But once you start using it, just for a few minutes, you can feel why it has to be so different. Your first impression, like mine, is likely to be off-base just because it’s so different. An iPad Pro is so much heavier than a MacBook top case that of course the Magic Keyboard hinge system has to be not just a little stiffer than a MacBook hinge, but way stiffer. It’s clever in several ways, but it cannot defy the laws of physics. Here’s why an iPad Magic Keyboard feels nothing like a MacBook: because it’s not actually magic. The iPad Magic Keyboard is to iPad-as-laptop accessories what AirPods were to earbuds: a game changer. I went from that “ I don’t like the way this thing feels at all” first impression to “ I can’t wait to start raving about how great this thing is” in 15 minutes. Once I let go of my preconceptions, I fell in love.

You instinctively reject it.īut water isn’t bad. Going in with a set of expectations even loosely based on a hope like mine - for something that feels even vaguely MacBook-y - is like expecting a sip of piping hot coffee and it turns out your mug is filled with cold water. What I was hoping for was something approximating the feel and experience of a MacBook - a little more top heavy, a little stiffer at the hinge to accommodate that extra top-heaviness - but basically I wanted an iPad-as-laptop that feels like a MacBook Air. But where I say expecting I really mean hoping for. And I knew the iPad-as-laptop was going to be top-heavy, but not this top-heavy. I mean like “ What the hell is going on here?” stiff, “ Is there some sort of packaging attached that I neglected to remove?” stiff - which, needless to say, was not what I was expecting at all. The hinge was way stiffer than I expected. Then I did attach my iPad Pro (immediate thought: “Man, these magnets are strong”), closed and opened the iPad-as-laptop configuration a few times, and formed a crushingly disappointing first impression. Greatly anticipating its arrival, I unboxed the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard as soon as it appeared at my door, and before I even attached my iPad Pro, I was put off. The iPad Magic Keyboard Monday, 20 April 2020

Magic ipad