The Good Keyboard Folio was one of the best iPad accent

The case for using an iPad as a computer has by no means been stronger. Apple has slowly pushed its pill to be extra like its laptops and desktop computer systems for years, however in 2026, they’re extra related than ever. Certain, the modifications have not come as shortly as iPad diehards have wished, however the truth that current iPad Pros ship with OLED screens and the identical chips utilized in Apple’s laptops, run a number of the identical professional apps, and assist equipment that give them a number of the identical bodily options, goes a good distance in the direction of closing the hole.

One downside stays, although: The iPad is not a standard pc. It weirdly straddles a number of kinds of computing on goal, one thing Apple would not ignore, but in addition would not have fun. After experimenting with it for per week, I feel the Good Keyboard Folio, at one level the default keyboard case for the pill, represents the correct of compromise between making the iPad extra like a correct pc, with out getting in the best way of what makes an iPad pill.

The Good Keyboard Folio is light-weight and tactile

Apple’s unique keyboard case would not have a trackpad

The unique Good Keyboard was launched alongside the iPad Pro in 2015, Apple’s first foray into tablets designed for work. The corporate had offered keyboard equipment for the iPad prior to now, and the pill’s assist for Bluetooth signifies that any previous wi-fi keyboard may work in a pinch, however the Good Keyboard was distinctive within the sense that it wasn’t actually designed to be taken off. The keyboard acted as a canopy for the display screen, attaching to the facet of the pill, and unfolded to disclose its keys and prop up the iPad Professional whenever you wanted to sort. If you happen to most well-liked contact or wished to attract with the Apple Pencil, one other iPad Professional addition, you simply folded the Good Keyboard across the again of the pill.

When Apple redesigned the iPad Pro in 2018, it additionally launched a brand new model of its keyboard accent referred to as the Good Keyboard Folio, one that will additionally go on to be appropriate with a number of variations of the iPad Air, the pill I am testing the case with. The foremost distinction with the Good Keyboard Folio is that its keyboard was in a position to fold flat, and as a “folio” it coated each the back and front of an iPad, relatively than simply the display screen. Whereas I’ve actually grown accustomed to utilizing a trackpad with my iPad because of the Magic Keyboard, the present alternative for the Good Keyboard Folio that Apple launched in 2020, switching again to the older accent has been eye-opening. Not essentially as a result of it affords a greater typing expertise — the keys on the Good Keyboard Folio are extra cramped, and really feel mushier — however as a result of the entire case is a extra pure match for the opposite methods I exploit my iPad.

My iPad Air is now not the first approach I take notes, however the pill continues to be one in all my favourite methods to browse the net, watch movies, and browse articles I’ve saved. All these issues could be accomplished whereas the pill is mounted on a Magic Keyboard, however they really feel loads higher to do after I’m simply holding my iPad in my arms like a guide or a chunk of paper. For as a lot as I like having a keyboard and trackpad that really feel ripped from a MacBook, consistently attaching and detaching my iPad from the Magic Keyboard is annoying.

With the Good Keyboard Folio, I haven’t got that downside. The keyboard a part of the case folds flat towards the again of my iPad Air when it is not in use, letting me write and draw on my pill simply by flipping the Good Keyboard Folio round. Not for nothing, the case can be lighter and thinner than the Magic Keyboard, which makes it even simpler to slide my iPad right into a backpack with the Good Keyboard Folio connected. Mixed, they make my iPad Air really feel much more like a pill than a clumsy laptop computer.

Apple is more and more making the iPad one other Mac

The corporate’s software program and {hardware} proceed to converge

If you happen to take a look at latest modifications Apple’s made to the iPad, selling the system’s inherent tablet-ness is not the largest precedence. Largely, Apple appears to be following iPad customers’ lead in attempting to make the pill higher at getting work accomplished. The largest addition in final yr’s iPadOS 26 update wasn’t the brand new Liquid Glass design components, however a brand new multitasking system with many similarities to what Apple at present affords on macOS. Different modifications, like with the ability to add folders to the dock or run duties within the background, make the pill much more computer-like.

The truth that Apple makes use of key elements from its laptops in most of its iPad helps energy these extra superior software program options. The M5 chip got here to the iPad Professional similtaneously it did the MacBook Pro. The iPad Professional’s tandem OLED display screen, billed as an Extremely Retina XDR, affords the identical ProMotion excessive refresh fee and HDR options of the corporate’s costliest laptops and desktops, and in some methods, at a greater high quality than the mini LED shows Apple makes use of in its present MacBook Professionals. The iPad Professional specifically, however actually all the corporate’s tablets, are seemingly designed to be extra versatile and touch-friendly alternate options to Apple’s laptops. That is not essentially factor or a foul factor, but it surely does appear to be the course Apple has dedicated to taking.

The iPad won’t ever be only one factor

Even a keyboard cannot drag a vibrant touchscreen down

The iPad is perhaps turning into one other Apple laptop computer, but it surely nonetheless has a touchscreen, and it is nonetheless very totally different from the remainder of the corporate’s gadgets. After a very long time utilizing my iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard, switching to the Good Keyboard Folio was reminder of all the opposite issues my iPad can do. Because it seems, I haven’t got to sacrifice them to get typing expertise. I do not know that it could make sense for Apple to start out making an adjunct just like the Good Keyboard Folio once more, however I really feel sure there’s room for equipment that add options to the corporate’s tablets with out turning them into one other laptop computer.