It is no secret that I have always embraced the iPad and that I have tried over and over again to make it the only portable machine I use with varying degrees of success. I could always get 80% there — even at the earliest examination of what it meant to be iPad only in the mobile space. Each time it got me to that point, but I couldn’t close that gap and always ended up ditching it and going back to some form of MacBook. I doubt this time will be any different, but I am going to give it another try. One thing that dawns on me as I reflect on the last 10 years of trying the iPad as a primary mobile machine is that my own computing needs have vastly changed and the iPad hasn’t kept up with those changes in computing behavior in real time … is now any different?
This is going to sound like hyperbole, but the iPad with the Magic Keyboard is the best mobile computing device I have ever used. Well, maybe not the best, but by far the most enjoyable. The new keyboard case turns the iPad into the machine it always should have been. I still pull it off the dock to use on the treadmill and the couch, but being able to sit and type on a pro grade keyboard with a real pointing device that is so evolved beyond the old school curser on MacOS and Windows is really something. I have to say it is so enjoyable to use … It doesn’t mean that I will use this all day for my work from home sessions (that now are seemingly never ending), that is still reserved for my late 2014 27″ iMac with an external monitor, but I am struggling to find a role for my MBP.
With all that said, I do wonder if Apple would have released this accessory from the beginning, like Microsoft did with the Surface Pro and Go, would we have the range of apps that really differentiate iPadOS from MacOS? Looking at it through that lens, it might be good that the iPad started the way as it did — a blown up iPod Touch. The evolution of the iPad and iPadOS is what has gotten us to the point where a piece of glass is the most powerful computer I own that is just as comfortable on the couch navigating with my finger as it is (finally) sitting on my table in the backyard floating above a “real” keyboard and pointing device. So maybe Steve was onto something all those years ago and this was the evolution he saw?
I have the 11″ 2018 iPad Pro and just got the Magic Keyboard and I am back to loving the iPad. That’s it, I just wanted to share some thoughts and see if the old blog still works. Nothing earth shattering, just a reminder that I am still here and going back to the iPad until I discover that last 20% that will drag me back to a “real” computer.
I still remember coming across a blog post by this guy from Penn State who had figured how to turn an iPod into a quiz device.
Good to see the blog light on again. Take care, my friend.
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Nice to see that pencil stuck to the top of your screen. Two years later I wonder how you like it. I’m using an iPad Air with the keyboard and pencil – the pencil being my primary input device. You’re right, the combination makes this a wonderful tool. I’ve considered a new MBPro and an iMac, but seriously, an iPad Pro may do it for me.
Hi Dave! I do use the pencil quite a bit. I use it mostly for taking notes in meetings. I have a workflow where each day is a note in OneNote that I wake up to each morning. All the meetings for the day are listed, along with participants and any supporting documents. I then take handwritten notes in various colors that trigger other actions. It is the easiest way to keep everything straight. If only I could draw or paint I would use it creatively all the time.