I have the keyboard and I cannot say that it doesn't have quality. The keyboard itself is well built and the trackpad is also good. We can of course argue about the material used on the other side for protecting the iPad.
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Combined Weight of a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a Magic Keyboard Is Heavier Than a 13-inch MacBook Air
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Yes, but its software is not good. Not optimised as a tablet, and Windows is really not as smooth as iOS or macOS.
Moral of the story - be suspicious when Apple intentionally leaves out a critical detail from their published specification.
Not to mention a 12.9" iPad Pro plus magic keyboard also costs a lot more than a MBA and can't use the same applications as a MBA. One really needs to factor in a lot of thing to justify going the iPad Pro route. The 12.9" also isn't as easy to handle as the smaller tablets. I know people that have both the 12.9" and 11" iPad Pro and end up using the 11" more due to the lighter and smaller size which makes more sense as a handheld tablet.
If one really just wants a laptop perhaps they should just get a laptop. In fact with some current sale prices one could probably get a MBA and a regular iPad for almost the same price as a 12.9" iPad Pro and the magic keyboard. Then you have the best of both worlds. Well maybe not the best but you can do a lot more with that combination.
12.9" with 256GB storage to match the base MBA plus the magic keyboard is $1,568 from Apple vs the $999 for the MBA. I just bought my wife a regular new iPad for $300 from Bestbuy but even at full price of $330 that still puts the combo $200 less that the 12.9 iPad Pro set.
If one really just wants a laptop perhaps they should just get a laptop. In fact with some current sale prices one could probably get a MBA and a regular iPad for almost the same price as a 12.9" iPad Pro and the magic keyboard. Then you have the best of both worlds. Well maybe not the best but you can do a lot more with that combination.
12.9" with 256GB storage to match the base MBA plus the magic keyboard is $1,568 from Apple vs the $999 for the MBA. I just bought my wife a regular new iPad for $300 from Bestbuy but even at full price of $330 that still puts the combo $200 less that the 12.9 iPad Pro set.
They could offer an hybrid MB with detachable screen (even ARM based), but that would cannibalize their tablet sales.
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Yea that's what they said about the butterfly keyboard too. Nothing like Youtubers & Apple consumers for reviewing Apple devices objectively.
I largely agree with the point you're making, but I think it's wrong to dismiss the iPad as 'doing less' for everyone, particularly for a lot of people who are just note taking and report writing, the iPad is just as useful and some of it's additional strengths are even boons. Thinking taking a photo of a lecture slide, videoing a demonstration, drawing a diagram on the screen. This is even without going into the iPads obvious benefits for graphical work, including P3 display for colour accurate stuff. Bear in mind here we're talking about a MacBook Air, a lot of the things you can do on a laptop but can't on an iPad that I can think of aren't the sort of things you would really be doing on an Air anyway?I'm not so sure its as subjective as you say, iOS apps and iOS itself is more limited. I mean its only now that we got mouse support for iOS, and its multitasking is nowhere as useful or powerful as MacOS. I'd be hard-pressed to find anything that iPad can do, that you cannot do with a laptop and a laptop class operating system - other than maybe take it to Disneyworld and take pictures
Yet on the flip side there are many things you can do on a laptop that you cannot do on an iPad
True, but it's very close. We use tons of devices on both platforms daily.
In Canada, the Magic Keyboard for the 12.9 inch costs $449, and the regular iPad costs $429. How does this even remotely make sense?
It does less, that doesn't man people don't or can't get usefulness out of it
Well simple, its not a tablet, but people have been using MBAs on the couch for years, so you can use the laptop on the couch thus, its able to function similarly
The point is that it costs more, weighs more, and pound for pound does less. Sure as Falhófnir stated many people use the iPad as a laptop replacement but that doesn't remove the fact its less functional. I don't really knock the iPad Pro, I own one, but when I need to do work stuff, I use my laptop
Do it like me, just have a Mac in the office with Jump Desktop installed and you can turn your iPad Pro in to Mac
I have it with multi-OS, Windows, Mac, Debian etc.
It's also one of the most modular computers out there. You can set it up with any combination of stands, adapters, keyboard, and trackpad (including this case) along with the Apple Pencil. I really hope this is where future computing devices are moving toward.
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That's like saying tanks offer infinitely better armor than civilian SUVs. You're not wrong, but the number of drivers who need a tank is infinitesimally small, relatively speaking.
Well simple, its not a tablet, but people have been using MBAs on the couch for years, so you can use the laptop on the couch thus, its able to function similarly
The point is that it costs more, weighs more, and pound for pound does less. Sure as Falhófnir stated many people use the iPad as a laptop replacement but that doesn't remove the fact its less functional. I don't really knock the iPad Pro, I own one, but when I need to do work stuff, I use my laptop
Yeah but the same can be said for a Mac as well. I have had loads of Macs and they are nice to use but when I need real work to be done I reach for my Lenovo, I could log in remotely and use a Mac as a thin client but I can do that from my iPad as well. Some people cannot do any proper work on a laptop at all because they need a workstation.
So it all depends on what sort of work one does, some will find the iPad to be limiting for work yes but that goes for any device. All devices have limitations but not everyone cares about the limitations for a given device.
For me I find the iPad being the most versatile mobile unit where I can sign documents with the pencil, use it in tablet mode for reading, use with a keyboard to write things and so much more. But as I said I don’t use it for work directly since that requires Windows so at the most it is a thin client when I’m on the go.
That's only important for artists, that's like less than 10% of users
I haven’t read through the whole thread, so this may have been discussed already, but wanted to comment that I bet at least part of the added weight this new Magic Keyboard cover has is deliberate on Apple’s part. In order for the case to function without being overly tipsy, the base (keyboard) has to have enough heft to it.
Keeping it from tipping over is also the reason why the angle of the main hinge is limited to less than 90 degrees. If they allowed it to angle back further, it would put the center of gravity of the iPad Pro too far up and back, which would make it unstable when used on a lap, maybe even on a desk.
Keeping it from tipping over is also the reason why the angle of the main hinge is limited to less than 90 degrees. If they allowed it to angle back further, it would put the center of gravity of the iPad Pro too far up and back, which would make it unstable when used on a lap, maybe even on a desk.
I'm not entirely sure this is all that true.
Better performance according to short run benchmarks. The reality is without cooling how long can the iPad Pro sustain those numbers? Plus performance only matters when it comes to the applications it can run. You can give tablets all the processing power in the world but many tablet applications are still watered down compared to their Mac versions. We have little to no real world performance comparisons or using a iPad Pro actually being a more productive tool to justify that better performance.
Is the battery better? Does it really matter if using a computer with many apps open at once sharing files back and forth can be more productive? I have used tablets since the iPad 1 and I can still get work done 2x as fast on a Mac than I can on a tablet. Therefore I only really need 1/2 the battery power to get through a productive day. Even then I don't think the MBA battery is all that low. Plus the MBA can actually plug in power and still have ports open for other things without a ton of farting around so its not as much of an issue to plug in power.
How is the screen better? Maybe a tad higher resolution but not enough to make a huge difference. Plus on the MBA it can use scaled resolutions and have more screen space due to 1680 mode vs the iPad that is forever only going to use 1366 mode. Even if one uses the regular 2x retina mode on the MBA we are talking a very small difference in real estate. I actually think the screens are fairly comparable.
Speakers, camera, meh whatever. I don't think anybody has ever judged pros using FaceTime on their MBP and MBA computers. Software developers, graphic designers, video professionals all seem to use it just fine. Its a video call not a Hollywood production. Have there actually been sound quality comparisons between the MBA and 12.9" iPad Pro? I have yet to see any Apple product deliver great speakers out of the box across Macs, tablets or phones. Thats why we have external speakers and headphones. I even have 27" iMacs that leave a lot to be desired when it comes to sound. Would be curious to hear pros compare sound from the two but that would never be enough to justify a large tablet over a Mac for me.
Face iid, so what? I hate faceId. The beauty of a Mac is I don't need things like that to unlock my computer because it takes about 1.5 seconds to unlock it.
Apple Pencil support for a handful of people that actually use the Apple Pencil. I used to be a UX designer and I have an Apple Pencil and it largely sat in my bag for 3 years. Nice device but even when I did graphic design I wasn't a fan of Wacom tablets either. Some designers love that sort of thing while others do not.
Agreed. Sometimes I think the 12” MB is the best iPad ... I mean it’s nearly as light and portable as my iPad ( regular, not pro), while the power and the range of applications is unmatched with the MB.
It‘s a shame they dropped it.
First of all when either a MacBook Air or iPad Pro with the magic keyboard are sitting on a table/desk, weight isn’t an issue. When traveling, whatever you use to carry your stuff, I doubt most people will notice the extra 61 grams assuming they travel with the magic keyboard attached and they have traveled with the MacBook Air before.
It’s a nothing burger. Spec wars that have no real consequential value in practical use.
It’s a nothing burger. Spec wars that have no real consequential value in practical use.
Is it though? Just privately I have used my pencil to sign loads of contracts and such which have saved me a lot of time in having to prin, sign and scan them (and who the hell owns a printer these days?). So for people who reads and signs things a lot as part of their job I can really see it being handy.
The pencil is also amazing to use for sketching up ideas of things so you can share them with people.
The iPad Pro however isn’t designed as a consumption device but as a creation device. As usual not for everyone but it definitely has a lot of value as demonstrated by our community users in the iPad forum on a daily basis.