This Tablet Runs macOS: History of the Failed ModBook!

Snazzy Labs talks about the ModBook Pro-the rarest touchscreen Mac mod ever-and how the company that included Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak lost $1.5M.
Get your 30W RAVPower PD charger! - amzn.to/2EEgWuq
Apply Amazon coupon and "NELSON66" to get it for just $19.49!
Get your 90W RAVPower GaN charger! - amzn.to/2RXHIkm
Subscribe to my podcast Flashback! - relay.fm/flashback
Follow Snazzy Labs on Twitter - / snazzyq
Follow me on Instagram - / snazzyq
Quinn Nelson of Snazzy Labs talks about Modbook-a company started by an Apple Executive that had the support of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak for a number of years. What initially began as a success went down a path of failure and ultimately cost the company millions of dollars in losses with Kickstarter backers never receiving the product they ordered and the company in charge ghosting everyone involved.

[@snazzy]

A likely unrelated (but interesting) development: whoever was hosting Modbook's website has now banned them and the website seems all but gone. You can still find it on the Internet Archive for those interested.

[@DarraghWalsh]

Well it better come for ARM as well

[@will16320]

how odd..

[@WarriorsPhoto]

Very cool side story Quinn. (:

[@linuxstreamer8910]

wayback macine say the last update was 24 juli at 13:24:35

[@callummelb]

@John Hinchliff Captions are available for me (as autogenerated ones)

[@Eweyhen]

Dude, you weren't kidding when you said this video would be a wild ride. Wow, that is quite a story.

[@snazzy]

Thanks for watching, Kyle!!

[@dess.3761]

Thanks for not spoiling the video

[@HughJeffreys]

Sonny sent me photos of his ModBook Pro :) One of the USB ports isn't accessible cause of the Wacom tablet input They also have a custom ModBook branded SSD inside.

[@TwanJaarsveld1]

Thats amazing a single usb port Macbook, it took Apple many more years to get there

[@simplemindedmoron]

Hey Hugh!!!😃!!!When are you planning to get hands on the modbook???

[@crazyadventures5675]

OMG Hi I love your channel

[@joshyi589]

Oh

[@kikoplays44]

Hey hugh

[@Joinen]

I, weirdly, had one of these in my first year of uni. I managed to get it quite cheap on an eBay bid presumably because no one knew what it was. I used it every day and carried it along with the insanely bulky metal stand, a bluetooth keyboard, and mouse in my backpack. I ended up hating it so much, the least functional computer I've ever owned.

[@Dew-You]

@Joinen what ended up happening to it? Did you ever sell it, or do you still have it?

[@midleno8364]

Man you find joinen in the most unexpected places

[@Joinen]

@@Dew-You I ended up selling it later that year for enough money to buy an actual Macbook haha

[@gmdrandom6287]

Make sure to buy the lemon carton merch

[@daomingjin]

if you still have it i might be interested in buying it....

[@SkeptixPrdxn]

This is literally the BEST tech channel. Yeah yeah I like seeing the latest and greatest crap I'll never buy. But all those channels are flexing on one another. Quinn knows his stuff, is funny, and genuinely cares ab making videos. The last tech series I had enjoyed as much as this was Marques' Retro Tech thing he did with KZbin. Anyways... Thanks for the content. It's really amazing stuff. Wish I could sub twice.

[@snazzy]

Thank you!! Means a lot. I have a lot of fun making these.

[@Phanson08]

Totally agree

[@tobiasjennerjahn8659]

If you haven’t watched it I can highly recommend mr.mobiles “when phones where fun”

[@nexydoesyoutubestuff9406]

Yeah, absolutely, I loved both of these series. And the new season of Retro Tech is coming this year!

[@RoshanRavi]

Seriously, this is an incredible piece of tech journalism. I remember drooling over modbook on one of those internet forums (Digg, I believe) in those days. Never heard of them again until now.

[@sanjayatlive]

"Never back anything on Kickstarter" lmao

[@leonbrooke5587]

The "Shelby Cobra" was originally the AC Ace, which Carroll Shelby thought would do well with a huge V8 under the bonnet. No British company ever sold an American product, it's the other way around

[@kalmtraveler]

I'm assuming you meant that no British car company sold an American product during the 60's. There have certainly been British companies selling American products over the years ;)

[@leonbrooke5587]

The AC Ace was a British product, not an American one. When it comes to this example, the British company did not sell an American product. Granted, Shelby did do a lot of work to it to make it into a pretty excellent sports race car. The original had a tiny little engine and that curvy open top, and Shelby made a version with a huge V8 and a curvy closed top for better aerodynamics so it went much faster - not that they had much more than a rudimentary understanding of aerodynamics in those days

[@kalmtraveler]

@@leonbrooke5587 for sure - just making sure I understood that you didn't mean "no British company ever sold an American product" literally, rather just within the confines of the original Shelby Cobra.

[@leonbrooke5587]

My point was, he got this example backwards

[@giocabral9903]

He should also mention the similar concept did by RUF. RUF uses a "body on white", basically a Porsche 911 without an engine, a transmission, an interior, in which RUF puts their own in house designed components, powertrain and drivetrain.

[@skycubix8943]

I heard Steve Jobs' "Who wants a stylus??" the instant I saw this.

[@pranavpolakam5371]

ikr XD

[@AmuthanVethanayagam]

This was made by a company called Modbook. You buy your MacBook or PowerBook and send that to them and they'll modify it for you back then.

[@ilovedagreenday]

Amuthan Vethanayagam yes

[@pranavpolakam5371]

@@AmuthanVethanayagam yeah. It's just kind of funny since these 2 products are completely different visions for the future of computing devices. I think that the surface pro and other laptops like it really refined the idea that the modbook was going for

[@RaduTek]

@@pranavpolakam5371 The tablet idea didn't start with the ModBook, as Windows tablets at that time were more refined even in 2004. It seems like the Windows tablet concept declined with the launch of Windows Vista and at that time the ModBook was something different, but the popularity of Windows tablets came back with the launch of Windows 8.

[@mathesonbell5532]

The actual rarest macbook ever is any that has a stock charger that isn’t frayed

[@snazzy]

I've literally never had this issue. With any charger ever. Y'all using it as a jump rope?

[@mathesonbell5532]

Yes. Double Dutch with my chargers and tennis with my iMac as a racket

[@--2]

Snazzy Labs, I had an original iPad charger that came with my 12.9” Pro wich broke after few months. I replaced it with another Apple original charger that failed after a month (I did care extra for that one, since it was kinda expensive so i don’t know what happened there) I did nothing wrong, never bent it or pulled it or anything but it still failed, so then I bought an Cygnet cable, which was supposed to be indestructible, the ends were made out of steel, and it was supposed to be able to stand 80kg forces and 10.000 bends! Failed after 2 months!

[@gdrriley420]

@@snazzy I've seen at least 5-6 go bad for just my GF. its the in and out of bags or rubbing on fabric that kills them in just a few years

[@pranavpolakam5371]

Huh... I've had wires in general fray but never a macbook stock charger.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

*iPad Pro 2012 colorized*

[@MidnightBloomDev]

Imagine watching this on Modbook

[@deepakjindal9874]

Lmao, Atleast Quinn can watch his video on Modbook tho

[@andrewbird8624]

I'll try! Snow Leopard though.

[@glyompiee]

BTW my teacher had that and I broke it as a hid

[@firstnamesecondname5341]

Reminds me of Halt and Catch Fire, such a good show... every time they’re about to win big something beats them to the punch but not to be beaten they keep picking themselves up and carry on and on and on 😁👍

[@snazzy]

That was a great show after season 1!

[@georgesenda1952]

I saw this at that Macworld. I miss going to Macworld every years. So many cool things to see.

[@bledwhite409]

Hold up, I thought that the Cobra was a modified AC Ace. I could be wrong though.

[@denzelcondo]

You are correct

[@timothysylvester6292]

It is. The Mustang-based Shelby car was the GT500.

[@snazzy]

I am a dumb person. Apologies for the error.

[@TheJediJoker]

There was also the GT350 that preceded the GT500.

[@aguiristante]

@@snazzy No you re not dumb...maybe not a car guy

[@absolutely1337]

Is it me or is KZbin ramping up the commercials lately. And they’re longer and can’t skip!

[@a.i1137]

Get a blocker bruf. Works wonders.

[@dummyxl]

KZbin vanced...

[@iloveemelia]

ralph m Android?

[@sr_0736]

Even spotify man 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️and they are so annoying

[@jokeymonkey]

@@a.i1137 not on safari dude! I keep getting 'An error occured' message whenever I have ad-block on whilst on safari ☹️ Started happening a couple of months ago. It works on chrome tho, but I'd rather use Safari for better battery life and preference

[@silly.thoughts]

"what is huge?" me: oh must be sponsor "the charger" me: o nic- "-today sponsor,," holyshit you got me there

[@LaskyLabs]

I hope we see these return. Artists would kill for these. They would love something like a surface studio, but as an iPad or Mac.

[@ettcha]

I remember seeing this (the original one) in an old graphic design magazine ages ago! I was totally sold on the idea and really wanted one!

[@WillCarterTech]

I’ve been so hype for this video! You did an awesome job telling this history! What an amazing story. Thank you for sharing.

[@Chronos5618]

This video deserves all the likes and views. A superb deep dive into something I didn't know I wanted to learn about. One of life's great pleasures!

[@SiimKuusik]

I just absolutely love how in depth you went with even showing up in person to the door. That's why you on my TOP 5 KZbinrs list.

[@horef]

sometimes, I put on a long video and fall asleep with your voice, it's just so soothing. great video! I love the channel, discovering something new every episode :)

[@HotelUser67]

This was a great deep dive into modbook, thanks for doing it!

[@Splackavellie85]

Never got my hands on one of these. I did come pretty close, however, by putting hackintosh on the Vaio Z Canvas, which basically had the exact same specs and components as a 15” MacBook Pro when it came out and to this day is still the best tablet I’ve owned. I could never get MacOS to work perfectly on it, but I’m sure you could do it! I’d really like to see you give it a try.

[@abelguillen869]

Apple made a big deal over “Scribble” when something very similar was out years ago as well as side car it’s basically the same thing.

[@Phanson08]

Please keep doing videos like this, they’re the best! Love your channel

[@taylornicty1170]

I remember discovering this type of Mac a long time ago and before this video. I had a Mac Book Pro and got into computer animation and as I got more into it I wanted to be able to draw on and touch the screen without hooking up a Wacom tablet. I wanted to get a Modbook but the price for me was too high. I ended up getting a Surface Book and that solved all my problems. I recently wanted to see if these kinds of Macs still exist only to see their faith. I'm hoping Apple looks into full macOS tablets at some point. Thanks for this video

[@ryandavidson7542]

Woah, I remember seeing these online years ago and thought how cool it would be to own one. Awesome video, Quinn!

[@namelessanonymous2090]

The pen has an eraser?!?!?!?! That's one of the only things that keep me from loving the Apple pencil more than the Surface pen.

[@snazzy]

Indeed! It's very handy.

[@xwolpertinger]

Almost all Wacom pens (excluding some tablet PC and phone pens) have erasers

[@namelessanonymous2090]

@@snazzy They absolutely should add the eraser. You have no idea how confused I get when use the Apple Pencil only to remember that it doesn't have one. The only thing I don't like about the Surface Pen are the use of a AAAA battery and the super fragile tip (I've broken two already -_-). I like the Pencil, but I feel like the tip doesn't feel too good on the iPad's display. I don't mind switching back to the iPad line in this current era, but I wish the Pencil had certain elements from the Surface Pen.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

Interesting and thank you for stating this. I was wondering about the Apple Pencil.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

@@xwolpertinger This is good to know and thank you.

[@pkerry12]

this would have been the iPad if the iPad wasn't invented.

[@zynan]

These retrospectives are great! Informative and entertaining.

[@Garrettdx1988]

I was a senior in high school when the iPhone was released and hadn’t quite gotten into tech yet. Had I been as much of a nerd as I am now, then, I would’ve been all over this thing. Very cool for it’s time.

[@sophiethecat9256]

been loving all the hype about this lately, i hope it actually comes out at some point!

[@TechishKenya]

Started as the usual Snazzy video, ended as a pitch for a Netflix documentary I can’t wait to watch.

[@averma1a]

I have the charger in this video absolutely love it, I keep it in my laptop bag permanently. Got their 2000mah battery pack as well, it’s fast enough to charge my surface book or buddies 16” MacBook Pro Great video btw, this type of in depth research is very informative and very fun to watch. Love that you fit all the historic points in a very efficient video

[@impendio]

Amazing video Quinn, I kinda love those rabbit holes of failed kickstarters. There was this iPad Pro dock, think they called it Magic Dock which also lost like $100,000 which was basically a USB-C hub built into a Surface Studio 2 hinge ripoff to make your iPad a tiny Surface Studio 2. It’s always bonkers to me when someone asks for $8,000 for something that you KNOW costs way more than that to develop, tried to sell it for $100 and people don’t think it’s a scam...

[@itspranavgarg]

This channel makes me think about how amazing your creative process must be. I would love to see a BTS video about your whole process. From ideation to research to planning to shooting to editing. Also would be great if you include the tools/apps you use along the way.

[@stevinoname]

I was not expecting such a story. Well done!

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

Wow, that is truly a sketchy end to such a hyped product. I'm surprised they didn't pull an Atari VCS and announce their own cryptocurrency

[@snazzy]

Wait... did Atari VCS do that?

[@ryanwallace983]

Snazzy Labs indeed they did, Linus covered it on his WAN show a few months back But yah, they did lol-no idea who’s buying tho, I’d rather by dogecoin first haha

[@patrickbetts5504]

Thank you for covering, IMO, some historic hardware! The more time passes, the more I notice that all this vintage hardware will disappear and be forgotten.

[@ShadowIBlade]

These type of in depth videos are the best. Please keep doing them!

[@snazzy]

Thanks!

[@bapt_andthebasses]

This is an excellent video, Quinn. Great information and story telling. My best friend and I were dreaming about these devices when we were in high school!

[@sledgehamma]

This is a typical snazzy video: well researched and super interesting! Thanks for making the video and stay snazzy!

[@snazzy]

Cheers!

[@ikemreacts]

This is the best video you have ever made - fascinating from first to last.

[@rawnac5036]

your way of explaining is so understandable

[@MatteoBadini]

Amazing piece of content, your videos keep getting better. Loved it! I think, purely as an advice, maybe some info graphics would make this kind of documentary videos even better, but I get this cleaner look as well. Anyway keep it up

[@ORIOLESFan02]

Quinn, this was an amazing video. I’m glad you made it because I enjoyed this video a lot. Keep up the good work!

[@thetruthexperiment]

I’m glad I never heard of this. I might have wanted one back then.

[@saulfraustomtz]

I can't believe you don't have a million subscribers yet, your channel is amazing, and I love your podcast

[@snazzy]

Thanks so much!!

[@jamesdiaz6844]

Probably the best video you have ever made. Even better than the one with the vacuum.

[@snazzy]

Hahahaha thanks James.

[@shadowhwk99]

Very Snazzy video! :p Always wondered about this company, I remember seeing photos of the original Modbook

[@alexanderle239]

Consistently bringing the best tech reviews out there. Thanks for the video, always loved the MacBook

[@snazzy]

Thanks!!

[@fredbrea7367]

The mod-book pro would make a great collectible! This is a great video man, keep them coming!!!!!

[@ShooterWG7]

Great Video! I appreciate the research you put in.

[@remilarroque9566]

thx for publishing this story to all of us that baked this project i did trust this project where i shouldn't the money is lost for ever without really any explanation. we were scammed and i hope this video will prevent other in future

[@HOLLYWOODUNAPOLOGETIC]

Oh wow! I remember all of this. I haven't seen one of these in ages.

[@harshvinsaraf8789]

Love your videos. Keep up the great work. Hope you reach 1mil soon

[@kabosumamadoge1818]

Really enjoyed your content! Very informative

[@MarkEichin]

Heh, I had an original Modbook from-new - they never shipped the screen-rotation feature on that model, which was a huge source of frustration. (I still have it somewhere - it really is *heavy* even by the standards of the day, being a metal shell and heavier screen on a plastic laptop - but not bad for drawing from a desk.) I'm amazed to learn that they were still crawling forward as late as 2018, wow, nice bit of digging there!

[@AgoraphobicLocust]

You guys deserve at least 5M subs, keep up the good work!!

[@DinkarPatrayani]

Wow ! Never knew this existed. What a concept and interesting execution !

[@emdotrod]

This is a good content and I never heard of it before. Keep it up!

[@readingsolo]

After you teased this video in the MacOS secret video, I researched this myself. I saw the mod book pro website and was blown aback. But then I saw all of the people who were scammed their money. So much money was lost in that Kickstarter it was unbelievable. Every comment was just people asking for their money back. The product had so much potential and it was sad to see so many people to lose their money to this.

[@remigoldbach9608]

You have done a lot of research for this video, nice and interesting! Sad ending for the company ...

[@johnespino886]

This is a good piece of investigative video making Quinn!

[@OneMoreB]

haha I love the ad segment where you use the Apple power supply as a cup holder. Honestly, that alone convinced me that they are too big (I previously thought their brick was fine enough for me)

[@larrynavarro70]

I had to look at this video again today because I just fired up my old Modbook pro this morning . ( I own both he original modbook and the modbook pro ) I was comparing the drawing experience to my iPad . And after trying to get used to the iPad for almost a year the modbook is still a pleasure to draw and paint on . More so than the iPad . I used the modbook for years for my professional work and had a great time with it . But like everything else I needed to upgrade my operating system and I could not do that on my old modbook . Also because it’s an actual computer I have connected it to my 21 inch cintiq for working on a bigger screen . Too bad the bottom fell out of the company .

[@Sirmellowman]

wow....that picture at 7:46 is just amazing. look at Jobs staring into that case. its like he knows hes about to change the world. what a snapshot in history dude.

[@nexydoesyoutubestuff9406]

Oh my God. That's quite a story. Came to this video from Krazy Ken's recommendation and I loved it!

[@GeekyNerdDad]

Amazing video, I was completely unaware of this device or story.

[@snazzy]

Thanks, Larry! Hope you and the family are well.

[@SamTheBattleshipp]

Something that could have been awesome, if only... Thank you for sharing this!

[@mmmmigs]

had a buddy that had one of these they were super cool! almost forgot about them.

[@nucleard3]

Not even an Apple fan but I remember when this came out I really wanted one. Thanks for the great videos!

[@WarriorsPhoto]

I would like to find one of these as well. I would like to play with a computer that is touch screen and running a real Mac OS X version. Good work dude and I hope that gentleman eventually feels vindicated as well. Thank you for all the investigative work you did for this video.

[@PierreStadigh]

Really great video. Love the documentary style.

[@benmiss1767]

This just made me want a touchscreen mac even more 😂 (excellent video snazzy !)

[@phillipgoat00]

this video was really weird. like a tech thriller. It's really cool to see stuff ahead of its time. definitely super interesting content...

[@SeanWashPhoto]

The ModBook has been like a dream device for me as an artist and retouch-er. I was never in the financial position to get one when they were being made. However the iPad Pro did more than enough to satiate the desire of portable-digital-drawing-tablet.

[@andrewdubose9968]

A friend of mine had one of these for his home theater setup. Holy cow, forgot about these!

[@yeeisme]

I saw one of these when I was still a Mac Genius. They were also featured a number of times on the SciFi (when it was properly spelt) show, Eureka. They were very heavy, very clunky in usage and since they were mostly made from the Black and White MacBooks you'd be replacing that hard drive more times then you would want to admit!

[@makemoneynow5061]

Your channel definitely deserves my subs!

[@baybae92]

I was at Macworld SF 2009 when they introduced the ModBook Pro. Steve W was there!

[@T.J]

Oh I remember when this came out ! Wanted one so much but it was expensive and didn’t seem particularly useful. But now we moved to Apple silicon there are gonna be iPad Pro shaped Macs someday that’s sure and these would actually be useful with an Apple Pencil.

[@Nico-jc7zr]

Thanks for the story, what a ride.

[@photoworkplace]

This was interesting! I actually was the person who made the first iTablet (a functional Apple Tablet using the base and cover of a stick iBook) After making it for my own use Hass had seen it on Engadget and invited me out to San Francisco to talk about the design He later made a working prototype that became Axiotron I never had any stake in the company but he did fly me out to Mac World a few years in a row to help demo the devices Once the iPhone came out you could see the “hand writing on the wall” 😂

[@cgmd102]

Thank you for this video. Teenage me is so excited

[@kajolof292]

What do you think about making a hackintosh surface pro and comparing it with the modbook?

[@drunknbass]

The system panel is missing the trim section because the drive you have installed must be aftermarket. We (I) added trim support that was custom, and only supported for the modbook branded ssd.

[@DanielLopez-up6os]

This is awesome, and truly a Wild ride!

[@igregurec]

I remember sending my new at the time 2009 MBP for mod but couldn't afford it at the time :) now in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't. The lack of modifier keys might be frustrating when working in any graphical software.

[@krishnar3493]

Obsessive research, insane video Thank you

[@sethdean1384]

Not sure if I caught the price you paid for your Axiotron ModBook - are you able to share this detail? Also, would it be possible to purchase a Used Axiotron ModBook from the same source? Thanks for your time.

[@joranvancoillie8133]

Which camera do you use for your A-roll shots and which lens?

[@Wordsmith1616]

It may not be your purview, but I’d been interested in a Panasonic Toughbook for its functionality and high nits value, which is a knock against any screen I’ve come across (try using your iPhone on a sunny day). The Modbook seemed like a good idea, but how did it manage for light output?

[@jakov850]

If this thing had touchscreen palm recognition would be terrible. - random artist

[@jimboshizz]

Why did I love the gag at 20:45 so much?

[@merette6702]

i was looking into these years ago, on the used market of course i'm not in the income bracket for what they costed new. i ended up sticking to used fujitsu convertible tablet pcs. kinda want to own one someday, for the memories.

[@Peech]

You get my like, this was an amazing video made by you!

[@zynan]

My friend had a Newton. After about six different people played with the handwriting recognition, it wouldn’t recognise his writing at all (trying to match six different peoples pen styles), so had to be reset. It was a great device.