Still, a nice change from this:
(Blame it on the lead-acid batteries!)
(Blame it on the lead-acid batteries!)
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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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Oh FFS apple! Make the macos touchscreen already. Your stubbornness is just like the japanese way of engineering. Listen to your users we all want a touch screen compatible mac. Not an ipad toy that acts like a mac.
A touch screen mac would be about as good as the last season of Game of Thrones..
Don't do it apple.
iPadOS is the future!
I am sure more people notice and care about a 0.3 lbs difference in their hands compared to a 0.6 lbs difference in their backpack.
In the end the Surface Pro 7 is a decent laptop but a horrible tablet, so if you want a laptop there are better devices out there and if you want a tablet there are loads of better devices out there. So to me it is just not useful, the iPad Pro on the other hand is a great tablet and with the keyboard it seems a decent laptop if your use case is not limited by the software.
To be honest I was very frustrated by the Surface Pro, I wanted to like it because it is a very nice looking device. But the software and heft really made me not even want to use it as a tablet. Im sure the people who mostly want a laptop and then occasionally use a tablet feels the same way about the iPad Pro though.
So the Surface Pro wins here. If it wasn’t for the damn Windows.
Whenever I need a keyboard on my iPad Pro (which is never), I just use the Magic Keyboard from my Mac. Much cheaper.
Do you have a spare keyboard or are you going through the entire unpairing and pairing process then each time?
yawn - at least make the macbook compatible with a pencil that is all i need. Not even faceid or pencil support. All these pads are just redundant overlapping tech that really doesn’t add anything of value except profit$.
Any other company would destroy this lineup of products because it’s just dumb. But since it’s apple; of course we can expect these sorts of decisions because of the money they have made from selling iphones.
An ipad that is heavier than a macbook which can do so much more. if this isn’t arse backwards....
I don't want to get too excited, but the recent rumor about an upcoming 12" ARM-based MacBook running OSX has me cautiously excited about what Apple *might* be working on. I've been unimpressed with what I've seen of Apple's previous keyboard offerings for the iPad, and the iPad OS was, and still is, too "limited" (file system, as one example) to serve as an adequate MacBook-replacement for me. With all of those keyboards, I thought, "Really? No trackpad? So I need to type on the keyboard and then poke at the screen to select things?"
Then they added support for mice and trackpads. The UI still looks a bit odd to me when using it (no actual mouse pointer). And I wrote about how I thought the ideal computer would look more like the Microsoft Surface Book: A touchscreen that can detach from the keyboard/trackpad and, when attached, can be tilted at any angle and used on your lap (not just on a desk). My recommendation was for Apple to do something similar and to have the iPad contain both an Intel chip and the ARM chip, and run OSX when attached to the keyboard, and then switch to iPad OS when detached from the keyboard. But I didn't hold out much hope that Apple would do something like that anytime soon.
Then the rumor just came out about a 12" MacBook running OSX but with an ARM CPU. Now I'm cautiously excited. Not for that device, but for the possibility that Apple could release an OS update to a standalone iPad Pro that allows you to run both OSX and iPad OS. Attached to this keyboard, you run OSX. Or detach from the keyboard and switch to iPad OS.
Performance-wise, I was watching a YouTube video yesterday where a guy was showing how fast an iPad Pro can export a 4K video. I think he even claimed it was faster than his iMac Pro. If I'm remembering wrong, I think it was at least faster than many of the other "real" Macs/MacBooks. So, it sounds like the performance of the latest ARM chips may already be there to support a "real" desktop OS.
Many years ago, I was very much enchanted by the sub-notebooks that various companies were experimenting with. Some companies made "full size" but ultra-thin/light laptops. Others made chunkier models that were smaller width/length, but thicker and not as light. The latter would have smaller-than-normal QWERTY keyboards that took time to adjust to. I'm thinking of laptops like the Toshiba Portege 300CT (I might have owned that one), and the even smaller Toshiba Libretto models (keyboard too small/unusable, IMO).
A lot of people are focusing here on the negatives of the current iPad OS when using as a "real" laptop replacement. If my cautious excitement isn't off-base, keep in mind that we're still in the "early stages." The file system and "laptop mode" iPad OS apps will get better and/or the introduction of OSX for ARM may make those non-concerns. If you don't care about Pencil usage, maybe a traditional MacBook is still the better choice for you. For me, I love the Pencil and what can be done with it, and I'd prefer a more modular approach, even if it's a little thicker/heavier, if it means not needing to own two devices and paying double for that.
BTW, I believe that Windows Surface Book I mentioned weighs in at around 3.5 lbs.
Then they added support for mice and trackpads. The UI still looks a bit odd to me when using it (no actual mouse pointer). And I wrote about how I thought the ideal computer would look more like the Microsoft Surface Book: A touchscreen that can detach from the keyboard/trackpad and, when attached, can be tilted at any angle and used on your lap (not just on a desk). My recommendation was for Apple to do something similar and to have the iPad contain both an Intel chip and the ARM chip, and run OSX when attached to the keyboard, and then switch to iPad OS when detached from the keyboard. But I didn't hold out much hope that Apple would do something like that anytime soon.
Then the rumor just came out about a 12" MacBook running OSX but with an ARM CPU. Now I'm cautiously excited. Not for that device, but for the possibility that Apple could release an OS update to a standalone iPad Pro that allows you to run both OSX and iPad OS. Attached to this keyboard, you run OSX. Or detach from the keyboard and switch to iPad OS.
Performance-wise, I was watching a YouTube video yesterday where a guy was showing how fast an iPad Pro can export a 4K video. I think he even claimed it was faster than his iMac Pro. If I'm remembering wrong, I think it was at least faster than many of the other "real" Macs/MacBooks. So, it sounds like the performance of the latest ARM chips may already be there to support a "real" desktop OS.
Many years ago, I was very much enchanted by the sub-notebooks that various companies were experimenting with. Some companies made "full size" but ultra-thin/light laptops. Others made chunkier models that were smaller width/length, but thicker and not as light. The latter would have smaller-than-normal QWERTY keyboards that took time to adjust to. I'm thinking of laptops like the Toshiba Portege 300CT (I might have owned that one), and the even smaller Toshiba Libretto models (keyboard too small/unusable, IMO).
A lot of people are focusing here on the negatives of the current iPad OS when using as a "real" laptop replacement. If my cautious excitement isn't off-base, keep in mind that we're still in the "early stages." The file system and "laptop mode" iPad OS apps will get better and/or the introduction of OSX for ARM may make those non-concerns. If you don't care about Pencil usage, maybe a traditional MacBook is still the better choice for you. For me, I love the Pencil and what can be done with it, and I'd prefer a more modular approach, even if it's a little thicker/heavier, if it means not needing to own two devices and paying double for that.
BTW, I believe that Windows Surface Book I mentioned weighs in at around 3.5 lbs.
Having just received the new keyboard case, I have to say, the case is probably a bit heavier than it strictly needed to be simply to make the combination absolutely rock-solid when in use. Turns out, that this kind of transforms the device in a way that no other combination device has in the past. It's both rock-solid on your lap (see Surface Pro as a design that is not), and simultaneously solid enough to touch and even write on the screen in the same position.
They really went out of their way to make this feel like a laptop equivalent that retains the ability to interact with the Pencil without needing to reconfigure between the two uses. If that's not what you want, get the lighter standard keyboard which is still available.
They really went out of their way to make this feel like a laptop equivalent that retains the ability to interact with the Pencil without needing to reconfigure between the two uses. If that's not what you want, get the lighter standard keyboard which is still available.
It distracts from the ugly camera bump so it has to plus one on the ugliness front.
If that were the case (pun intended), they should have included a function keys row to adjust backlight brightness instead of burying it in the Settings app.
Yep, which truly makes me wonder what they have in mind for the iPad. Maybe this ARM-based MacBook is NOT a MacBook, but is an iPad in laptop form, running all iPadOS apps.
I think they will still keep the ARM MacBook MacOS based for the time being, but begin to merge the capabilities of the two systems there.
I don’t think that the 3 main categories of devices are going to change in any material way any time soon. Some people still need desktops, others laptops, and the iPad serves as the most portable and most flexible of the 3 categories.
What has been missing is seamless interoperability between the three device types. Granted, this is GREATLY improved in the last couple of years, but imagine a world where ALL of your apps were 100% functional equivalent no matter which device you were on? That’s what I think Apple is going for with the shift to ARM for laptops and desktops, and this new keyboard for the iPad.
You're not limited to just Windows on Surface Pro. You can also multiboot Linux, BSD and some even run MacOS. With iPad Pro you're limited to iPadOS.
One thing we are learning is that Apple defenders will always find a new pretzel shape to twist their logic into so that whatever Apple does or releases...."makes sense" and "is great"
LOL. I have personally owned several Surface Pro’s. I work in Engineering with PC‘s for a living. I’ve given both sides equal opportunity to sell me on their vision. Right now, it’s Apple’s that is delivering for my needs.
Someone asked about the weight vs surface not the software.
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As other have said - this is actually a good thing, as it gives this product a genuine use case that it could do better than alternatives. The iPad is already great in your lap as a tablet, and great on a desk with a separate stand, keyboard and trackpad (indeed, that seems like a better desktop solution that this new product). So far this new product does nothing better than the existing solutions. But what about with a keyboard and trackpad in your lap? With this extra weight helping it to balance it sounds like this new product does this job better than any other solution (even without the trackpad, just as a keyboard, that would be true). Assuming it is well balanced, anyway.
No different to the huge amount who come into this forum who are here to cause trouble by posting nothing but negative comments about every apple product no matter if it’s good or bad Just to get a rise out of people. Works both ways.
Apple: Our competition is making laptops that function as tablets, and tablets that function as laptops. They have no direction.