Yeah, I have only on rare occasions used a Surface-style keyboard as other than a cover and then only reluctantly. I don’t like typing on them.
I am kind of halfway on this. The Magic Keyboard’s hinge mechanism beat the Surface Laptop Studio to market by years and does it far more elegantly and smoothly by not requiring a heavy laptop base to do it that further is not locked to a few fixed positions, either. However, where it falls flat is I am not overly fond of the Magic Keyboard’s mushy, shallow travel on its keys (some are not bothered by that and actually prefer the lighter feel, so this may be down to my individual preference). If I could get a franken-keyboard that morphs the snappy and sure-feeling keys of the current Surface Pro 8’s Type Cover with the stellar hinged design of an iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard, that would be a match made in heaven.
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Beg to disagree. I like the SP8 Type Cover, and the Combo Touch as well. More functionality (function keys, removable) than a regular laptop or the Magic Keyboard. The kickstand is not as good for “lapability” but how often are you really using it on your lap for extended times? It’s GREAT for content consumption (without the keyboard). For me, I have to grab a lap desk or sit at a table if anything longer than 15 minutes or so. The Magic Keyboard is a great feat of engineering, but far too overpriced, bulky, and feature poor (no function keys; very limited viewing angle in laptop mode) for my tastes.
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One more thought about a Combo Touch II - dare to be REALLY different and attach the keyboard at the top (around the Pencil attachment in order to protect loss of that investment), make the back a magnetic attachment (keeping the kickstand) and drop the heavy plastic framing…you’re welcome Logitech.
Yes, camera will be “upside down” but who cares? Of course, then Apple will release the iPad Pro 2022 with a landscape oriented camera module (as it should have TWO generations ago) and screw up my brilliant design…
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Hm, I don’t feel any mushiness but it is a bit less “clicky” and perhaps slightly more shallow than my SG2’s standard keyboard cover.
This and all the other comments just go to show how subjective and personal keyboard preferences can be.
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Actually, on my lap is about the only time I use the magic keyboard, and a good deal of why it’s better than a kickstand. And, I honestly use function keys so rarely, I don’t miss them for my use case when I’m using the keyboard. Honestly, even on my super fancy Kenesis RGB split keyboard I use with my MBP, I very rarely use the function keys, or any of the programable keys I have available.
But aside from that, when I was using a kickstand/floppy keyboard combo, I hated using it on my lap, which was again, most of my preferred use for it, and so used it less in general. But honestly, even when I set it on a desk or table, it still felt flimsy. The heft of the magic keyboard makes it feel much more like a real keyboard in general. And I know the keys are supposedly the same between the magic keyboard and my MBP, but I even much prefer typing on my magic keyboard to typing on my MBP’s keyboard, so the MBP stays docked, with the far superior Kenesis keyboard, and when I’m away from my desk, I use the IPP for everything else.
I agree that the magic keyboard is overpriced, but there’s really no other alternative to it, so I’m begrudgingly willing to pay that price. Apple in general is overpriced though, and I wouldn’t have chosen it if I saw any other alternatives to my workflow at the time I bought it, but that’s a whole other story. Suffice it to say, and getting us a little back on track of the original topic, if the slim pen had been fixed and the SP8 had been released in early 2020 when I bought my IPP, I probably would never have experimented with Apple, but as is, now I’ve not only got the IPP, but also since got a MBP and can’t see returning to a Windows tablet, even if the pen is worth it now, unless/until it gets a little more iPad like in its performance and design. (ugh, I can’t believe I just said that).
Now iPhone, that’s never going to happen. I’ll stick with Android tyvm.
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The iPhone was/is my gateway drug to Apple Alcatraz (new term for Apple walled garden) and if it weren’t for the ease of integration from watch → iPhone → iPad → MBP14, I would have stayed in the Windows dungeon. I’m just the opposite - iPhone über alles…
The Windows dungeon seems to be getting smaller and smaller. If I was younger and less set in my ways professionally, I would probably be eying a trip to Appleville.
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I’m OLDER and FAR MORE set in my ways, and you’d be surprised how well the transition has gone (well, there is that little problem of WordPerfect compatibility I don’t have to deal with)…but when I get my MacPad (2025?) you’ll be all kinds of jealous…
And at least there they’re not closing all the factories down.
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It’s likable. 
I switched from PC to Apple about two years before I started law school. The iPad came out during my first year, so I scanned all my books on that and avoided the horrible back injuries my classmates suffered. But, once my old firm bought me a SP4, I never looked back and I am all PC all the time. My current law partners all own Macbooks (even though we have a PC office) and they were fascinated by my Surface Book. Stay in the small dungeon…
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I had to try Duet Display using my SLS and M1 iPad Pro 11. Semi-success. Or mostly failure. The ads aren’t clear that the Apple Pencil only works as a drawing device with the $35/year Pro version on top of the base $15 one-time version. Also, no audio. So the wireless connection you get with the Air/Pro better be within BT headphone range if you want that.
Stellaris runs acceptably well at highest resolution, “pixel perfect” quality, 60Hz. With the SLS set to “do nothing” when the lid closes it actually turns off its screen and the mirrored iPad keeps going, as in the photo. Touch is too wonky to use in tablet mode and trackpad use with the Magic Keyboard isn’t all there—edge scrolling doesn’t work on the right side and most of the time not the bottom. Maybe a mouse might work but by then I’m at a loss as to why I’m not just using the Surface Laptop Studio. 
I applied for a refund of the $15.
I tried this, I really did. Mac desktop, check. iPhone, check. iPad Pro, check. But that stupid beast of a gaming desktop and the limitations of the iPad keep doing me in. Apple will never do gaming, and the iPad will never be a full computer. About all I have left is hoping that they give me what I need (an iPad running desktop Mac), but until then I have switched to using my Surface Pro 7 (and my gaming desktop) to go with my iPhone.
The problem is that I really don’t like using cloud services. I use locally hosted or fully e2ee stuff (nextcloud, obsidian, joplin). I can get away with this in a full desktop environment, but friggin iPad doesn’t run that. Even obsidian needs you to put the files in icloud.
So here I am, back on my Surface Pro. 
Good thing I don’t sell anything anymore…
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Paying more/for subscriptions for things that really shouldn’t be like so seems to be an Apple thing. I’m pretty sure it’s because developers consider Apple users to be more affluent, so more willing to cough up the money.
And I’m afraid you’re going to have to pay a tax for that photo.
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These discussions always interest and amuse me. There is always an element to them of a certain way of selling/providing something and it becomes “the way it’s supposed to be”.
One area I’ve seen that with my own kids is when it comes to drivers licenses and car ownership. My daughter at least to this point can see no compelling need for either, even though she’s starting in to her junior year in college.
And my son, while he wanted and got his license shortly after his 16th birthday, that’s about as far as it goes and a car is quite low on his priority list compared to many other things.
I, on the other hand had my license on my 16th birthday and was already half way to the savings I needed to buy my first one.
And ironically the world in many ways to seems to be moving back in some ways to the first computers where ownership wasn’t really a considered option.
Not arguing either way here, just finding the arguments on both sided interesting.
And in the interest of full disclosure I am an advocate of the SAAS model for many (but not all) businesses
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Apple Arcade! 
Yeah, that’s not what we mean by “gaming”, I know. Though it does seem to be the cat’s meow for others.
Seriously though, I would be 100% good getting rid of everything except this iPP w/MK and an iPhone if it wasn’t for Windows games and I’m not even into anything newer or more demanding than Witcher 3 or the latests DLCs for Stellaris.
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I was walking to my car with my iPP11 just now and my head was shouting - it would be GREAT if this were my only computer. Sub 2 pounds* in hand; computer, tablet, notebook all in one. It could also have M2, 16gb ram, 2tb ssd, and 5g by this fall and still weigh the same. If Apple would just give it full external screen support and Finder I’d give it a go in a heartbeat.
- That’s with the Apple Smart Keyboard Folio - I gave up on the Combo Touch because it was just too bulky and heavy, despite being a good typing experience.
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Maybe my obsession with “WinPad” will ultimately be fulfilled by a mere iPad. I would even live with a single 32” 4k monitor if it could be used full screen with the iPad
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I don’t know that we consider Apple users to be more affluent so much as, Apple users already expect to pay for apps. Android gained a reputation as the cheap option a long time ago, and therefore the expectation for Android phones quickly became that you could get pretty much any app for free (with ads). That mindset has stuck and no one wants to pay for Android apps. But iPhone users expect to pay for their apps, and so they do. It’s also why a lot of developers choose Apple over Android to develop, even though Android is the larger customer base.
Honestly, yeah, if the IPP supported a second monitor with whatever aspect ratio, instead of just mirroring the 4:3 screen, that would do a lot to work for me. It would also need to support my VM I use for work, but since I already code on a Windows VM through my Macbook, I don’t really need the power of the Macbook for my work. Granted, I wouldn’t be able to do my personal projects as easily, but there are becoming more web enabled options. I think if we can get enough robust programs moving to web, an IPP with true external monitor support would work for pretty much anyone except some power users.
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