I am pretty confident that Apple nails it with the new Magic Keyboard. Just like Stage Manager..🤡
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Gurman: Redesigned Magic Keyboard to Accompany New iPad Pro
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Apple’s implementation of cursor on iPad is the right philosophy. The cursor mimics a finger, i.e. large circle. As long as iPadOS stays prioritising touch as input for the UI, it’s fine.
Implementing touch on macOS is a lot trickier. It would require a redesign to pad things everywhere. The current redesign to unify iPadOS and macOS designs has led to enough wasted space and unnecessary scrolling.
Implementing touch on macOS is a lot trickier. It would require a redesign to pad things everywhere. The current redesign to unify iPadOS and macOS designs has led to enough wasted space and unnecessary scrolling.
Just like a laptop, only less capable!
Would be interested if it ran macOS.
Tried the current iPadOS w keyboard and even mouse and it’s still too clunky as a MacBook replacement.
Tried the current iPadOS w keyboard and even mouse and it’s still too clunky as a MacBook replacement.
I very much agree with this, although I might be in the minority.
1. iPad is a touchscreen primarily content consuming device.
2. Macbook is a trackpad/keyboard device primarily, meant for content creation.
Of course there deviation for both of these, you can connect a Wacom tablet to a Macbook, you can add a Magic Keyboard to an iPad.
But it all boils down to software. iPad OS never was and probably never will be as capable for content creation (and I mean from just a simple MS Word / Pages and so on) as macOS. This is why a keyboard with a trackpad makes zero sense.
Ironically iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard is heavier and more expensive than a Macbook Air.
The Magic Keyboard has been the most incredible upgrade for my iPad Pro use. I probably would've ditched the iPad Pro a while ago if the Magic Keyboard didn't exist.
That's my experience. I won't speak for anyone else.
I have a 2018 iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard. It's the best iPad I've ever owned and it's incredible that today in 2023 it STILL works incredibly well. I'm inclined to buy a 2024 update as I've gotten my money's worth out of the one I have but I have to say I need more than OLED and a bigger track pad on the new iPad to justify spending $1200+ on a new setup... Apple NEEDS to make a break through on software and the fact my iPad works so well nearly 6 years later with iPadOS 17 is a sign they haven't.
That won't make it a full fledged computer. Even if you "slap" an m3, oled display, yadda yadda it still runs the ipadOS. Expensive Subway surfers machine.
Please add iPad Ultra to the lineup with macOS dualboot and keyboard with all buttons (Function keys and escape) and I'm prepared to pay.
Of course it would be best to just add this to the existing Pro lineup...
Of course it would be best to just add this to the existing Pro lineup...
Hopefully the new Magic Keyboard will look just like the newly released Magic Keyboard Folio for the 10th generation iPad, which has function keys across the top of the keyboard.
This, but to be fair - escape button and function keys would be great too... Especially if it would run macOS.
Just a bigger trackpad makes it more laptop-like? I guess. When I read “more laptop-like” I don’t know exactly what I was expecting but I was expecting much more than a bigger trackpad. Maybe more ports or something. (Not that I’m asking for that myself)
I would however love to see a MK that can additionally hold an iPad in portrait. Being able to easily rotate it between landscape and portrait without taking the iPad off would be even better, but I imagine that couldn’t be done without making the MK bulkier and too complex.
Also what are the “fundamental changes” coming to the iPad? Plural? OLED and what else? M3? Is it fundamentally different than M2 or is Gurman referring to something else?
I would however love to see a MK that can additionally hold an iPad in portrait. Being able to easily rotate it between landscape and portrait without taking the iPad off would be even better, but I imagine that couldn’t be done without making the MK bulkier and too complex.
Also what are the “fundamental changes” coming to the iPad? Plural? OLED and what else? M3? Is it fundamentally different than M2 or is Gurman referring to something else?
If iPad is (just) for content consuming (I don't disagree) then what purpose iPad Pro has? What additional "consuming abilities" it adds?
I mean Apple advertises iPad (Pro) as device for content creators too... (but it definitely lacks in this segment a lot compared to macbook).
iPad Pro is just better at content consuming
. Nicer, bigger screen, FaceID... OK, pencil for art creators I suppose. Really great for content creation. But this is hardly the 1% of owners of these devices.
I think the physical keyboard itself was the real turning point (good or bad), not the trackpad on the keyboard. Once the keyboard was made, a trackpad (or mouse support) was inevitable due to ergonomic reasons—ie. “gorilla arm”.
As many other mentioned, it's optional. iPad remains a touch first device, it's not even close to be a trackpad/mouse first device.
And without a cursor and keyboard support, we wouldn't get universal control, which is a great way to provide additional usability to a touch-first device when using a Mac.
I'm all for giving options and let the consumers chose the setup that fits them best. If I recall, touch input is still enabled on iPad, so you can continue to ditch other input methods.
Are you kidding? I just love the Magic Keyboard that goes with my iPad 12.9 Pro. Makes it usable for work and everything about 90% of the time. So much better for me than a mac. And I have a current Mac Mini with Studio Display, current Macbook Pro for work and I still use my iPad most of the time and the Magic Keyboard completes that.
Not sure about the other poster, but I’ve been using the Smart Keyboard Folio for 5 years. I have been using it with a mouse since they brought out cursor support. It has been a good enhancement to how I interact with the iPad. I can switch between touch, mouse, and keyboard depending on the task and depending on what I fee like. Sometimes I want to tap on a button and sometimes I want to use the mouse cursor. Having different input modes helps reduce the repetition that promotes RSI.
I don’t think that adding touch to Mac OS would require redesigning everything. When I have a device with multi-model interactions, I switch interaction modes frequently depending on the task and which interaction makes the most sense at the time. Buttons, scrolling, and moving objects lend themselves to touch. Menus and text lend themselves to mouse. If something is too small to tap on, I’ll use the mouse/trackpad. I do this already on the iPad. Even there something’s are too small for touch, particularly in a web page. Having an alternate mode makes that easy to deal with.
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Trying to remember when I first used it based on project i did in Kampala where I used it. May have confused its age with the iPad I was using.
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