Hi,
I like to revisit this/hyperfixate on this every so often. How ideal is an iPad with a Magic Keyboard as a complementary or secondary device to my desktop PC in 2026?
I've had pretty bad experiences with 2 different iPads and 2 different keyboards, where VoiceOver would suddenly stop typing and typing H would bring me back to the homescreen for example. This occured on a 10.5" iPad Pro with its original Smart Keyboard and a Logitech keyboard, and an iPad 9th generation using the Smart Keyboard. I'm sure I played with the Full Keyboard Access settings but can't remember the results, I don't think it made a difference.
I do use my Lenovo ThinkBook as a secondary device, which still works pretty well. But I want something more portable, seeing as it's a 15.6" laptop, and the battery only lasts 4 hours. I'm just playing around with the idea for now.
My use case:
- TTRPG character sheet management - I use spreadsheets for these, I've struggled navigating spreadsheets on my phone with a keyboard before though (more that it's just... squished in and hard to navigate)
- Writing story chapters (not complex text editing because that could be done on my computer)
- Gaming (audio games on iOS, interactive fiction etc). I don't know why I don't like using my phone for this.
So... I'm just curious to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Comments
Not really useful
My current iPad is the iPad Mini A17 Pro, I use it mainly to listen to music and TV together with my Beats Pill speaker, browse and order stuff on Uber Eats, showcase ideas to the sighted, provide a screen to my usually headless Mac Studio, and soon it will also be my Internet router since I'm completely on 5G cellular except currently it's my iPhone that's providing Internet access. While I have no issues typing on the iPad from a Mac Magic Keyboard, I find that most applications are definitely not designed for keyboard navigation, so every once in a while I have to tap the screen to quickly move the focus to where I want, as otherwise I end up having to scroll over hundreds of messages on Signal, for example, before getting to the input field.
I have experienced the behavior that you mentioned at some point and do recall that I realized that it was actually not a bug, but can't remember details. I can connect a keyboard to the iPad and check that out if you wish though, but honestly I recommend just waiting for the cheap MacBook with an iPhone chip that's rumored to come out later this year as that's a lot more likely to work better as a sidekick computer than anything forked from iOS.