It seems like every time Apple is ready to announce something or Mac fans are looking for a product, there's a near riot of speculation and finger-crossing over the product. There were rumors that Apple was going to announce a tablet Mac at MacWorld 2007, and Mac fans were thrilled at the opportunity to turn their favorite portable computers into tablet PCs. When the keynote actually happened though, there were no tablets to be found. The exhibit floor outside however, yielded a different story.

Other World Computing, retailers of almost any kind of hardware and software you can imagine, partnered with company Axiotron to come up with the ModBook. The ModBook is a MacBook notebook computer that's had the display and keyboard removed and the case modified and reengineered to make a touch-sensitive display that works seamlessly with Mac OS X's built-in handwriting recognition software, Inkwell. The iSight camera is fully functional in the Modbook, and ForceGlass makes the screen and camera cover not just touch sensitive but impact resistant and smart enough to tell whether you're using the included Wacom digital pen or if you're cleaning the screen.

The Modbook has all of the specs of the MacBook (since the MacBooks are purchased from Apple before being modded), and when ordering you can choose how fast you want your processor, how much RAM you'd like in the system, and how large of a hard drive you'd like. As an added bonus, the Other World Computing folks will install a WAAS enabled GPS for navigation at an added price.

Other World Computing is currently taking pre-orders for the ModBook, marketed as the one and only Macintosh tablet. I'm not a big fan of tablet computers, but this might be the one that makes me interested. Prices range from $2199 to $2699 on special "pre-reserve" pricing, but once they start shipping, the prices will go up, so pre-order now.