Portable drawing tablets available? (Modbook vs iPad?)
 

I have been looking for something like this, with wacom pen pressure sensitivity.

I recently got an ipad, it is good, but it only seems to work with blunt tip stluses, which are a bit awkward to use.

I also came across something called a modbook pro, dont know if anybody here has heard of them, here is their site; which looks like it has sort left, it has changed since I looked at it about a week ago
http://www.modbook.com/?id=modbook

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Modbo...FaYaQgodRnFgYg

it is a mac os based tablet, converted from a white macbook, artists that do have them, like them, but as I read more about them I got a bit skeptical; http://danidraws.com/2011/04/22/is-i...odbook-update/

it seems it has become extinct, or the company has gone defunct.

there are the wacom cintiques but they are super expensive.

I also thought of using my laptop with a smaller wacom bamboo or something plugged into it.

I would like something portable, fairly light weight, fast start up & shut down, maybe with a solid state drive, with pen pressure sensitivity, & a way to directly access my art files created on it.

the ipad is a little awkward, in that it only seems to sync with itunes, there are no usb ports to directly acess files from it.

Drawing on an iPad reminds me of trying to draw with fat-tipped Crayola markers. Yeah, it works, and some people find a way to master it, but it's really starting out with a handicap. Odds are against you, not with you. I've even tried to make custom stylus, but the responsiveness of an iPad sucks far too much versus pencil and paper. It's more like a 20-year-old drawing pad than a modern one. It lags and is very imprecise.

The Modbook appears to be a modified (hence the name!) Apple Notebook with touch-screen interface. It looks nifty, yet expensive.

Macsales.com (OWC) has an excellent reputation for selling quality hardware. Some of my Mac hardware comes from them. :)

The iPad is mostly good for browsing the web from the couch, reading books/comics, and for monitoring the online weather alerts while hiding under the staircase. Oh, and there's a diet app that I've found helpful, though it's tempting to give up on days when the battery goes dry. Angry Birds is fine. As you can tell, I've not found a lot of productivity using iPads. At most, with a wireless keyboard, you can communicate with clients (email, support desks, etc).

Here's the Modbook marketing video:



Id' call it a gamble, given the price, existing concerns about the company, and the underlying realization that the unit may have no way to be repaired if broken, should the company go under or disappear. (From the looks of it, the original company did go under, and somebody else is taking their place. And then OWC offers it? I'm really quite confused, to be honest.)

I read about a new sketch book earlier this year, which was located inside the pen. You drew on paper, and the pen recorded all of your movements. You can later plug it into a computer, and download the art. Now I don't know if it's available to consumers yet, or still in R&D, but it was interesting nonetheless.

I don't have any yay/nay kind of suggestion for you, just some more aspects to consider.