Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro Reviews and Unboxing Videos: Huge Jump Forward in Usability, But Expensive and Heavy

[jonnyb]

I didn’t get that review. Sites like the Verge have been complaining about the iPad not being a real computer, just being a consumption device for years and now with this review the complaint is it makes the iPad too much like a laptop. Even though the screen is apparently very easy to detach from the keyboard when you want to use the device just to consume.

Exactly this. The point, surely, is that this optional, expensive accessory meets needs of those people who want a more desktop like experience for a certain subset of tasks.

By necessity, it is heavy because they Apple wanted to make it easy to detach with one hand to turn it back into being a tablet.

So describing its weight as a bad thing while simultaneously noting as a plus that it’s sturdy, seems entirely contradictory. If it was light and flimsy and you need two hands to take it out of the keyboard it would be the folio keyboard. If you want light and flimsy - get that keyboard instead - it’s still available.

 

[ifxf]

no escape key

 

[tripleburst]

Yeah, Im sticking with my Smart Keyboard and Magic Mouse for now.

This is my plan too. Always preferred mice anyway.

 

[nylonsteel]

the verge review is pretty good

 

[imola.zhp]

I sold both the apple keybord folio as well as a logitec keyboard folio that came with my lightly used 11" iPad Pro (making the deal even sweeter!). I had been using a magic keyboard (1st gen) that came with my used Mac Mini until it died about two weeks ago. I considered waiting for this keyboard but instead spent $17.99 on a stand alone bluetooth logitec keyboard that has three BT connections. This is a great feature because I can connect to that headless mac mini directly, when working on it through VNC viewer on my iPad Pro. Also, the keyboard on my very old 13" macbook pro has been doing this thing where it sometimes doesnt work, at all. So the third BT connection can run that machine when I (rarely) need to use it. Just sold the broken magic keyboard yesterday for $11, also sold my gen 1 magic mouse that also came with that used Mac Mini for $25 last week. Not sure where I'll go from here, I dont know if I want a mouse/trackpad or if I just prefer to touch the screen with my fingers or the apple pencil.

 

[rp2011]

Besides the keys so much better, i gotta say this is a very attractive accessory. The iPad Pro looks very cool with it. Very photogenic. I will predict we’ll see this A LOT in popular culture TV/movies.
I know it’s expensive but i already own the iPad Pro and it is just so much better than anything else on the market for typing on it.

 

[1144557]

I do not need to pay $300+ dollars for a case/keyboard. $179 was enough for the Smart one for my iPad 11 Pro.

Agree. The are $50-100 too expensive easily.

The regular folios are $179/199 (and of course already overpriced for what they are). These should be $229/249. $50 premium is warranted for the extra function. Even if they charged $249/279, ok, expensive but in reality still. When you make the combo (ipad and keyboard) more money than a laptop and weight more, it starts making less sense for a lot of people.

And why is the 12.9 suddenly $50 more than the 11 when the folio is $20?

A keyboard for $300-350 is simply nuts. Think about that, you can get a 10.2ipad for that or nearly a new iphone SE.

Yes, I know "pro, stop being cheap" but there is nothing else. You can buy a basement 10.2 with a nonlaminated display that's too small to do real work on, or a Pro for $799/999; that's it. The Air is all but dead, and 10.5 isnt much bigger than 10.2. If they made a 12" mid-size mid-range model ("R" model) with middle ground specs for say $599 they would probably sell a crap ton

 

[Apple2GS]

MrExitStrategy reviews are on point compared with some of the over produced, look-at-me videos

 

[jjudson]

All these reviews cannot tell you the truth. They are just too shallow. How much time did the reviewers spend with the keyboard? These videos are just first impressions, nothing more.

Exactly. We need to see folks using these for work, not just sitting around playing games or watching YouTube videos and Netflix.

I need something to carry with me while with clients. I need something I can use as a tablet -- protected by a case -- and from time to time flip the case to use the attached keyboard. I don't want something I have to transfer back and forth from case to keyboard and back again. Most of these videos don't look at real-world usage. They get dropped and left as is. I only watched a few of the attached reviews, but none of them that I saw even broached the subject of using the iPad as a tablet in reference to this keyboard.

 

[swrobel]

So are they butterfly switches?

 

[petvas]

Exactly. We need to see folks using these for work, not just sitting around playing games or watching YouTube videos and Netflix.

I need something to carry with me while with clients. I need something I can use as a tablet -- protected by a case -- and from time to time flip the case to use the attached keyboard. I don't want something I have to transfer back and forth from case to keyboard and back again. Most of these videos don't look at real-world usage. They get dropped and left as is. I only watched a few of the attached reviews, but none of them that I saw even broached the subject of using the iPad as a tablet in reference to this keyboard.

The Magic Keyboard is not meant for using the iPad as a tablet. Get the keyboard folio if you need that kind of functionality.
[automerge]1587393584[/automerge]

So are they butterfly switches?

Scissors

 

[SimonMScott]

Exactly. We need to see folks using these for work, not just sitting around playing games or watching YouTube videos and Netflix.

I need something to carry with me while with clients. I need something I can use as a tablet -- protected by a case -- and from time to time flip the case to use the attached keyboard. I don't want something I have to transfer back and forth from case to keyboard and back again. Most of these videos don't look at real-world usage. They get dropped and left as is. I only watched a few of the attached reviews, but none of them that I saw even broached the subject of using the iPad as a tablet in reference to this keyboard.

Much as I don't rate her channel normally, the iJustine review does actually show the case being used in (admittedly very odd and varied) different sets of circumstances. Yes, some of them were gaming, etc, but showed how most people would be using it at home for now, and even for some work circumstances, even if it was just for ease of use or angle of screen etc.

Better than some of the high profile reviews who just sat and fiddled with it slightly and waffled.

As people say though, it's how we all use it personally that matters, not reviews, real world usage and longevity...

 

[Rogifan]

Exactly this. The point, surely, is that this optional, expensive accessory meets needs of those people who want a more desktop like experience for a certain subset of tasks.

By necessity, it is heavy because they Apple wanted to make it easy to detach with one hand to turn it back into being a tablet.

So describing its weight as a bad thing while simultaneously noting as a plus that it’s sturdy, seems entirely contradictory. If it was light and flimsy and you need two hands to take it out of the keyboard it would be the folio keyboard. If you want light and flimsy - get that keyboard instead - it’s still available.

Maybe the real point is it’s impossible to have the ultimate device that’s a laptop when you want it and a tablet when you want it. People need to stop pining away for something that really isn’t possible.

 

[chinito77]

Luckily I work on a military base so I get to wait for folks to return these, end up in the bargain bin, and buy it tax free. No way I'm paying full price for a "Docking station" with no extra ports.

 

[velocityg4]

If only Apple already had some device with a built in keyboard and trackpad which closes shut. One that was lightweight and had an OS with a proper fully functional filesystem. Perhaps allowing multiple apps to run with multiple windows.

 

[jonnyb]

If only Apple already had some device with a built in keyboard and trackpad which closes shut. One that was lightweight and had an OS with a proper fully functional filesystem. Perhaps allowing multiple apps to run with multiple windows.

Oh cool! Does that device have Face ID, a detachable 120Hz touch screen, a pen, and cellular connectivity? What’s it called? Do you have a link? Thanks.

 

[Brien]

Always the same 10 reviewers. Personally I’m at a point I don’t care what iJustine or MKBHD think.

 

[zhenya]

If only Apple already had some device with a built in keyboard and trackpad which closes shut. One that was lightweight and had an OS with a proper fully functional filesystem. Perhaps allowing multiple apps to run with multiple windows.

The fact you don’t get why people might want an iPad like this says more about yourself than you might really want to be revealing here.

 

[1144557]

The Magic Keyboard is not meant for using the iPad as a tablet. Get the keyboard folio if you need that kind of functionality.

So you have to choose to carry it or trackpad, better keys and backlit? That's typical Apple mentality.

They arent marketing this as a base station desk-only product.... And if you are at your desk then you likey have a computer around. Or use a real keyboard and tackpad/mouse that both do their functions better.

That argument makes no sense at all for a portable product.

 

[jjudson]

The Magic Keyboard is not meant for using the iPad as a tablet. Get the keyboard folio if you need that kind of functionality.

But then that negates the real value this keyboard purports to offer -- trackpad. And if it's only for use at your desk, why not just open your Macbook or fire up your Mac? Keyboards on the lap for any length of time are not very useful anyway, but again, if you need to keep this separate from your tablet to use only when you're seated or at a desk as a computing device -- and with Apple's seamless use of apps across platforms -- why not use whatever you have more suited for the task? At that point, the Magic Keyboard becomes a "look what I have" thing rather than something that is truly useful.

 

[Ds6778]

The price is nuts, feels more like a statement piece more than anything. Although, I cant be too surprised since the folio is a crazy price too. I wish they just added a back-light to the smart folio. That is really my only issue with it.

 

[jcshas]

I didn’t get that review. Sites like the Verge have been complaining about the iPad not being a real computer, just being a consumption device for years and now with this review the complaint is it makes the iPad too much like a laptop. Even though the screen is apparently very easy to detach from the keyboard when you want to use the device just to consume.

The thing I liked about the Verge review is that they emphasized that Apple’s intention was to make a keyboard that‘s really more of a desk accessory as opposed to a keyboard case. The Magic keyboard is portable keyboard with an integrated trackpad and compared to the Smart Keyboard folio, it does a much better job of doing just that; enabling you to use the iPad as more of a traditional laptop. Anyway, that was my take on it.

 

[phenste]

Again, genuinely surprised by people who see the weight as a negative…any other Folio owners sick of their iPads falling backwards, is it really just me?

I will say: the price point is a definite negative. At its cheapest, it costs the price of a HomePod, and most people are viewing this in the context of the 12.9” model—$349. That’s an absurd price; it was an absurd price even for the HomePod. Regardless, the price will go down over time, older generations will be discounted—this is huge step in the right direction.

I can also tell that I will eventually get incredibly frustrated by the size of the trackpad. Looks like pre-unibody trackpad size.

 

[velocityg4]

The fact you don’t get why people might want an iPad like this says more about yourself than you might really want to be revealing here.

🙄 Face with Rolling Eyes

A yellow face with a small, closed mouth, flat or frowning, rolling its large, white eyes upwards. As with the gesture of an eye-roll, commonly conveys moderate disdain, disapproval, frustration, or boredom. Tone varies, including playful, sassy, resentful, and sarcastic, as if saying Yeah, whatever.

In this case it was meant as playful or sarcastic. There's no need to take a joking response about a product and make it a personal insult. I'm well aware of the iPads uses.

 

[petvas]

So you have to choose to carry it or trackpad, better keys and backlit? That's typical Apple mentality.

They arent marketing this as a base station desk-only product.... And if you are at your desk then you likey have a computer around. Or use a real keyboard and tackpad/mouse that both do their functions better.

That argument makes no sense at all for a portable product.

Fact is that the keyboard cannot be used folded back. This is not a desk only product. You can take it with you and protect your iPad and also use it on your lap or a desk. If you need to use the iPad as a tablet then you have the option of using the iPad naked, with no protection, or to use a smart folio. Personally I don't like using the Smart Keyboard folio folded. I always though that it was cumbersome to be used like that. Now, with the Magic Keyboard this is not possible at all. I don't mind that but I understand that others might be bothered by it. The Magic Keyboard is definitely the accessory to cover all use cases. Each one of us has to think if the accessory covers enough use cases.
For me, the Magic Keyboard elevates the usability of my iPad in other levels.

I am now typing this on my MacBook Pro and I have to say that I still prefer the MacBook Pro for typing, because it is more robust, but the feeling of typing with the Magic Keyboard is not far away.