The tablet attaches to the case with magnets and leaves it floating in front of you.įor serious writing it’s the best option but it does make your svelte iPad quite heavy. The iPad Air and iPad Pro are also compatible with the 11-inch or 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard, an expensive accessory with a laptop-quality keyboard and a trackpad. On the bright side, there are no key gaps, so it won’t get damaged when you spill your flat white all over it, and you can wipe it down easily. I like the design for its thinness and how it folds back out the way when you don’t need to type.įor long typing sessions, the odd fabric keys will take some getting used to. When it’s time to work, Apple sells a Smart Keyboard Folio case for each of these iPads. Each can be used to do normal tablet things like poking around your favourite websites or curling up to binge-watch Schitt’s Creek. This is much easier to appreciate on an iPad, be it the basic iPad (from $569), the iPad Air (from $999), or the iPad Pro (11-inch from $1499 or the 12.9-inch from $1849). The best aspect of a 2-in-1 is its versatility.

Here’s how it stacks up against Apple’s latest iPads, given the similar form factors and 4G capability. I’ve been testing the second-generation Surface Pro X ($2799), the high-end model that runs on ARM processor architecture, akin to the innards of Apple’s latest MacBook Air. But the slim and lightweight convenience of a tablet computer with a kickstand has proven successful, and Microsoft sells Surface Pros by the bucketload to both consumers and enterprises. Unlike iPads, Surface Pro products are seldom used without the keyboard, or in portrait orientation. The Surface range popularised the 2-in-1, or convertible, category of computers – tablets with optional detachable keyboards – when the first version came out in 2012. Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet computers run full Windows 10. Until lately, an iPad was a digital canvas for watching films, reading the news, and looking up recipes, but not a computer to do work on.Īpple addressed this, and now most of its iPads are compatible with optional keyboards and the Pencil stylus (there are two versions – check which one you need), while the software supports trackpad and mouse input. The iPad is a popular tablet that has made its way into the lexicon even if the tablet in question is not made by Apple.

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