iPad Pro Did anyone else feel the magic Keyboard did not meet their expectations for 11 inch iPad Pro users

[1rottenapple]

Like many here I was super psych about the magic Keyboard. It fixes the annoying things about the Smart Keyboard, like the skin cover, lack of backlight (annoying to use at night), lack of mouse pad, typing experience was mushy. On the surface it looks almost perfect! The floating design is classic Apple.
But man was I disappointed when I heard about the weight. It doubles the weight of the 11 in! And I think the part that rule bums me out is it does flip all the way back so you really can’t use your tablet without taking it off the keyboard case. What a bummer.

it’s essential a laptop replacement if you use it with the keyboard and along it comes the weight. I can see this would be suitable for a 12 in iPad that hardly moves around but in the 11 where I use it all over the house it misses the mark.

I seriously would gladly spend $500 for a special edition carbon fiber model!

 

[millydog]

No, not me.
I have the 12.9” on order, but regardless of that, I don’t get why people want it to flip right around. So many commented about the Smart Keyboard Folio feeling weird when they flipped it around and could feel the keys behind the iPad. So imagine how weird it would feel with scissor switch keys on the back.
I’m wondering if the keys would also still be active if it switched right around? I don’t have the Smart Keyboard Folio, so I don’t know if it’s only active while the base is in one of the two positions, so if that’s the case, the Magic Keyboard doesn’t have that docking on the bottom to enable or disable the keys.
Plus, if it flipped right around, there would be points where the iPad would get top heavy and fall backwards, so that would create more problems.
I like how easy it looks to remove the iPad from the Magic Keyboard and use it in your hands. I have a skin (Best Skins Ever) on the back of my iPad, so removing it while stationary for use in my hands or flat on the desk is fine for me. Plus, I still have my Smart Folio case (non-Keyboard case) that is easy to switch to is seconds.

 

[rkuo]

It really does seem like it compromises the tablet usage of the iPad too much. I expect not to like it very much ... but hey, that’s what a good return policy is for, right?

 

[Lucifer666]

I'd rather have the weight to give it some ballast. It looks a bit top heavy even so. They will have cheap versions on Amazon, that don't weigh anything and are ok, but they won't be as good as this. I'm also thinking they will want over $100, simply because Apple set the price point so far out.

 

[Ghost31]

Don’t take this the wrong way but with a question like this I’m like...what the hell expectations did people have to where the product we were shown disappoints us? I couldn’t be more stoked. I thought it would be a little longer before people started complaining about it. Like at least until people actually get it in their hands or these were in stores or until actual reviews were done but nope. Never let a chance to complain go right?

The people going on and on about how you cant fold it back: yeah. Because its meant to be used on a desk. If you want to fold it back and carry around a super thick case, by all means get the regular Smart Keyboard folio. Thats why they still sell it right? But its a very simple solution: take it off the case by just pulling it off and use it. It looks like its even easier to take off than on my current Smart Keyboard, so it looks like its exactly what we need. I’m not one to fold back my case and carry it around anyway because well...it adds a bunch of weight. So if thats for you then there’s a product available just for you thats been out for 2 years.

and the weight thing is a big no duh too because its meant to be used on a desk. With the floating design, if the bottom weighed less it would be top heavy and be more prone to tip over. Then we’re complaining about how its so easy to tip over. So pick and choose your issues right?

This ticks off all the complains i have about the regular Smart Keyboard: I couldn’t type on it in the dark. I had to feel around for keys and it was annoying. Backlit keyboard fixes it. it also uses the smart connector and makes it float (which is badass) its also easier to remove so i can use it as a tablet more. People complaining you cant use it as much as a tablet with the case on and its like well yeah? Take it off. It’s as easy as pulling it off. Then you have less weight due to no case at all.

 

[1rottenapple]

It really does seem like it compromises the tablet usage of the iPad too much. I expect not to like it very much ... but hey, that’s what a good return policy is for, right?

Lol yah I know.

wow some people reaction about a topic is strong. Sorry bud. I’ll delete it.

 

[Ghost31]

Lol yah I know.

wow some people reaction about a topic is strong. Sorry bud. I’ll delete it.

You dont have to do that. if you’re thinking it, so are others and its worth having the back and forth for others to read and think about

 

[The Game 161]

Honestly not sure what people were expecting. This case was built for those who want to use it as a laptop experience and if you want to use it as a tablet just take the tablet off and use it...however it’s mainly to use as a laptop after all

 

[Abazigal]

No, not me.
I have the 12.9” on order, but regardless of that, I don’t get why people want it to flip right around. So many commented about the Smart Keyboard Folio feeling weird when they flipped it around and could feel the keys behind the iPad. So imagine how weird it would feel with scissor switch keys on the back.

That’s pretty much what I have been doing every day.

I teach with my ipad in class. At my desk, the Smart Keyboard is there when I need to type something. Then when it’s time to move around the classroom, I flip the cover back so I can walk around with it. This way, the Smart Keyboard serves as a protective base for my ipad, for when I put it down. I am fine with the feel of the keys on the back really.

But I ended up cancelling my magic keyboard order. I think the weight will be a bit too much to my dislike, and the inability of the keyboard to fold back on itself sounds like it would really crimp my style.

Ah well, saved a few hundred bucks, I guess.

 

[Patriks7]

Honestly not sure what people were expecting. This case was built for those who want to use it as a laptop experience and if you want to use it as a tablet just take the tablet off and use it...however it’s mainly to use as a laptop after all

Thinking the same thing. The weight is there for a reason, the engineers at Apple didn’t just go “let’s make it as heavy as we can to annoy all the users!”

 

[secretk]

I have to admit that initially I loved the idea of this magic keyboard. Like a lot. Then I started reading some threads here and continue thinking about it and now I am not so much sold. Here is my sort of brainstorming/reflection on it:

1. an iPad can be used in tablet mode for reading books, watching movies, playing games.
2. an iPad can be used in tablet mode for digital note taking, drawing, annotating documents etc
3. an iPad can be used also in sort of like laptop mode (with keyboard and trackpad) for doing things like:
   1. Documents creation (Word/Pages, Powerpoint/Keynote, Excel/Numbers)
   2. Videos processing (Lumafusion, iMovie etc)
   3. Work emails/chats
   4. Blogging/journalling

Now it all comes down to how much you use your iPad in those three categories. For people that use the iPad mostly for point 1 and 2 and sometimes for 3 it makes much more sense to use Smart Folio Keyboard.

Now however imagine the people that rely on the iPad as their only computing device. Most probably they spend far more time on 3 and they would likely invest in proper setup (keyboard, trackpad, external monitor). Those are the people that need the magic keyboard. Now I know that the keyboard is expensive but think about it. How much would you pay if you pay full sized Bluetooth Apple keyboard and Apple trackpad (let's be honest with iOS 13.4 Apple crippled mouse usage because they want you to use trackpad instead). So if you compare the prices you will see where they are getting.

In other words the magic keyboard is for the people that want to use the iPad Pro as their only computing device. It is not for people that want to type with the iPad from time to time.

 

[Ghost31]

That’s pretty much what I have been doing every day.

I teach with my ipad in class. At my desk, the Smart Keyboard is there when I need to type something. Then when it’s time to move around the classroom, I flip the cover back so I can walk around with it. This way, the Smart Keyboard serves as a protective base for my ipad, for when I put it down. I am fine with the feel of the keys on the back really.

But I ended up cancelling my magic keyboard order. I think the weight will be a bit too much to my dislike, and the inability of the keyboard to fold back on itself sounds like it would really crimp my style.

Ah well, saved a few hundred bucks, I guess.

Serious question: how many times have you dropped your iPad and damaged it to the point it needed to be replaced?

 

[Abazigal]

Serious question: how many times have you dropped your iPad and damaged it to the point it needed to be replaced?

None at all. My Smart Keyboard is a bit dirty and scuffed, but my iPad is still in good condition.

 

[millydog]

That’s pretty much what I have been doing every day.

I teach with my ipad in class. At my desk, the Smart Keyboard is there when I need to type something. Then when it’s time to move around the classroom, I flip the cover back so I can walk around with it. This way, the Smart Keyboard serves as a protective base for my ipad, for when I put it down. I am fine with the feel of the keys on the back really.

But I ended up cancelling my magic keyboard order. I think the weight will be a bit too much to my dislike, and the inability of the keyboard to fold back on itself sounds like it would really crimp my style.

Ah well, saved a few hundred bucks, I guess.

It sounds like the Smart Keyboard folio already serves you well. The Magic Keyboard will add additional weight too, so might have been quite heavy for walking around a class room. I did see some talking about the CoverBuddy case that could work for you if you’d like to get the Magic Keyboard though as it would still offer a case when you step away from your desk and walk around with your iPad.
I’m always stationary with mine as I have mobility issues (rheumatoid arthritis) and wouldn’t want to risk my wobbly walking style while looking at my iPad. So since I’m always seated or laying down while using my iPad, I’m fine with just a clear skin on the back and I’ll still have my smart folio case.

 

[secretk]

Serious question: how many times have you dropped your iPad and damaged it to the point it needed to be replaced?

I kind of see where you are going but I would still prefer protection. I am the type of person that tries to take care about my devices as much as possible. I do not have a device with smashed screen for example. That being said I gave my camera once to a co-worker while we were waling around rocks to take a photo of me. She lost control for a bit and my camera display ended up scuffed. Things like that does not happen every day but sometimes they do happen and I am the type of person to prefer to take precaution measures than to get annoyed afterwards every time I see the scoff.

To answer your question - my iPad is in pristine shape. However I have had it for just an year and half. It is in keyboard case and it has screen protector. I also do not pay for any additional coverage of issues (like AppleCare or anything like that). I just take care of my devices.

 

[Ghost31]

None at all. My Smart Keyboard is a bit dirty and scuffed, but my iPad is still in good condition.

I was thinking about this awhile back when I was getting AppleCare for my iPhone: I pay $200 for the feel good feelings of knowing if I have butter fingers and drop my phone and shatter it, I’m covered. So trying to chase that safe feeling, I kept buying AppleCare over the years.

I’ve had almost every iPhone. At some point I stopped and thought about the math of it all: I’ve paid $200 each time and how many times have I actually used it? Zero. Even though I’ve dropped my phone, never broken. Over the years I’ve spent a good $2k on AppleCare. I could have outright bought 2 brand new phones for that, but I ended up getting nothing out of it other than “I’m covered if anything bad happens”.

Suffice to say I stopped buying apple care a couple years ago on all my devices and haven’t since and haven’t had a problem. I was always so worried about cases and protection and all that and where did it get me in reality? So I tried an experiment; do whatever the heck I want. Wanna have my iPad naked? Do it. And don’t baby it.Use it normally. I put it down on tables and other surfaces. I walk around work with it. I do all kinds of things and not a single mark.

Building up to my point: I think you should give being careless a try. The new magic keyboard? You can just pull that bad boy off whenever you need to use it as a tablet and set it down and not worry about it. Give it a try

 

[Abazigal]

@Ghost31 My personal threshold for warranty is no more than 10% of the cost of the item. Any more, I will just self-insure.

This means that the only product I got AppleCare for was my iMac. Consider me lucky (or unlucky), but the few times my Apple products developed problems and needed to be replaced, they all happened within the 1-year period and Apple replaced them all.

For what it’s worth, I use my iPhone without a case as well. I don’t go out of my way to baby my electronics, but yeah, they have turned out fine.

 

[Ghost31]

@Ghost31 My personal threshold for warranty is no more than 10% of the cost of the item. Any more, I will just self-insure.

This means that the only product I got AppleCare for was my iMac. Consider me lucky (or unlucky), but the few times my Apple products developed problems and needed to be replaced, they all happened within the 1-year period and Apple replaced them all.

For what it’s worth, I use my iPhone without a case as well. I don’t go out of my way to baby my electronics, but yeah, they have turned out fine.

Glad you’re not super anal about protection. But listing “lack of protection” as a con for the magic keyboard kinda confused me I guess. Like how much protection do you need putting your bare iPad down on a table

for me anyway: the new keyboard set up is a dream. The docking magnets on the current folio are so strong I don’t really take out my iPad as much and just use it as a tablet. With the new floating design, I can just lightly pull it off and use it however. Lightly put it back on to use again.

 

[zhenya]

I am very excited about this design and ordered within minutes of it becoming available. I’m a die-hard iPad/tablet user for my personal/home consumption. I have been using iPads since the first week the original model was released, have had many keyboard accessories over the years, had a couple of Surface Pro’s along the way and so on. I am hoping that this keyboard fundamentally alters the way I use the iPad the way the Pencil did several years ago - where it was so much better than anything that came before it that it made the competition look silly.

We will see how it plays out in practice. I actually quite like the keyboard folio for my 11”. It’s an excellent balance of portability and ease of use. I move between using the device as a tablet and typing with the keyboard more times per day than I can count. I don’t think the fact I can’t flip it over will be a big deal, but we will see. The weight and thickness will have to be something I live with for a while to get a sense of the impact it will have on my use.

That said, the addition of a good trackpad should allow me to work with the iPad in ways that have simply been frustrating before. I rarely do any sort of word processing or spreadsheet tasks because text selection and manipulation was just too finicky. If it eventually comes up to par with a regular Mac computer, the iPad will be able to fill in for some additional work functions instead of being strictly a sidekick to my main work computer.

Excited to find out!

 

[Abazigal]

Glad you’re not super anal about protection. But listing “lack of protection” as a con for the magic keyboard kinda confused me I guess. Like how much protection do you need putting your bare iPad down on a table

I guess it’s more that with the Smart Keyboard acting as a protective backing for my iPad, I don’t have to be so particular about how I put my tablet down on the table. The other advantage is that when I want to type something, my keyboard is already there with me. I don’t have to walk back to my desk to dock my iPad.

Also, I do admit to being just a little spooked by the whole iPad bendgate saga, so having the Smart Keyboard serve as a little bit of added structural support makes me feel better about writing on it while holding one end in landscape mode, and it helps with the grip as well.

In short, the Magic Keyboard’s inability to be folded back is a dealbreaker for me at the moment.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Like many here I was super psych about the magic Keyboard. It fixes the annoying things about the Smart Keyboard, like the skin cover, lack of backlight (annoying to use at night), lack of mouse pad, typing experience was mushy. On the surface it looks almost perfect! The floating design is classic Apple.
But man was I disappointed when I heard about the weight. It doubles the weight of the 11 in! And I think the part that rule bums me out is it does flip all the way back so you really can’t use your tablet without taking it off the keyboard case. What a bummer.

it’s essential a laptop replacement if you use it with the keyboard and along it comes the weight. I can see this would be suitable for a 12 in iPad that hardly moves around but in the 11 where I use it all over the house it misses the mark.

I seriously would gladly spend $500 for a special edition carbon fiber model!

How are they supposed to make it lighter? We got the features that we wanted, but it came at a cost.

 

[Ghost31]

I guess it’s more that with the Smart Keyboard acting as a protective backing for my iPad, I don’t have to be so particular about how I put my tablet down on the table. The other advantage is that when I want to type something, my keyboard is already there with me. I don’t have to walk back to my desk to dock my iPad.

Also, I do admit to being just a little spooked by the whole iPad bendgate saga, so having the Smart Keyboard serve as a little bit of added structural support makes me feel better about writing on it while holding one end in landscape mode, and it helps with the grip as well.

In short, the Magic Keyboard’s inability to be folded back is a dealbreaker for me at the moment.

well my friend, I think people like you are exactly the reason Apple still updates and sells the Smart Keyboard folio. We all have different needs
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How are they supposed to make it lighter? We got the features that we wanted, but it came at a cost.

Consumer: “Make it lighter!”

apple: “ok here you go”

Consumer: “Crap it’s always tipping over! And feels bad quality!”

Apple: “Well how do you think we make it lighter? Alter the laws of physics?”

Consumer: “...ok just make it heavier. God damn why did you ever listen to me”

 

[KittyKatta]

Honestly not sure what people were expecting. This case was built for those who want to use it as a laptop experience and if you want to use it as a tablet just take the tablet off and use it...however it’s mainly to use as a laptop after all

Devils Advocate:
The Smart Cover allows a tablet to get “A laptop experience” without compromising the tablet experience.
The Magic Keyboard allows a tablet to get “A laptop experience” but compromises the tablet experience.

Not trying to argue but there is validity in disappointment. Not because of unfulfilled expectations, but because Apple was already so close with the Smart Cover that this could be perceived as a step back.

 

[The Game 161]

Devils Advocate:
The Smart Cover allows a tablet to get “A laptop experience” without compromising the tablet experience.
The Magic Keyboard allows a tablet to get “A laptop experience” but compromises the tablet experience.

Not trying to argue but there is validity in disappointment. Not because of unfulfilled expectations, but because Apple was already so close with the Smart Cover that this could be perceived as a step back.

Not how the magic keyboard is built is why it can’t be used in tablet form. Without the hinge you wouldn’t be able to charge it through the hinge port so you can charge it and use the USB C port for something else if needed.

Everybody is different but if I wanted to use it as a tablet I would just take it off the keyboard and use it but clearly others would rather not do that due to fear of damage which I get but if I was to use it as a tablet more often than not would be on a sofa/bed not carrying it around

However I have a normal case in my bag so if I wanted to use it like that least I can do it but I understand those who wanted an all in one use case

 

[rkuo]

There's a distinct lack of imagination among some posters as to how the magic keyboard could be better.

Yes, it has to be bottom heavy to balance the iPad's weight as it's currently designed. That doesn't mean it HAS TO BE DESIGNED THAT WAY.

Just watch the Verge's review and look at how the Surface Pro X works.

The Magic Keyboard turns the iPad Pro into something that resembles a laptop

It’s what we’ve all been asking for — for better or worse.

www.theverge.com

I find the integrated kickstand and resulting full keyboard cover with trackpad that doesn't require an entire piece for the back to be much more preferable.