This Tablet Runs macOS: History of the Failed ModBook!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ย. 2020
- 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.
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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. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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.
Well it better come for ARM as well
how odd..
Very cool side story Quinn. (:
wayback macine say the last update was 24 juli at 13:24:35
@John Hinchliff Captions are available for me (as autogenerated ones)
Dude, you weren't kidding when you said this video would be a wild ride. Wow, that is quite a story.
Thanks for watching, Kyle!!
Thanks for not spoiling the video
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.
Thats amazing a single usb port Macbook, it took Apple many more years to get there
Hey Hugh!!!😃!!!When are you planning to get hands on the modbook???
OMG Hi I love your channel
Oh
Hey hugh
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.
@Joinen what ended up happening to it? Did you ever sell it, or do you still have it?
Man you find joinen in the most unexpected places
@@Dew-You I ended up selling it later that year for enough money to buy an actual Macbook haha
Make sure to buy the lemon carton merch
if you still have it i might be interested in buying it....
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 TH-cam.
Anyways... Thanks for the content. It's really amazing stuff. Wish I could sub twice.
Thank you!! Means a lot. I have a lot of fun making these.
Totally agree
If you haven’t watched it I can highly recommend mr.mobiles “when phones where fun”
Yeah, absolutely, I loved both of these series. And the new season of Retro Tech is coming this year!
"Never back anything on Kickstarter" lmao
The actual rarest macbook ever is any that has a stock charger that isn’t frayed
I've literally never had this issue. With any charger ever. Y'all using it as a jump rope?
Yes. Double Dutch with my chargers and tennis with my iMac as a racket
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!
@@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
Huh... I've had wires in general fray but never a macbook stock charger.
I heard Steve Jobs' "Who wants a stylus??" the instant I saw this.
ikr XD
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.
Amuthan Vethanayagam yes
@@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
@@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.
*iPad Pro 2012 colorized*
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.
Hold up, I thought that the Cobra was a modified AC Ace. I could be wrong though.
You are correct
It is. The Mustang-based Shelby car was the GT500.
I am a dumb person. Apologies for the error.
There was also the GT350 that preceded the GT500.
@@snazzy No you re not dumb...maybe not a car guy
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
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 ;)
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
@@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.
My point was, he got this example backwards
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.
Imagine watching this on Modbook
Lmao, Atleast Quinn can watch his video on Modbook tho
I'll try! Snow Leopard though.
BTW my teacher had that and I broke it as a hid
Is it me or is TH-cam ramping up the commercials lately. And they’re longer and can’t skip!
Get a blocker bruf. Works wonders.
TH-cam vanced...
ralph m Android?
Even spotify man 🤦♂️🤦♂️and they are so annoying
@@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
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 😁👍
That was a great show after season 1!
"what is huge?"
me: oh must be sponsor
"the charger"
me: o nic-
"-today sponsor,,"
holyshit you got me there
I saw this at that Macworld.
I miss going to Macworld every years. So many cool things to see.
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.
Indeed! It's very handy.
Almost all Wacom pens (excluding some tablet PC and phone pens) have erasers
@@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.
Interesting and thank you for stating this. I was wondering about the Apple Pencil.
@@xwolpertinger This is good to know and thank you.
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.
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.
I’ve been so hype for this video! You did an awesome job telling this history! What an amazing story. Thank you for sharing.
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
Wait... did Atari VCS do that?
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
this would have been the iPad if the iPad wasn't invented.
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!
This was a great deep dive into modbook, thanks for doing it!
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 :)
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.
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 TH-camrs list.
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
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!
Started as the usual Snazzy video, ended as a pitch for a Netflix documentary I can’t wait to watch.
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
Woah, I remember seeing these online years ago and thought how cool it would be to own one. Awesome video, Quinn!
This is a typical snazzy video: well researched and super interesting! Thanks for making the video and stay snazzy!
Cheers!
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...
These retrospectives are great! Informative and entertaining.
Huh? The AC Ace isn't a Shelby Cobra, and it REALLY isn't a Mustang... not even close. I'm curious where you got this info from?
Shelby Cobra is the chassis of a an AC Bristol or AC Ace-Bristol with a ford engine, it's very close to the AC Ace-Bristol but what he says in the video is totally wrong
Meant the GT500 and not the Cobra. Apologies for the fairly substantial error.
@@snazzy you made out that the Brits AC Ace is a American car. When actual fact the AC cobra is an ace with a big block thrown in. You need to get your info correct or heavily imply you were making a joke because that felt like a good old fashioned Americanism "take something that doesn't belong to you and make it belong to you"
Marbz Chill. He made a mistake. Deal with it
@@masonpeart3370 I'm just stating it. No malicious intent here. I just feel influencers like Quinn should really get there facts right, especially when there main form created content is the relay of information.
been loving all the hype about this lately, i hope it actually comes out at some point!
Please keep doing videos like this, they’re the best! Love your channel
I’m glad I never heard of this. I might have wanted one back then.
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.
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” 😂
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.
I can't believe you don't have a million subscribers yet, your channel is amazing, and I love your podcast
Thanks so much!!
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.
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.
These type of in depth videos are the best. Please keep doing them!
Thanks!
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
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!
How charged was the pixel after that throw.
Great Video! I appreciate the research you put in.
this vid deserves more views
Thanks!!
Quinn, this was an amazing video. I’m glad you made it because I enjoyed this video a lot. Keep up the good work!
Oh wow! I remember all of this. I haven't seen one of these in ages.
your way of explaining is so understandable
This is a good content and I never heard of it before. Keep it up!
This is the best video you have ever made - fascinating from first to last.
Very Snazzy video! :p Always wondered about this company, I remember seeing photos of the original Modbook
Consistently bringing the best tech reviews out there. Thanks for the video, always loved the MacBook
Thanks!!
That was such a wild story! A touch screen MacBook might be possible now with Apple's ARM chip.
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.
I was not expecting such a story. Well done!
Thank you for this video. Teenage me is so excited
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
You have done a lot of research for this video, nice and interesting!
Sad ending for the company ...
Probably the best video you have ever made. Even better than the one with the vacuum.
Hahahaha thanks James.
Amazing video, I was completely unaware of this device or story.
Thanks, Larry! Hope you and the family are well.
Not even an Apple fan but I remember when this came out I really wanted one. Thanks for the great videos!
this video was really weird. like a tech thriller. It's really cool to see stuff ahead of its time. definitely super interesting content...
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 .
Thank you!
Jo, that means I am hacintosh my Lenovo c340? (Its a laptop with 360 hinge and touch (pen+finger))
This just made me want a touchscreen mac even more 😂 (excellent video snazzy !)
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)
The mod-book pro would make a great collectible! This is a great video man, keep them coming!!!!!
Something that could have been awesome, if only...
Thank you for sharing this!
You guys deserve at least 5M subs, keep up the good work!!
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.
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!
How is it different from a regular surface with hackintosh installed?
This is awesome, and truly a Wild ride!
Love your videos. Keep up the great work. Hope you reach 1mil soon
Wow ! Never knew this existed. What a concept and interesting execution !
Really enjoyed your content! Very informative
This is a good piece of investigative video making Quinn!
If this thing had touchscreen palm recognition would be terrible.
- random artist
Love this content Quinn!
7:47 What a great picture
He's looking at it like "yeah you are gonna make me so much money"
The visionary man and his creation to humanity.
Really great video. Love the documentary style.
had a buddy that had one of these they were super cool! almost forgot about them.
Thanks for the story, what a ride.
Obsessive research, insane video Thank you
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.
damn this was a super good video. love this type of investigative work. keep up the great work!
Oh my God. That's quite a story. Came to this video from Krazy Ken's recommendation and I loved it!
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.
What do you think about making a hackintosh surface pro and comparing it with the modbook?
Can you make a follow up and see how it performs on the last version supported on the mod book you are using?
Hittin' Tim Apple right in the feels with this one
Which camera do you use for your A-roll shots and which lens?