered me. The only big problem that persists for me is the viewing angle and how it "grays out" the colors if you aren't looking straight at the screen. That's a particularly big problem for me, since my whole job consists of picking colors. :/ I can still get my work done using the modbook, but I think that has more to do with me being comfortable with my process and palettes that I've used for almost a decade. Also, I take great care to always angle the screen so it displays the colors the best that it can.

An issue slightly related to the viewing angle is finding something to prop the modbook on while working. I haven't found a good stand for it yet. The weight of the device along with putting pressure on it when drawing, seems to be problematic for most stands I've tried. So far my solution when working on a desk is to use an empty backpack (the one I carry the modbook in) to prop the modbook up.

As far as accuracy of the cursor in relation to the stylus is concerned, it hasn't caused me any problems. It isn't as excellent as my Cintiq, but it doesn't stop me from doing my job. I kind of look at it like driving two different cars. Sure, one may drive better than the other, but once you've driven the car with crappy steering for an hour you stop noticing! :)

In case you're wondering, here's a few things I've colored using the modbook...

http://mattwilsoncolors.blogspot.com/2013/02/adventures-of-superman.html

http://mattwilsoncolors.blogspot.com/search/label/Swamp%20Thing%20%2320

http://mattwilsoncolors.blogspot.com/search/label/Secret%20Avengers%20%2335 (some pages in this arc, but possibly not the pages shown here)

I just happened to see all the comments as I am packing for a trip, so I don't have time to reply to everything. However, please feel free to ask me anything on twitter @COLORnMATT or email me fatheadwilson at yahoo dot com.

Thanks again for reading the review, and sorry for the delayed response!

Unknown said...

Great review! Can you give us some information about touch screen drivers and hardware...???
Thanks!!

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Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great review - I ended up buying a Cintiq Companion (Windows 8). As much as I despise Windows, the machine is just better in every respect than the ModBook Pro having tried one recently. It's got twice the pressure sensitivity, it's thinner, it's lighter and has two USB ports. I so wanted to have a Modbook, but they can't seem to innovate quickly enough to make it worthwhile. There are Retina screens and better machines out now... An Air version would be thinner and really nice too...

Unknown said...

I like your style of writing. You break it down nicely. Very informative post. Keep up the good work.

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Sonny Dickson said...

Hi, Do you still have it?