I first wrote about Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro a little over two months ago, right after it was released. I’ve logged many hours with this versatile accessory since then and I have to say that it’s been an interesting experience. My overall opinion of it has changed over this time, mostly for the better.
I’ve been writing about the Magic Keyboard for a full three weeks, covering the good, the bad and the battery life. After spending a few days with my second one (see here for my reason for getting a replacement), now it’s time to put a bow on things and wrap up my final thoughts on the device.
While I’ve had some issues with the Magic Keyboard’s limitations when using it at work, it’s just about perfect for the way I use my iPad Pro at home. My primary complaint with the Magic Keyboard so far has been with battery life. I wrote about this last week and got enough responses from others with similarly poor performance that I believe there is something to it.
I don’t think the problem I am having is affecting all, or frankly even a large number of Magic Keyboards. However, based on my testing, I do believe the issue I’m experiencing is related to the hardware.
I’ll say right up front that I think my case may be the exception, rather than the rule with the Magic Keyboard. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it is taking a major toll on my iPad Pro’s battery life right now. You can see a good example highlighted in the chart above, which shows me dropping a massive 50% of battery life with only 2.5 hours of screen time on Thursday. That time was split between working on an article and marking up some PDFs for work. That is downright terrible performance that I don’t even see during gaming or watching movies.
If you a regular reader, you may have already picked up on this, but I am not quite as enthusiastic about the Magic Keyboard as most of the Apple blogosphere. I’m not saying that I don’t like it, because I actually do in a lot of respects. It is very good at the things that Apple designed it for. But it is that narrowness of scope, along with a few other drawbacks, that I can’t completely shake off.
While there are still plenty of good things I have to say about the Magic Keyboard in the future, here is all of the bad news I’ve come across so far.
I covered my reasons for being a little sluggish with my Magic Keyboard overage yesterday. While today was better, I am still running about half speed. However, I have had a lot more time to use Apple’s newest keyboard accessory and start to form some early impressions.
So my Magic Keyboard arrived at my house around 11:00 AM today. Normally I would be at work on a Friday even during these days of quarantines and stay at home orders, as my job is considered essential. However, this particular Friday found me at home for a not-so-pleasant reason. I had a date with an oral surgeon at 10:45 this morning. Yuck.
I’ve gotten used to disappointment with Apple keyboards. I never liked the Smart Keyboards for iPad Pro and the lack of backlighting on the original Magic Keyboard holds it back in comparison to cheaper, comparable quality Bluetooth keyboards that do. Thankfully I was never forced to use the terrible Butterfly Keyboards that MacBook users have had to deal with for years, but they can’t be ignored. The last Apple Keyboard I liked was their older Wireless Keyboard and I owned it ten years ago. This is not a good track record.
I guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up and expected different this time, but here we are. The new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro is far more limited than I initially hoped and this has been confirmed by video reviews from people who got them early.
While Apple originally slated the new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro for release in May after it was announced alongside the new 2020 iPad Pros, it was made available for pre-order today in Apple’s online store. The initial delivery window starts next week.