iPad Pro 11” 2018

3-minute read
apple

Pencil

  • Using as a pointer, don’t have to reach up to screen, extends fingers, kind of like chopsticks!
  • Makes scrolling easier, just need to move fingers slightly to get long distance while still getting precision
  • Smaller desktop footprint than a mouse or a trackpad
  • Both good and bad for Google Sheets:
    • The keyboard on it is clunky and unreliable, especially for moving left/right, which never works as expected like the website, so it’s nice to have the sharp pointer to select cells
    • But switching back and forth between the keyboard and the mouse isn’t scalable, and it’s hard to be productive and move around quickly
  • My prediction for the future: the pencil will be used similar to a “scroll wheel”

Highly focused experience

  • Less time managing windows and resizing windows
  • Windows don’t overlap each other anymore
  • Resources are managed by the system too: the OS does the work of optimizing what’s most important to the user’s experience. Is Slack taking up all your CPU? Do you need to close more tabs in Chrome? Who cares?

Smart Keyboard

  • Really like the texture on the keyboard keys
  • You can CMD-Tab / doesn’t make sense with on-screen keyboard
  • CMD-Space for Spotlight / search within apps!
  • Incredibly stable and strong stand / can hold it up with one hand
  • No worries about dust getting into them!
  • Mac keyboard always got greasy and grimey over time, maybe it’s my gross fingers, but this feels less gross to me
  • Can’t stand it up without the keyboard out, but I can live with that
  • Don’t like the way you feel the keys on the “back” of the iPad when it’s fully folded, makes me feel like I’m going to accidentally hit a key, even though the keyboard is disabled
  • What’s great is that you always still have the onscreen keyboard
  • Easy to clean the keys / if you splash water on them or coffee, just pull the iPad out and wipe clean! Unplugging is as easy as just pulling the iPad up.

Face ID

  • No more reaching up to use Touch ID on your keyboard
    • This was especially annoying if you have a desk setup with an external keyboard
  • Killer, especially with 1Password
  • This is how it would feel if we had Face ID on the Mac
  • Surfing the web and not having to input login credentials
  • Apple Pay too!

This is the future of personal computing

Apple’s sending a strong signal with the USB-C port:

  • They’re saying: “This is a computer, like your laptop”
  • You can connect external devices, like an external hard drive
    • Increase horse-power of the iPad
    • Soon: eGPU support?
  • That USB-C dongle that you hate for your Mac is now actually useful for the iPad Pro now too
    • I can plug in my charger and also connect my USB-A devices at the same

Other Greats

  • The thin-ish bezels are amazing, but I’m always worried I’m going to tap on the wrong part of the screen
  • Bear
    • I really love writing in Markdown
    • All my notes are searchable with Spotlight, so cmd-shift takes me quickly to them
  • Working Copy with CI for blogging
    • This lets me make commits to repositories from my iPad
    • For Hugo/Jekyll blogs, I’ve setup triggers so every commit deploys
    • For my GitHub Pages sites, I don’t even need CI, it’s just automatic