Do iPads With Keyboard Cases Make Sense As Laptop Alternatives?
The Crux Case Loaded is the coolest iPad keyboard case I’ve seen yet, if for no other reason than by dint of the fact that it’s the only one I’ve encountered to date that has a trackpad as well as a keypad. That’s a huge feature for those of us who would prefer not being obliged to paw at the iPad screen for pointing and navigation when it’s in vertical orientation for use with an external keyboard -–body-English that even Steve Jobs has freely conceded to be awkward and inelegant.
When ensconced in a Crux Case Loaded, the iPad is transformed into a passable facsimile of a netbook, albeit with some caveats attached, such as the inherent limitations of the IOS and the iPad’s abiding lack of a real USB port and seemingly gratuitous determination by Apple to make conventional connectivity difficult — perhaps in ad of promoting iCloud.
However, here’s the thing. The Crux Case Loaded will cost $249 when it arrives in July –– nearly the price of an actual entry–level PC netbook. Add the price of an iPad 2 –– say $599 for the 32 GB Wi-Fi model, which is arguably the minimum–spec iPad you’d want for netbook/notebook substitute duty, and you’re already up to $849.
Now, here’s the other thing. Apple will sell you a very nice Certified Refurbished 11.6-inch MacBook Air 1.4 GHz with 64 GB of storage capacity, a real keyboard and trackpad, and capable of running Mac OS X, for just $829, and you get two USB ports and a MiniDisplay port in the bargain. Speaking of which, you’ll also likely be buying some of Apple’s pricey I/O adapters for video out with either the iPad or MacBook Air, a desktop stand of some sort (or a keyboard case like the Crux offerings) and an external keyboard for the iPad, and some sort of case for either. It adds up mighty fast.
Of course the other side of the coin is that with the iPad 2/Crux Case Loaded combo, you can always undock the iPad from the case and use it in its primary intended handheld tablet mode, while the MacBook Air is always a clamshell laptop –– no bad thing in and of itself, but makes it less versatile in the human interface context.
Still, for me it’s a very tough call in terms of value. What I really want is of course an iPad *and* a MacBook Air. Here in my part of Canada, a 16 GB base iPad 2 will run me Can$596.85 with sales tax included, while an Apple Certified Refurbished 11.6″ MacBook Air, also base model configuration, comes to just one buck short of Can$1,000 taxes-in, for a bottom-line difference of Can$402.15, which isn’t inconsequential, but once you add $287.50 (tax included) for a Crux Case Loaded you’re up to Can$884.35, which shrinks the difference compared with the MacBook Air to just $114.65, which is of relatively small consequence in this context, and the iPad in that equation still has only 16 GB of storage.
Photo Courtesy Apple
And of course the plot is thickened by the fact that I can get even more power and features for my money in an ACR early 2010 model 2.4 GHz 13″ MacBook Pro with 4 GB of RAM, FireWire, a SD Card slot, and an optical drive for only Can$80 more than the base MacBook Air. The curse/blessing of incrementalism.
Photo Courtesy Apple
“We’re going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device,” Steve Jobs announced at the WWDC on Monday reiterating his declaration at the iPad 2 announcement event in March that the Post-PC era has begun, and the Mac line of computers is no longer the digital hub for all Apple hardware devices. however, nobody asked for my vote on this, and I’ve rather liked the Mac laptop as digital hub concept since well before Jobs coined the term 10 years ago.
So let’s get back to that The Crux Case Loaded for a moment. Aside from the remote-Bluetooth real keyboard and trackpad, the case incorporates an additional external battery for the iPad that connects via Apple’s 30-pin cord and extends the iPad’s battery life by a claimed 7.5 hours between charges, which in itself could justify the cost for some mobile users.
With the Crux Loaded’s remote trackpad, you’ll be able to control the iPad’s screen using all the same multi-touch functions currently on iOS, scrolling pages, resizing pictures, playing games, and performing sundry other functions without having to lift your arm to touch the display.
If you can manage without the trackpad and auxiliary battery, Crux also offers its Crux360 keyboard case in versions for both iPad 2and for the original iPad for $100 less than the Loaded unit.
The Crux360 for iPad 2 is unsurprisingly lighter and thinner than the previous generation version, and also features Apple’s new smart-cover technology that automatically switches your iPad on and off as you open and close the cover.
Crux360 allows you to use the iPad in a multitude of positions in four modes:
1) Laptop Mode, which allows use of the keyboard.
2) Movie Mode great for watching videos, playing games, or just surfing the Internet.
3) Tablet Mode for reading books or magazines.
4) Carry Mode. When not in use the Crux360 closes up and protects your iPad’s screen from nicks and scratches.
The Crux360 also lets you access to all the the iPad ports and buttons with the machine in situ.
There’s no question that the Crux keyboard cases and a growing congery of similar products like the $99.00 ZAGG/Logitech Keyboard Case (http://www.zagg.com/accessories/logitech-ipad-2-keyboard-case)
and the $99.99 Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Portfolio for iPad (http://bit.ly/jQoe1F)
open up the at least intriguing possibility of substituting an iPad with clamshell case for a traditional laptop or netbook. Robust consumer interest in this option is evidenced by the proliferation of keyboard cases being offered, attractions being presumably easy portability, light weight, and long battery life combined with the aforementioned versatility of being able to use the tablet in handheld mode, but it’s not a cheapo alternative.
For example, INC.com’s Christina DesMarais maintains that with the right apps you can ditch your laptop and travel light with only your iPad for business trips or even work itself, and that abundance of apps are tempting people to give it a try.
However, I’ve also read plenty of reports from people who use their computers as content production platforms, who have bought iPads only to discover that they hardly use them after the initial novelty wears off.
It’s obviously possible to replace a laptop or netbook with an iPad and be happy with the machine’s level of performance and capability, but mostly for users who are primarily content consumers and/or on the move a lot rather than content producers and other serious Web workers.
Some folks say they are able to do real production work on an iPad, but when they explain in detail it involves so many compromises, kludges, and workarounds that it seems to me like an exercise in hairshirt masochism. Then again, I remain philosophically more of a fan of Steve Jobs’s decade-old (and now discarded by him? ) computer as Digital Hub concept than I am of iOS minimalism and Cloud computing with the latter’s obligatory and somewhat ironic wireless virtual umbilical.
However, if you’ve embraced the Cloud computing paradigm and have been using a laptop, netbook, or even a desktop computer mostly for email and social networking, web-surfing, video and photo viewing, music listening, viewing and light editing of digital photos, and only occasionally for composing letters or other written documents, you may discover that the iPad suits you just fine for executing those sorts of tasks. It’s an individual judgment call.
Some things to consider are that survey of 3,000 iPad 1 owners I ran across found that number one on the missing feature request list was a real USB port (48%), followed by Flash support (44%), and an optical drive (42%). Apple chose to address none of those shortcomings with the iPad 2, a substantial disappointment for those who’d been hoping for USB and Flash especially.
Multitasking support was added, sort of, with the iOS 4 release last year, but it’s still pretty lame compared to the real multitasking capability you get with any laptop or desktop computer these days. We’ll have to see if iOS 5 enhances multitasking capability.
Another major iPad shortcoming for serious users is that it has no Finder user interface, and support for copying data between applications is mediocre.
There’s the power issue. Even the most lowly netbook with an Intel single-core Atom processor, to say nothing of a Core 2 Duo MacBook Air are relative powerhouses compared with the iPad 2’s dual core ARM A5 CPU and 512 MB of RAM.
Sharing and syncing data with your PC (and you’ll still have to have one at least for a little while longer, since the iPad is not yet a self-contained device, although it will be with the release of iOS 5 in the fall, but even then, there are some tasks that an iOS device just can’t do) is cumbersome, difficult, and printing is clumsy compared to what it would be if there was just a standard USB port. Apple’s AirPrint only supports only a small range of printers directly.
However, if none of those points seems like a deal-breaker for your purposes, rock on. Personally, I remain stuck on the fence imposed by equivocation over the compromises imposed by either option along with the reality of budgetary constraints.