The iPad Pro has finally caught up to the MacBook Pro

Even with the advantages of macOS Big Sur over iPadOS 14 (Apple's app sandboxing is great for security, but bad for productivity), since getting the Magic Keyboard on the iPad Pro, I have been using my 13" MacBook in the house I've found myself using the Pro less and less

That's because, not surprisingly, the iPad Pro is still what the original iPad always was: a larger iPhone Because iOS apps have become the most important apps in my daily life

The Magic Keyboard was a major iPad Pro discovery for me Apple's official iPad keyboard cover pairs instantly with the Magic Keyboard (thanks to the Smart Connector, which is not available on other companies' keyboards), and I'll do whatever I can to avoid messing with Bluetooth settings

However, Apple's Smart Keyboard cover (which has a much shorter travel distance and a cloth-like texture) never truly understood my typing, creating a somewhat awkward experience

The iPad Pro Magic Keyboard is no such imposter

A 129-inch iPad would have eliminated a more cramped typing experience, but these keys are actually really more to my liking, with more vertical travel and larger keycaps So whether I'm managing my ever-growing task list in Todoist, drafting a personal blog in Bear, or replying to emails and texts from family and friends in Messages and Gmail, I'm a more productive typist than ever before on the iPad Pro

On rare occasions, some websites are designed with much smaller touch targets Previously, those were a problem because the iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard did not have a touchpad However, the Magic Keyboard's cursor allows for much better accuracy when clicking on the Internet

A good portion of why I prefer the iPad Pro is due to its screen and shape My 2018 iPad Pro displays up to 111% of the sRGB color gamut and brightens to 572 nits This is as colorful as the 2020 MacBook Pro (114%, 485 nits), but much brighter

In other words, if you want to watch another episode of "Avatar the Last Airbender" or "Schitt's Creek" on Netflix, the iPad Pro will simply glow brighter And with USB-C cables everywhere, you don't have to worry about battery life

Also, and this is the thing about small things being light, the 11-inch iPad Pro docked to the Magic Keyboard weighs only 23 pounds, 08 pounds lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro (31 pounds) 129-inch iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard weigh 3 pounds, and I'm not willing to bet that you can tell that 01 pound difference by hand

Slowly but surely, all my favorite apps are getting Mac versions (and Apple Silicon Macs will run iOS apps too), but I'm not 100% there yet Besides, until Macs have touchscreens, iPhone and iPad apps won't work the same way It would be like using Android apps on a Chromebook, with or without a touchscreen

Another difference in the iPad Pro is the second-generation Apple Pencil; Scribble, the new handwriting recognition tool in iPadOS 14, is a trick that seems to solidify the case for touchscreens Hopefully Apple will find a way to include Scribble on the Apple Silicon MacBook's touchpad

In fact, there is only one reason I no longer need a MacBook Pro That's when I need a true Chrome with all the extensions to use the content management system (CMS) that I rely on for Tom's Guide

iPadOS (like iOS) still does not support web browsers that are not built on Safari's WebKit engine, and every time I try to finish up on my iPad (or iPhone), everything does not work cleanly enough

So while macOS is more capable of having apps that work together, especially in rare situations where you need to use Skype for podcasting and record audio at the same time, the iPad Pro's tricks and tools, and its superior screen, make it possible at the end of the day proving to be the primary device I move to when away from my work computer