Gurman: Redesigned Magic Keyboard to Accompany New iPad Pro

[537635]

NOBODY? There are people whose entire day is spent using just Teams, Outlook and a browser. Please explain why they cannot do that on an iPad.

What kind of work is that?

Browser... sure, you can use it on iPad, but it's more an iOS experience than proper macOS Safari, especially if you want to work efficiently. Different windows, multiple tabs, maybe two desktops. Sure, you can do this on an iPad, but you could also do it on an iPhone with a wireless keyboard. The argument here is - is it really optimal?

 

[Portavoz]

Man, I strongly believe that all of these issues related to trackpads, mouse-support, multi-window support, multi-tasking, etc, all go away if you allow the iPad to dual boot between iPadOS and macOS.

You can even differentiate the iPad product line based on the ability to dual boot between iPadOS and macOS:
- iPad Pros: allows for dual boot between macOS and iPadOS. For pros, or prosumers, wanting to do more with their iPads and for the "power users"
- iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Mini: no dual boot option, just plain 'ol iPadOS, that's it. For consumers that just want to do the basics with the iPad.

This way, you won't have the confusion where some iPads have the M-series chips, and some have the A-series chips. If the iPad has a M-series chip, it is an iPad Pro, and allows you to dual boot between macoS and iPadOS. If the iPad has an A-series chip, it is an iPad, iPad Air, or an iPad mini, and has iPadOS on it.

The description above is the least Apple can do. A new iPadPro with keyboard could run well over $2k but yet without a dual boot option, still would not be able to do some basic things that the iPadOS ecosystem just can't do....

1. Can't manage Music library (add music outside of iTunes Store, edit metadata, smart playlist, etc.)
2. Lack of multiple user accounts
3. iPadOS apps lack desktop version feature parity

It can replace my MacBook for 85% of tasks, but if I still have to have a MacBook, the "Pro" line makes not sense but yet if you want the biggest iPad screen you are forced to pay up.

 

[bobcomer]

Magic Vision for iPad - only $299

FYI: they already made a WWDC app for air gestures and it works with just the front sensors.

So you have what you want, cool. I'm not going to say you shouldn't have it even though I couldn't use something like that. I'm more the type that needs more assistive stuff.

The more people it works for, the more it sells and the more it stays for sale.

 

[tripsync]

So you have what you want, cool.

Nope. Air gestures are not implemented system wide.

 

[MyOwnDrummer]

A keyboard with a function key row would for me.

I'm curious though, what would a center camera do for you? I don't ever use the back camera on my iPad Pro.

the front facing camera. for video conferencing

 

[vyruzreaper]

I would have used the iPad Pro more if there was an ESC button. That was a lot to compromise and remapping the ~/` button to esc didnt do it for me.

 

[Sasha-1]

One of Apple's biggest mistakes was adding a cursor to the iPad. iPad is a touch first device, so it should be a touch first device. Magic keyboard with trackpad makes no sense and it's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. Imagine when the iPhone was first released and everyone complained about a lack of keyboard so Apple shrinks the screen and adds a keyboard to the iPhone.

Apple should just ditch the magic keyboard and trackpad IMO. Let iPad be iPad and let Mac be Mac.

What makes even less sense is a touchscreen Mac. Hope Apple never makes one. Such an incredibly stupid idea.

Oh no, I refuse to buy another Mac until we get a touchscreen.

And as for the magic keyboard, it lets writers, such as me, write on an iPad which is nicely suited for such things. My complaint is that there is not escape key.

Also, love to play Minecraft with the keyboard. Don't need a Mac as this plays very well with the iPad.

 

[Coreymac84]

What kind of work is that?

Browser... sure, you can use it on iPad, but it's more an iOS experience than proper macOS Safari, especially if you want to work efficiently. Different windows, multiple tabs, maybe two desktops. Sure, you can do this on an iPad, but you could also do it on an iPhone with a wireless keyboard. The argument here is - is it really optimal?

Agreed. As someone whose job comprises of just this - Browser, Teams, Outlook, Notes, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe and Phone/iMessage - I could use an iPad for work, but the ability to multitask with multiple windows immediately goes to crap. It simply takes longer to do even the least complicated tasks. I tried it with my iPP during COVID lockdown. Anyone that says it is good enough is forcing themselves into that experience.

 

[Tagbert]

Agreed. As someone whose job comprises of just this - Browser, Teams, Outlook, Notes, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe and Phone/iMessage - I could use an iPad for work, but the ability to multitask with multiple windows immediately goes to crap. It simply takes longer to do even the least complicated tasks. I tried it with my iPP during COVID lockdown. Anyone that says it is good enough is forcing themselves into that experience.

IPads work great for people who do mostly focussed, single-tasking. Blog/News writers for example. That is one reason why you’ll see several articles about people using iPads for professional work, but once you need to integrate content from multiple apps, the productivity drops on an iPad.

 

[bigheaddoug]

I bought a new iPad Pro 12.9 in January, banking on all of this processing power having some heretofore unrealized opportunities in iPad OS. It is going to be interesting to see where all of this goes.

 

[Abazigal]

A keyboard with a function key row would for me.

I'm curious though, what would a center camera do for you? I don't ever use the back camera on my iPad Pro.

I think people are referring to the front facing camera. Though unless Apple reworks how the Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad currently, I don’t see its position changing, since both are basically fighting for the same space on your iPad Pro.

 

[BuffaloTF]

One of Apple's biggest mistakes was adding a cursor to the iPad. iPad is a touch first device, so it should be a touch first device. Magic keyboard with trackpad makes no sense and it's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. Imagine when the iPhone was first released and everyone complained about a lack of keyboard so Apple shrinks the screen and adds a keyboard to the iPhone.

Apple should just ditch the magic keyboard and trackpad IMO. Let iPad be iPad and let Mac be Mac.

What makes even less sense is a touchscreen Mac. Hope Apple never makes one. Such an incredibly stupid idea.

Resoundingly bad take… one for the record books. And then replying to every reply.

You posted this to argue with people. Full stop. That’s all you wanted here with this. And that makes it even worse.

 

[darngooddesign]

I think people are referring to the front facing camera. Though unless Apple reworks how the Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad currently, I don’t see its position changing, since both are basically fighting for the same space on your iPad Pro.

Think the solution will be split magnets/chargers on either side of the camera.

 

[SFjohn]

If you need this I’d imagine you’d be way better off if you buy a MacBook Air… 😉

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

it time they stopped trying to turn the iPad into really bad laptop.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have the 2020 11" iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard and it works well. I am not going to upgrade until Apple decides to open up the OS to better match the ability of the hardware. It makes no real sense to keep buying newer iPads (for me) if they are going to continue to be held back by the OS.

 

[prospervic]

I use "vi" a lot, and it's muscle memory. "vi" users would relate.

Hmmm. Never heard of that one, I’ll give it a shot.

 

[DaveN]

I’m going to be really upset if Apple does this. I just bought an iPad Pro with the keyboard 10 or 11 months ago and I am going to burn my Apple stock if they change it... Not! What I have works fine for me and I’m happy with it. If something new and improved comes out, I’ll be getting that or whatever is available in about ten years when I upgrade… provided I’m still alive.

 

[prospervic]

Is there a key combo for F(1-12) and Shift-F(1-12)? I have old software that uses these combos and I would be connected to a PC remotely...

I don't have a MK to test with, yet anyway.

I don’t know of any such keyboard shortcuts. But the one I mentioned also works on the smart keyboard folio.

 

[derekamoss]

I have the 2020 11" iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard and it works well. I am not going to upgrade until Apple decides to open up the OS to better match the ability of the hardware. It makes no real sense to keep buying newer iPads (for me) if they are going to continue to be held back by the OS.

This right here is the biggest problem. Throw Accessory after Acessory and make it more powerful with a new cpu and ram and it won't matter if iPadOS keeps being put on it. I honestly used to think that since the iPads back before the pro was launched that they needed to scale up iOS because the iPads weren't that powerful and that is the type of architecture that iOS was built for. Now that the iPad pros are here and the architecture inside is so much more powerful and wasted, i'm now convinced they must quit trying to upscale iOS and get rid of it but instead scale down MacOS to work on a touch tablet. Leave iOS to phones and a scaled down version of MacOS to iPad.

 

[prospervic]

But no matter how much effort you put into it, iPad has always been (and probably always will be) a secondary device. NOBODY can use it as a primary (solo) device. If you do real work, you will always (for now) need a proper Mac/PC.

I admit that for certain productivity tasks, iPads are perfect. But this is exactly the point of the controversial post. Adding keyboards and trackpads to it only shows that they are merely a fancy Wacom for a proper computer.

Your use of the term “real work” illustrates the point I was making. “Real work” according to whom? Is an artist drawing with an Apple Pencil in Procreate not doing “real work”? Or how about the musician creating tracks in Logic Pro for iPad?

I’m not saying this is you, but many PC centric people think of “real work” as spreadsheets, coding and such. Or perhaps even video editing, while dismissing artistic tasks as mere frivolities.

Lest we forget, pilots, real estate showrooms and writers, etc. do “real work” on iPad which can be done without necessarily adding an external keyboard, and it suits them just fine.

 

[bobcomer]

I think people are referring to the front facing camera. Though unless Apple reworks how the Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad currently, I don’t see its position changing, since both are basically fighting for the same space on your iPad Pro.

That's what I suspect too, but I don't see what benefit it would be..

 

[bobcomer]

Hmmm. Never heard of that one, I’ll give it a shot.

No, you don't want to do that. It's an extremely old expanded line editor like thing that only UNIX people could like. I had to use it for college and what I ended up doing is downloading the programs to my Amiga, editing them there, and uploading and compiling... (It was about 1990)

 

[throAU]

I'm not talking about 12.9" version... 11" is more compact than my 14" Macbook Pro.

As i mentioned before also - if the ipad had a little more functionality to carry it a little bit further, it’s certainly a lot lighter than carrying a tablet AND a macbook pro 14” (which i do every day) because of the frequent enough edge cases where the ipad doesn’t quite cut it due to artificial iOS restrictions - but still needing/wanting the ipad features i use it for (tablet + pencil stuff).

I’m not saying i want macOS on the thing, just let apps that need to run in the background to maintain connection do so.

 

[Naraxus]

You're wrong. Waste of Apple's engineering resources and waste of customer's resources. A customer might think their favorite apps work fine with the cursor. So they invest $ into the magic keyboard only to find that it doesn't work well because developers didn't bother to support it because it was optional.

Yes talk EXACTLY about customer being wrong.

So let's say Apple never developed keyboard/curser input for iPad devices and those resources are freed up. What sorts of things would you add (if any) to the iPad to get it where you feel it should be?