Brydge announces a 12.9-inch iPad Pro keyboard and trackpad accessory (via 9to5Mac). Like the company’s previous accessories, Brydge 12.9 Max Plus will allow you to take your iPad from being a tablet to a laptop, just by connecting it to the accessory. With Apple’s new iPad Pro, the M1, some may already be thinking about using it to replace the MacBook, while others may be excited about how you can attach it now with magnets.
The answer to whether this will help you replace your MacBook with an iPad is more or less what it always was: it depends on whether you can do all the work with what is available on the iPadOS. The iPad Pro has been more powerful than a lot of MacBooks for years, but the hardware is only part of the equation. While the 12.9-inch iPad Pro may now have a processor as fast as a MacBook and a better startup screen, it still uses an operating system that some may not be able to take full advantage of. these features. If you are fine with the limitations of iPadOS, then Brydge 12.9 Max Plus could be a new solution to put your iPad in laptop mode.
The iPad will magnetically attach to the new Max Plus, instead of using the clip system used by previous Brydge keyboards. That system required you to wrap your expensive tablet between clips that then clung to the shattering glass – a nervous and not terribly pleasant experience. This brings Brydge’s offering more in line with the magic keyboard, and users will probably appreciate the increased ease of switching between laptop mode and tablet mode. The lightweight magnetic attachment is something that has generally been associated with Apple’s iPad keyboards instead of those of third parties.
Although Brydge’s built-in trackpads have not generally compared favorably with Apple’s, the company hopes to change that by adding native multitouch support. With Max Plus, Brydge also plays the size comparison game – its trackpad is the largest on an iPad keyboard, according to the company’s website. This can be a nice bonus if you are the type of person who likes to use the mouse a lot.
Brydge 12.9 Max Plus is available for pre-order on the Brydge website and is expected to be delivered in June. It comes in three color options (space gray, silver and white) and costs $ 249.99 – $ 100 cheaper than the 12.9-inch Magic Apple keyboard for iPad Pro.