Who uses a laptop/desktop and who has taken the leap to an iPad with Magic Keyboard?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

It strikes me that unless you are a power user, all you need now is an iPad Pro and a Magic Keyboard. Has anyone taken the plunge? I'm considering it!

 

[_19disnA]

No idea what a 'magic keyboard' is but don't care for Apple products. I like my PC with the traditional keyboard. I find typing when using a real keyboard is much easier compared to those 'virtual' type keyboards. Apple products tend to be overpriced for simple home computing applications like email or internet surfing compared to other brands.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

I’ve been using an iPad with Magic Keyboard for years. In fact, I will sometimes forget and push the screen on the work computer.

 

[tvguy]

I'm 65, I need a full size keyboard and 17 inch monitor.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

The Magic Keyboard is full sized and I don’t have a problem with the 13” screen.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I still use a laptop (MacBook)... I just have to have a physical keyboard. We do have an iPad here, but I like being able to have the physical keyboard, mouse (pointing device), and being able to point and click at stuff. It looks like the device in the picture may offer that interface. I am a bit skeptical about the ease of switching between apps easily on an iPad. I am old school.

*yikes I looked at the price on those... wouldn't an iPad and this keyboard cost as much as a MacBook Air?

 

[Meriweather]

We are not an Apple family.......so we will stay with the ones we have. Laptop and desktop

 

[bcla]

No idea what a 'magic keyboard' is but don't care for Apple products. I like my PC with the traditional keyboard. I find typing when using a real keyboard is much easier compared to those 'virtual' type keyboards. Apple products tend to be overpriced for simple home computing applications like email or internet surfing compared to other brands.

A Magic Keyboard is what's shown in the photo. It's a full sized keyboard that works with an iPad. That version has a trackpad, although there are smaller versions without, but where it still has a touchscreen. The keyboard is basically the same feel as an Apple laptop keyboard.

I personally wouldn't do it. The screen is too small or the iPad is too expensive (with the 12.9" iPad Pro). An iPad Air would be a better choice if the intent is to use it like a laptop computer.

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm a PC guy. I have an iPad, but haven't used it in probably over a year. I have an Android tablet, and a laptop for work (with a 23" monitor when working at home). Plus a Desktop computer with a 20" monitor. The desktop is where I do my photo & video editing.

 

[Jonnnyap]

Great question. I use both a MacBook Air and an iPad Pro with magic keyboard. For most things, they’re about the same, but having access to a traditional file system seems more productive to me. I know there are cloud systems that make it nearly the same, but I’ve been in computing for decades and hold on to my old-school mental model of files and directories. I’d recommend trying both in the store to get the feel for what works best for you. And previous poster is correct that the Air is likely cheaper than the full equivalent experience with the Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro. Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have! This is exactly what I use, and I love it!

 

[firefly_ris]

Tablets are not useful in any capacity for me but I can see how they are good for a very casual user.

 

[bcla]

Tablets are not useful in any capacity for me but I can see how they are good for a very casual user.

With a Magic Keyboard, a lot of things are like using a computer with a keyboard and a trackpad, in addition to being able to use the touchscreen. I think it might even be possible to use a Bluetooth mouse. There are full suites of tools including Microsoft Office or video/photo editing tools.

But as someone else said, the file system isn't quite like that for a general purpose computer. It's really bizarre and somewhat limited. There's not necessarily a desktop where files can be found.

 

[firefly_ris]

With a Magic Keyboard, a lot of things are like using a computer with a keyboard and a trackpad, in addition to being able to use the touchscreen. I think it might even be possible to use a Bluetooth mouse. There are full suites of tools including Microsoft Office or video/photo editing tools.

But as someone else said, the file system isn't quite like that for a general purpose computer. It's really bizarre and somewhat limited.

I think that works pretty good for a lot of (probably most) people. It's nice to be able to add a wireless mouse too. I think it would be perfect for my mom who sells a lot on eBay but doesn't do a lot with file systems or anything else. I use the Adobe suite of products, manually backup all of my photos, home videos, large amounts/file sizes of work files, run things like Node and Apache, and also run a Plex Media Server so I need something more robust. Well, I should say, I did move Plex to its own dedicated Intel Nuc machine which has been working really well. I have a Chromebook that I was originally going to just use for light web browsing in the evening, but I don't really ever use it. The kids use it to look stuff up for school work though. For me it's redundant and I just use my regular laptop.

But I think a lot of people don't need $1300 laptops and something like this would be a great alternative.

 

[bcla]

I think that works pretty good for a lot of (probably most) people. It's nice to be able to add a wireless mouse too. I think it would be perfect for my mom who sells a lot on eBay but doesn't do a lot with file systems or anything else. I use the Adobe suite of products, manually backup all of my photos, home videos, large amounts/file sizes of work files, run things like Node and Apache, and also run a Plex Media Server so I need something more robust. Well, I should say, I did move Plex to its own dedicated Intel Nuc machine which has been working really well. I have a Chromebook that I was originally going to just use for light web browsing in the evening, but I don't really ever use it. The kids use it to look stuff up for school work though. For me it's redundant and I just use my regular laptop.

But I think a lot of people don't need $1300 laptops and something like this would be a great alternative.

There are certainly less expensive computers. A cheap laptop PC might be a good option.

But again, the file system is limited by design. Unlike a general purpose computer, Apple creates gateways where photos/videos are stored, or they're stored in specific repositories for apps.

I have an iPad, and if I save a PDF file, I have to specify if it gets saved to the "Files" directory or to open it with a specific app such as Adobe Reader. where it gets saved as app data.

 

[firefly_ris]

There are certainly less expensive computers. A cheap laptop PC might be a good option.

But again, the file system is limited by design. Unlike a general purpose computer, Apple creates gateways where photos/videos are stored, or they're stored in specific repositories for apps.

I have an iPad, and if I save a PDF file, I have to specify if it gets saved to the "Files" directory or to open it with a specific app such as Adobe Reader. where it gets saved as app data.

Hmm, I see. It's been eons since I've used any Apple product so interesting to see how that is set up. The last time I used something was my iPod! I did love that thing.

 

[Genie+]

DH bought an iPad Air for work along with logitech keyboard.


He barely used it the first 6 months then I started using it instead of our laptop and desktop. He prefers using his phone anyway, so now he even refers to the iPad as mine lol. Like when we travel he asks if he can watch a movie on it Of course you can. It’s yours!

 

[_19disnA]

There are certainly less expensive computers. A cheap laptop PC might be a good option.

But again, the file system is limited by design. Unlike a general purpose computer, Apple creates gateways where photos/videos are stored, or they're stored in specific repositories for apps.

That has been my experience as well as at work. We had both Apple & Microsoft products when PC's first started to become available. New users were generally confused about how things were stored on Apple products and would often need help to 'find' various documents they were working on which seemed to have just disappeared. Apple seemed to purposely choose different ways to do things for no apparent reason. Switching back and forth between devices was VERY confusing for the casual user. Think it is still that way today.

 

[bcla]

That has been my experience as well as at work. We had both Apple & Microsoft products when PC's first started to become available. New users were generally confused about how things were stored on Apple products and would often need help to 'find' various documents they were working on which seemed to have just disappeared. Apple seemed to purposely choose different ways to do things for no apparent reason. Switching back and forth between devices was VERY confusing for the casual user. Think it is still that way today.

I'm not thinking of that with OSX/MacOS files. The file system is structured differently, but it's a still a general purpose file system where I can pretty much store a file in any directory for use with any program.

The file system in iPadOS is different. I mentioned PDF files. I can save them in a "Files" directory where there's a "Files" icon where I can create subdirectories. But those are generally only accessible by default applications in the operating system. If I open a PDF file with Adobe Reader, that becomes part of the app's app data. Everything gets siloed into each app's specific data structure.

On my Mac I can easily open a Word doc with several programs including Word, Pages (Apple's built in word processor), OpenOffice, etc. That's harder to do with the iPad environment.

 

[sky13]

I have a couple of Macbooks (one is older and doesn't have much battery life left and lives as a desktop, the other gets used as a laptop) and an iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard that also gets used without the Magic Keyboard.

To me my devices are complementary and I use them all for completely different purposes.

Macbooks are used for multi-tasking, things that require a proper file storage system (synced to Onedrive so that it's available across all my devices), Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint creation and editing, and other things that the iPad is terrible for.

iPad with the Magic Keyboard gets used in various places in the house. The Magic Keyboard on its own is a bit of an overkill (could do with cheaper keyboards) but it is a extremely pleasant user experience with regard to connectivity/etc and is great to type on. I've also used/owned other keyboards (regular keyboard folio, a Logitech folio, and also just a random external bluetooth keyboard) and found I much preferred the Magic Keyboard.

iPad in tablet mode gets used for other things (reading, note taking/highlighting with Apple pencil, watching shows, reading books, casual web surfing).

For my usage I definitely couldn't live with just an iPad with a Magic Keyboard, it's too hard to do things like Word/Excel/Powerpoint on it. And the file storage system on the iPad would drive me nuts.