Maybe Apple ISN’T Crazy… - iPad Pro Magic Keyboard Review

[RILEYISMYNAME]

The new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard case makes the iPad into a laptop. And it's NOT the apocalypse... very confusing. But does a keyboard + trackpad mean you should get this instead of a "real" laptop?

 

 

 

Buy Apple iPad Pro: https://geni.us/UcZFww

Buy Apple iPad Pro Magic Keyboard: https://geni.us/7nS4OQ2

[Entropy.]

13 minutes ago, RILEYISMYNAME said:

The new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard case makes the iPad into a laptop. And it's NOT the apocalypse... very confusing. But does a keyboard + trackpad mean you should get this instead of a "real" laptop?

 

 

 

No. Just get a surfacebook 3... Oh wait... 

Apple... Apple's Firing back! 

 

Annnddd Microsoft knocks it out of the park! 

i mean at least it has more ram amirite

[samcool55]

I'm still confused tho.

Apart from the touchscreen and the OS, what's the difference between this and something like a macbook air? Or whatever their simple laptop is called.

[poochyena]

So its both an overpriced tablet, and less powerful laptop.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, samcool55 said:

I'm still confused tho.

Apart from the touchscreen and the OS, what's the difference between this and something like a macbook air? Or whatever their simple laptop is called.

That's a "but apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" question.

 

The point isn't so much the raw capability in any one area (it clearly has a ways to go as a full laptop substitute) as that you can do a lot of everything.  You could churn through work email one moment and finish a drawing project the next, or write a report, or curl up with Netflix, or...

 

I also like to look at it this way: Apple is catching up faster on the laptop functionality of its tablets than Microsoft is catching up on the tablet side of its laptops (and let's face it, the Surface Pro and Go are really detachable laptops).  If you're not satisfied with where Apple is now, it might be much closer in a year or two.

[SenKa]

Full disclosure, writing this on my 2020 iPad Pro 12.9” + Magic Keyboard.

 

I 100% expected this to be a Linus missing the mark extravaganza as the other iPad reviews of late have been. However, i think he basically got it.

 

I am, by trade, a device repair technician at a business that I own. The device i use to get business is basically irrelevant to how much money I will make. All I need is something that turns on every time with no major weird quirks, and a good battery. So, I bought an MacBook Air. And while it was CERTIANLY an upgrade from my slowly dying Thinpad X201T, it still felt... slow? Not slow as in the sense of things took to long to open, that was fine. It was a very quick device every day. But it kind of felt like I was doing around a race track in a Rolls Royce Phantom, while everybody else were in Katerham’s. Like a massive vessel being lazily thrown around by a rough tide. Trying to fight an MMA champion with a sledge hammer. You get the point.

 

Switching from my MacBook Air to my iPad made everything feel faster. While I have no hard proof that switching made me make more money, every action feels sharper.

 

By hobby I am a writer and video editor, and by education I am a student majoring in law. As a writer, I love the keyboard. These new switches feel fantastic, and the key caps have this soft coating on them that just feel excellent. The adjustment of the display also helps with neck pain, an issue i was having with my MacBook Air. I would either tilt the display back enough to solve that and strain my eyes, or bring the display close enough to see comfortably and strain my neck. As a video editor, truth be told I haven’t actually had anything to edit as of yet. But, I know the power is there. And finally, as a student, the extra snap compared to even a quick laptop just makes me more productive. The ONLY thing that sucks, and this isn’t Apple’s fault, is that I cant have 2 instances of chrome running side by side. I have to use chrome and safari if i want 2 browsers open. I don’t mind it, but it was an adjustment.

 

I have already written quite a bit on this keyboard between school and my hobby, and can 100% say that this is only a quarter-step down from the full fledged magic keyboard on the new MacBooks. But, everything else i gain over those device 100% makes up for it.

 

Overall, the iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard feels like what the Surface Pro wishes it was. A way to use a device that can adapt to any situation that comes to mind, yet is not conventional in any of them. A sort of Swiss Army knife device. If you can only carry one knife with you for every situation, you pick up a Swiss Army knife. If you can only carry one productivity device with you for every situation, you pick an iPad Pro. While it is a bit unconventional in the way that you interact with it, it is quite possibly the most well rounded “laptop” we have offered to us at the moment. Plenty of power, a fantastic display, lots of battery life, a massive suite of software, and a way to interface with it that allows options that will fit almost everybody. While it isn’t the best at any one thing, I don’t feel like that’s ever been the spirit of the iPad. 

[Luscious]

You know the mainstream media is clearly biased when they won't even bat an eyelid at iPad OS's shortcomings, yet went all out to murder the Surface RT... just because it was "different".

 

Yeah, it's obsolete now, but seven years ago Microsoft had the iPad beat, and those who understood technology knew that this was, on Apple's part, quite the embarrassment. Even today Windows RT still has tricks up it's sleeve that iOS fails at spectacularly. Never mind that many of the Surface's accessories were some of the best designed add-ons for a tablet, compared to EVERYTHING for the iPad which was just an afterthought attempting to address Apple's shortcomings.

 

If this is Apple's new direction for tablets, they are missing the mark by a long mile. I'd argue even a top end netbook offers better functionality and more features - exactly the device they were trying to downplay all those years ago... and one could say are still playing catch-up with today.

 

Of course, the definition of "work" will always be debatable, as will how much a touch UI hinders or improves in that regard. I own a Surface Go, and while comparable to a 10 inch netbook, I still would not rely on it. Many networking features, connectivity, software etc... are absent in the Surface Go (and Windows 10 starter), so I HAVE to still keep a real laptop around.

 

At the end of the day Apple can rename their iOS to whatever flavor and slap as many PRO tags on their tablet as they want - it's still only going to be a COMPANION device. At $1400 though, companion devices won't fly.

[hishnash]

7 hours ago, samcool55 said:

I'm still confused tho.

Apart from the touchscreen and the OS, what's the difference between this and something like a macbook air? Or whatever their simple laptop is called.

Compute performance, high refresh display, very very good pencil input.

 

6 hours ago, poochyena said:

So its both an overpriced tablet, and less powerful laptop.

In performance is is more powerfull than any laptop at that price point. However you do need to be happy to use the applications that are there, there are lots of pro applications on the iPad they are just different, like switching from FCPX to Resolve if your used to one moving is hard.
 

 

5 hours ago, Commodus said:

and let's face it, the Surface Pro and Go are really detachable laptops

The surface go is just a sad product. So under powered that an entry level iPad will defeat it.  So underpowered that he one argument you might have for it "it can run all of windows applications" is null and void since most fo them will take a good 5 minutes to open.  MS really need to get their ARM story of the ground if they want to have a device that can compete on that form-factor intel just are not the right solution. The issue they will have is while apple have (somehow) managed to get photoshop (and other Adobe apps coming soon) to produce native (almost fully featured) iPad version (that run at 120hz) MS will not be able to adobe to do this for them unless they first produce a device that the raw performance fo the iPadPro.
 

19 minutes ago, Luscious said:

Many networking features, connectivity, software etc... are absent in the Surface Go

Comparing widows 10 starter to iPadOS iPadOS wins hands down, just in the quality of applications on the app store alone. 

 

19 minutes ago, Luscious said:

it's still only going to be a COMPANION device. At $1400 though, companion devices won't fly.

For many uses it is not a companion device it a primary device. The entry level iPads are targeted as companion devices. Out of intrest what is the functionality you think iPadOS is missing? (i can name things but im thinking as a software developer my use-cases will be different from yours)

[gamingowiz]

Great video, although I disagree with the sentiment made by one of the commentators that the Ipad pro isn't suitable for students given the price. Depending on the course, and that of your own budget, the Ipad Pro offers an incredible amount versatility to students.

I used to lug around folders with annotated lecture notes (costing me upwards of $100 a semester to print) and heavy textbooks, student manuals and loose-leaf material from practical classes. It is cause for celebration that a device can rid you of this weight without forgoing the freedom and accessible nature that a pen, paper and physical textbook provide.

 

Everything I now need for university, and I mean everything, is on my Ipad and saved in a cloud. I'm organised without even trying.

 

I now annotate my notes with Notability, but the functionality of the Ipad in combination with this well designed app allows me to take my notes further. I can easily copy and paste diagrams, gather different material from the internet and quickly add it in, do voice recordings over my notes or draw up quick sketches in relation to the content I'm learning. One of my favorite things though is having the ability to go back and edit my notes without them becoming disorganized or fragmented - a huge old issue of mine. And expensive whiteboards ? glad I didn't invest in them like others. I now just share my screen to my TV or projector and do my drawings there. 

 

Sure some of these feats can be achieved through typing on a laptop, but again the freedom of pen and paper and a well designed UI (in my opinion) allows me to do it with much more efficiency and flow. Anyone who fights procrastination to study would know how much of godsend that is. 

Now there is no doubt that it is an expensive device. Especially given its computational power and perceived limited functionality when compared to a similarly priced laptop. However, with the money saved from not having to print notes or bind student manuals as well as the fact I can now buy eBooks from Piratebay, the cost becomes less substantial. 
 

Goddamn apple tax though... 200 for pen, 500 for keyboard? yeesh 

[samcool55]

20 hours ago, Commodus said:

That's a "but apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" question.

 

The point isn't so much the raw capability in any one area (it clearly has a ways to go as a full laptop substitute) as that you can do a lot of everything.  You could churn through work email one moment and finish a drawing project the next, or write a report, or curl up with Netflix, or...

 

I also like to look at it this way: Apple is catching up faster on the laptop functionality of its tablets than Microsoft is catching up on the tablet side of its laptops (and let's face it, the Surface Pro and Go are really detachable laptops).  If you're not satisfied with where Apple is now, it might be much closer in a year or two.

Well, sort of makes more sense now. Thanks.

It feels like if you need something that does everything well, the iPad is probably what you want?

Seems difficult to explain, somehow

 

About MS and Apple, I think the fact Apple went iPad OS shows us how damn difficult it is to pull off.

Apple is known to have basically the same OS on as many devices it can.

 

iOS? All the iPhones of the last few years run the exact same one.

MacOS? Same thing. There isn't a pro version or an enterprise version which is the case with Windows. it's just MacOS. 1 edition and that's it.

 

And even them went "yeah nah we need a new OS for this". And i'm quite sure that was a really hard decision to make because that's just not really what they are known to do. Especially with iPads running iOS in the past. Also they seem to take it quite slow developing new things and improving on stuff. Which is a good thing because they can really easily fuck it up because it's such a difficult thing to get right.

 

Microsoft, with the imo massive mess they have are nowhere near a decent tablet experience on windows. They bite off more than they can chew, try to fix it for multiple years and when it maybe finally gets somewhat decent, ditch it and start over. As they have done in the past with multiple things. Windows Phone is a great example of this.

[hishnash]

2 hours ago, samcool55 said:

Apple is known to have basically the same OS on as many devices it can.

 

Mostly the differences between the OS is the luncher/window system.

iOS, tvOS, watchOS, iPadOS all share the same base code hell they even share a tone of code with macOS. But the user-interaction layer is different for each of them.

 

2 hours ago, samcool55 said:

MacOS? Same thing. There isn't a pro version or an enterprise version which is the case with Windows. it's just MacOS. 1 edition and that's it.

Apple even got rid of macOS server they just rolled all the features of macOS server (that were at an os level) into macOS and then put the rest (GUI stuff) into an app you can buy and download form the app store. This is a lot simpler for apple than MS bing a *nix based system the idea of that everything build out of 100s fo small utilise that just use disk to talk to each-other (most of the time using plain text files and sockets).