iPad Pro 2020 (and keyboard)

I spoke about the iPad Pro a little while back and said at the time that the iPad Pro, running iOS 11 with a keyboard, was a serious contender to a laptop. A laptop killer I called it.

With the release of the iPad Pro 2020 this has all changed… for the better. Indeed, if the previous iPad Pro and keyboard combo could be likened to a well meaning and cooperative donkey this new one is a stallion with a padded saddle and an acute sense of direction.

The new iPad Pro 2020 is essentially the same as the 2018 model, with a few camera and speed tweaks. So it has the edge to edge design that is what the iPad always should have been. A “single piece of magical glass” is what Steve Jobs called it back in 2011 ( I am paraphrasing of course)… but that one had a thick bezel and a chin the size of Jay Leno.

So the iPad Pro might not be the revelation that it might have been but it is beautiful and it is fast and it is running iPad OS 13 and that is all awesome. And I don’t say that lightly. But what makes this new combo the aforementioned stallion, the thing that makes me want to replace my current iPad (even if there is nothing wrong with it) is the new keyboard, the Magic Keyboard.

This is easily the most excited I have been about a product in a while. Since the original iPhone I think.

It has backlit keys, so working in the dark is now no longer an embarrassing fumble. Sometimes when working in the dark I have been seen tilting my iPad forward so the light from the screen can show me where the S key is. With my eyes squinting and tongue poking out the left side of my mouth I did look slightly demented. No more! This alone is worth the price (a terrible subject I will get to later)

It has a trackpad that is fully integrated into the iPadOS and also allows for all the gestures that you may or may not have been using directly on the screen to copy and paste, move between screen and soon on. My bet is, those of us that haven’t used these time saving gestures to date, will give them a go now that they can be activated from a trackpad.

It has a second USB-C port that allows you to easily plug in devices or charge the iPad and keyboard while it is being used.

It is hinged giving the affect of the iPad floating in mid air. This means the iPad can be adjusted to best suit your sitting position at the time.

Welcomingly the new keyboard is compatible with the iPad Pro 2018, so if you have one of those you can join the stallion club.

The only draw back… the price. For the 11inch iPad Pro it is $499.00 and for the 12.9 inch model, $589.00.

While the new iPad Pro 2020 is available now (March 2020), the keyboard is coming in mid May.

One word of caution might be that there is a rumoured second new iPad Pro coming in November. Whether this is true or not I cannot say but for me this second iPad would want to display precognition and come with a cup holder before it would stop me from buying todays version.