Disappointed (or not) by Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro

Hardware
48

First impressions: I received the keyboard yesterday for my 12.9" iPad Pro, and only had an opportunity to use it for 30-60 minutes.

The pluses: It is a very nice keyboard. Extremely comfortable to type on, and it makes a satisfying soft thumpthumpthump sound as I type, like a cat running across a hardwood floor. The trackpad feels natural. The iPad angle is lovely. It sits comfortably on my lap and even better when I rest it on a padded lapdesk to give it just an inch or two of elevation.

The iPad and keyboard doesn’t seem that heavy to me, despite reviews to the contray. The 12.9" iPad itself is a heavy device, compared with my iPad mini and 2018 iPad sixth-gen. I’ve read that the weight of the iPad Pro + keyboard is about the same as a MacBook Air, but I think that’s misleading, because if you’re carrying around the MBA you also need to carry around your charging brick, and that adds some more weight.

Plus, as I’ve learned from experience, when I started doing a lot of work on the iPad, I thought I was doing it for reduced weight, but it turned out the real benefit was battery life, ease of use of iPad OS, and ability to switch easily between tablet and laptop mode. So I’m not concerned that the iPad Pro will be too heavy in my bag with the Magic Keyboard.

The iPad separates easily, and I don’t see myself in situations where it will be a problem doing that and putting the keyboard aside, or tucking the keyboard in a bag.

My primary use case at the moment is, of course, just using the iPad while sitting around the house. Previously I was using a standalone keyboard, trackball, and a separate iPad stand to prop up the iPad while typing. That was a lot of stuff to shlep from one room to another – particularly when I carry my iPad mini too which I sometimes do – and a lot of clutter on my sofa side-table. I’m looking forward to the iPad being more portable.

The minuses – actual and potential: Juggling the iPad and keyboard separately may prove to be more inconvenient than I thought. The keyboard weight may be more problematic than I thought.

And $350 is a lot of money for a keyboard.

And the fact that I only used it 30-60 minutes yesterday indicates I may not get as much use of it as I thought. I ended up switching between ebooks on my iPad mini, and checking news and social media on my phone, and mostly did not use the iPad Pro after dinner at all.

The verdict: I’m hanging on to the keyboard until I give it a good workout for its two-week trial period. And I’ll probably keep it beyond that. But I’m already regretting stomping the cardboard box because I may send it back after all.

Here’s the thing: Two years ago I bought a new iPad, iPhone AND MacBook Pro. I felt I needed all three. But buying them was no longer a thrill. I still love the Mac ecosystem but the hardware is just utilitarian. In each case, I had practical reasons for buying hte devices I did, I bought the devices, and they performed as expected. Satisfied? Yes. Delighted? No.

Same thing with this keyboard: I bought it to have a more self-contained and portable solution for typing and using a pointer on the iPad. And it does the job. And yeah maybe I’m a little delighted. But mainly I’m just satisfied. (And, as I said, not ENTIRELY sure yet – $350 is a lot of money!).

P.S. Yes, I have an iPad Pro, iPad and iPad mini. The mini is ancient; it is excellent as an ebook reader and not much good for anything else.

I bought the iPad two years ago when the mini was already showing signs of age. I bought it primarily as a consumption device, hence I did not go for the pro.

I bought the Pro a few weeks ago because I wanted the bigger space, I wanted to have a machine I could work on if my MacBook Pro gave up the ghost. And darn it I just wanted the thing!

Of the three, surprisingly, the mini is more useful now than the 2018 iPad, and so the 2018 device is the one I plan to sell or place with a family member.

4 Likes
49

Curious if you had occasional connection issues with the folio before this as well? This is something I have happen sometimes and I haven’t seen a review that indicates whether this stops being an issue with the magic keyboard or continues.

50

Is that really a bad thing though? Isn’t the point of good technology that it’s supposed to work flawlessly and get out of the way so you can live your life? If there wasn’t some utility to these products why would we spend so much money to buy it all?

If you regularly use your iPad in a way that requires you to lug around a stand, keyboard and mouse then I don’t see any downside in spending $350 to whittle that down to a single case that you keep attached to the iPad all/most of the time (assuming of course that you aren’t stretching yourself financially to make it happen).

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51

That’s a nice way to think about it — it’s a docking station!

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52

I’m waiting for a Mini update — would be great for flying. I just am hoping it follows some of the functionality of the newer iPads (FaceID and, most importantly, the Apple Pencil 2).

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53

Not lately, but every once in a while. I did clean off the SmartConnector contacts, no dice. The keyboard was working just fine, but not the Touchpad.

Now that I’m back on the Folio, I do miss the nicer keyboard. I don’t like extended typing sessions on the Folio. But those are fairly few and far-between for me, not worth the $350.

1 Like
54

Update: I used the Magic Keyboard for a couple of hours yesterday and it works as expected:

  • Typing and the trackpad are great.
  • Not too heavy.
  • Easily transportable from room to room, just one thing to carry. That’s unlike my previous setup – keyboard, trackball, lapdesk, iPad stand – which was too much to juggle.
  • iPad easily lifts out to use in tablet mode, and equally easily goes back in place for more typing/trackpadding. I mean, really, these operations are nearly effortless. Just a slight tug to get the iPad out, and a little wiggling to get it back in place again.
  • Doesn’t take up much space on the sofa side-table, which is where the iPad lives when it is not in use.

So I’m satisfied and expect I will keep the Magic Keyboard.

Not just satisfied – maybe a little delighted. :slight_smile:

However, to address the points raised earlier: I do not recommend the Magic Keyboard for people who want to use the iPad while commuting on public transit, or in another crowded situation. I get it: You’ve got a 45 minute commute to work each way. Sometimes it’s not so crowded and you want something you can sit and type on when you hold in your lap. Other times it’s standing room only, and you want something you can fish out of your backpack and hold in one hand while the other hand hangs on to a strap. The Magic Keyboard is not for you – but I don’t think the 12.9" iPad Pro is for you either (unless you are Andre the Giant). You’re better off with the mid-sized iPad or, even better, an iPad Mini.

4 Likes
55

Thank you for the concise review – the cases you described fit my own expectations. I’m looking forward to receiving the Magic Keyboard I ordered last week for the 12.9". I’ve been using a Logitech Slim Combo keyboard/case for a year or so, and want to change because getting the iPad out of the Logitech is a bit difficult and so I usually just leave it in the case, reducing its usefulness.

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56

My other use case is that on my last job, I traveled about 25% of the time and needed something I could use in airports, on planes, in a hotel room and especially when going between meetings and presentations. I expect I will resume that work once the world returns to normal, and that the iPad and Magic Keyboard will do well there.

1 Like
57

Am I correct that the only purpose of the pass through charging on the Magic Keyboard is to charge the iPad while using it (or if desired, to charge the iPad while on the keyboard when not in use)? Does it serve any other purpose?

58

It’s for power only, not data.

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59

I got both the 11 and 12.9 magic keyboards, and they are perfect for my use. Being about to quickly convert from a tablet to a “laptop” form factor is excellent.

And concerning the weight, it was far, far lighter than I expected it to be. The difference between the Smart Keyboard and the Magic Keyboard is only slightly noticeable in my bag (when I’m carrying both.)

I do miss being able to fold the keyboard back behind the screen when I’m lecturing, but it will be easier to just pop the iPad off the Magic Keyboard when I’m walking around the classroom, and it will be even lighter then.

I’m glad I bought both.

(99% of everything I do, I do on an iPad. I only occasionally jump to my iMac for the occasional webpage or odd Word document that someone has “locked.”)

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60

It really depends on what your individual use case happens to be.

For those who use their iPad primarily as a laptop replacement or in landscape orientation and prefer a physical keyboard, this is another outstanding Apple product that will serve the user who wants a premium product very well!

While I, personally, really like this product a lot (the cantilever design is very cool), I don’t think it will be as beneficial in my use case. I use my iPad primarily in portrait mode as a tablet…at least, as of this post. Because this design does not fold back behind the tablet I would end up with it detached the majority of the time. In my particular case, I find the Smart Keyboard Folio and Magic Trackpad to be a better solution at this point in time.

With that said, should my usage evolve to the point that I use the keyboard for the majority of my iPad work, I will not hesitate to add this device to my ever growing list of Apple accessories!

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61

Mine’s out for delivery right now.

I use my iPad nearly 100% of the time in a Smart Keyboard Folio, very often sitting on a pillow on my lap while I’m on the couch. Since some of what I do involves writing code, I find that the extreme convenience of just picking up the iPad and working where I’d left off is quickly outweighed by the abysmal touch-based text select/copy/paste functionality in iPadOS (not saying anyone else does it better).

It is my hope that the inclusion of the touchpad, along with the new support for it in iPadOS will make that kind of work much less frustrating. Hopefully I’ll be able to find out in an hour or two :slight_smile:

62

Just ordered one for my Pro 11 2020. I mostly use it in portrait and have no other case. I really enjoy using it caseless. The Magic keyboard seems like the perfect solution. I can easily remove the iPad when not writing something.

Now to tell the wife.

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63

"Better to ask forgiveness than to … " :slight_smile:

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64

Well, I have it now and I think it’s going to be absolutely transformative for me. I. Love. It!

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66

And that’s totally different for me! :laughing:

I never detached the Smart Folio Keyboard. I don’t know why exactly. I just never did it. I used the iPad mostly in Portrait mode and I folded the keyboard to the back of the iPad as long as I did not need the keyboard.

When the Magic Keyboard entered my home, my first reaction was the realization that I totally missed the fact that I cannot fold it to the back side (yes, silly me).

It took me only a few hours to adapt, though: I have totally forgotten how nice the iPad Pro is without a case or a keyboard attached to it. :slight_smile:

69

I agree almost completely with your initial assessment. Or, more accurately, my opinions of the keyboard very nearly match yours, though I think that I will travel with mine at least once, to see if it’s better than the folio keyboard for that.

The only minor, tiny complaint that I have is that I can’t change the three-finger swipe gesture to drag-select text (something that I do all the time) instead of swapping between adjacent apps (something that I never do by swiping).

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70

Personally I can’t wait to be able to buy the Smart Keyboard for my 2018 11" iPad. Afterreading several reviews from different sources I am hooked. I have been using my Magic Keyboard 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 with this iPad and it convinced me to want to get the new Smart Keyboard folio. As the original poster mentioned the Keyboard and Trackpad from the iMac work great, but they are separate devices and at home that is great, but when I leave my desk unless I want to lug them around as well they are useless. Even going to another room in the house I would have to disconnect them from bluetooth. With the new Smart Keyboard for iPad it’s there. Yes, taking it out when I want to use the pencil or just use it like a tablet, could be a pain, but not anymore of a pain than what I am doing now having to disconnect them from bluetooth or turn each one physically off. With the new case, just pull it off and they are done.

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