#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR PORTABLE#
#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR PRO#
#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR SOFTWARE#

In this case I used AppleвЂ™s Magic Keyboard ($299), which has a built-in trackpad. What makes the iPad Air feel more like a вЂњcomputer,вЂќ to me, is support for trackpads and mice. There are new widget views on the home screen and sidebars within Apple-made apps. The latest version is iPadOS 14, which is what IвЂ™ve been running on the iPad Air.

#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR SOFTWARE#

Last year, iOS was forked into its own software for iPads, called iPadOS. iOS 11, introduced a few years ago, included some multitasking features and even an app dock just like the kind that appears on Macs. Over time the software on iPad has gotten more computer-like.

#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR PRO#

On the back of the iPad Air are the same three small dots that the iPad Pro has, indicating that the tablet has AppleвЂ™s вЂњsmart connectorвЂќ technology and will work with the companyвЂ™s accessory keyboards. The Air is just a few grams lighter than the Pro, though youвЂ™d have to be holding them both in hand to notice this, and even then you might not. The 10.9-inch iPad Air doesnвЂ™t look much different from the 11-inch iPad Pro-either the brand-new iPad Pro or the 2018 iPad Pro. The loaner iPad IвЂ™ve been using is Green, which is really a seafoam hue. The body of the iPad Air is made of 100 percent recycled aluminum, and Apple has added a couple of new color finishes to its lineup. ItвЂ™s marketed as having an edge-to-edge display, because the iPadвЂ™s bezels have shrunk over the years, though theyвЂ™re still at least half an inch wide. The Air has a 10.9-inch вЂњLiquid RetinaвЂќ display, which is AppleвЂ™s name for a super-high-resolution liquid crystal display. If you opt to buy an iPad Air with both Wi-Fi and cellular capabilities, it will cost $130 more for either storage configuration. It starts at $599 for a model with 64 gigabytes of internal storage, and $749 for 256 GB.

IвЂ™ve been using the new iPad Air for over a month now, and if youвЂ™re willing to sacrifice a few specs in speaker and camera quality, then I donвЂ™t see any reason why you wouldnвЂ™t buy the Air over the Pro. The question is which one, because there are a lot of them, and if youвЂ™re looking to splurge on a high-end model, the differences between the 2020 iPad Air and the 2020 iPad Pro are about as thin as the tablets themselves. So if someone asked me now, вЂњShould I get an iPad?вЂќ I would say yes. (Everything was fine!) This year, a fellow tech writer went as far as naming the iPad the вЂњ gadget of the pandemic.вЂќ When I carry the iPad to bed with me in the evening, to write вЂњSorry for the delayвЂќ emails and messages, and stream some Netflix series that will temporarily blot out the news of the day, I mostly agree with him. For years I brought my laptop with me on vacations for fear of having to file something urgent for work in the summer of 2019 I carried just an iPad. These things still donвЂ™t make it a great work tool, but at least itвЂ™s getting better at being one. But its software has evolved to support more desktop-like functions. Its physical form is pretty much the same. The iPad has changed a lot in the past few years. (Well, not literally that would surely break the keyboard.) I dug my heels in on a traditional clamshell laptop.

#APPLE KEYPAD FOR IPAD AIR PORTABLE#

In its early years it felt like a slate that was primarily good at being a slate, whether it was used as a prop, like some techno-futuristic vision of tablets in films, or as a portable screen for field workers, or the thing on which I scribbled a mushy signature at the coffee shop. ItвЂ™s taken me a long time to appreciate AppleвЂ™s iPad.

Apple keypad for ipad air