My birthday present to myself this year is something I have wanted for many years. Whilst in the throes of hopefulness, thinking I could become a creative writer at a die-hard feminist university, I splashed out on a second hand 12.9” iPad. Not wanting to spend another sum to get the Magic Keyboard, new and in Japanese from Apple, I got a second hand Folio Keyboard.
🤮
Hatred is not really a sufficient word for it. Revulsion works better with deep fissures of buyer’s remorse and self-abasement.
The Folio is a good keyboard and I’m sure there are tens of people who love how it feels to type on, not just its dust and water proofing. The feel of the keys, the texture of the material, and the clacky sounds they make are all quite disturbing to me.
Just to highlight these phenomena, next to it I have had the M1 MacBook Air, probably the best laptop of the previous decade, the Asus Zenbook (which was a direct copy of the the original best laptop of that previous decade, the original 13” MacBook Air).
The M1 has this keyboard which is small travel but responsive, feels lovely to press and touch, and makes a really nice noise. The tapping sound responds just as the onscreen response appears. Aesthetically and mechanically pleasing.
🤩
Now that the Magic Keyboard for the iPad has come down in price, I saved $150 and got one delivered from Japan. Rather than a tap, it’s more like a piece of chocolate falling into whipped cream. The backlight is, of course, very nice with very little leakage, and the touch pad is typical Apple.
For the past few years I’ve avoided typing on the Folio. Aversion created a psychological moat around the iPad. Apple’s implementation of Sidecar didn’t really help usability as the iPad scream reflects its hardware keyboard, not the Mac’s, which created a second moat.
Now with the Magic on the iPad, I’d rather be typing here than on my previous favourite device. Astonished how I didn’t note those moats until they fell away…
🐊
I’ve gone from one wonderful laptop and an infuriating iPad to two computers, both of which I love using!
Unfortunately, however, the backlight on the Magic adjusts itself according to the number of gravitons passing through its sensors, which it then divides by the square root of the number of photos and then rounds up or down to the closest prime number.
I am curious about many decisions made at Apple, but very happy they do not advertise on their systems and still make an effort at putting the customer experience first.
I needed a dash of Magic.
😁
A D R A N 