Hardware manufacturer and MacBook modder Axiotron has announced an updated model of its ModBook, a pen-based Mac tablet. With the new hardware, the company is now throwing in new software, namely SketchBook Express 2009, a sketching and drawing application designed to work specifically with the ModBook.

Axiotron, which recently added Steve Wozniak to its board of advisors, can take a 13-inch White MacBook and turn it into the device pictured on the left for around the same price as the notebook itself costs. Customers can either send in their MacBook to get it tabletized, or purchase a brand new, modded unit.

The Modbook lets users draw and write directly on the screen, by seamlessly integrating Axiotron’s technology with a Wacom Penabled digitizer and an Apple MacBook computer. The product features a collection of hardware and software changes impacting almost every one of its aspects. The manufacturer has upgraded the Modbook’s hardware controller board to improve a slew of processes such as sleep, battery, radio frequency even, as well as system performance.

Most noticeably, the product now incorporates Axiotron’s QuadCoat, a liquid metallic coating for the lightweight magnesium top shell. This, in addition to other changes, decreases the weight of the highly portable Modbook to only 5.3 pounds. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as far as improvements are concerned.

The Modbook now ships with improvements and enhancements including:

- Better system performance and Mac compatibility;
- Full Bluetooth connectivity;
- Upgraded drawing surface and display characteristics;
- Enhanced GPS capability;
- Better pen tablet performance;
- Improved serviceability...

... and, of course, new software. “[The] Autodesk SketchBook Express 2009, an industry leading sketching and drawing application, is now exclusively available on the Modbook, as part of its standard software package,” Axiotron, who plans to include additional software enhancements for all Modbook users early next year, says.

To download the Autodesk SketchBook Express 2009, you must own a ModBook. Here, you need to provide Axiotron with information such as your name, location, and e-mail address, as well as the Modbook serial number. That is found on the inside of your battery compartment, according to the modders.