I’ve been quite content with my personal computing technology for the past couple of years. My iPhone 6S Plus still works well, my retina MacBook Pro chugs along fine, and my original generation iPad Pro was my favorite personal computing device of all time. It really was my primary computer.

The key word in that paragraph is, of course, “was.” When the 2018 iPad Pros were announced I decided this would be the model which would trigger an upgrade. Two factors which lent me to think this were the speed boost and the shift to USB-C. The former is such a serious upgrade it’s mind-boggling, and my original generation Pro was no slouch. The latter could save me money in the future since I won’t have to double-up on adapters. But my biggest reason for wanting to upgrade was the new keyboard.

Ever since I purchased my first iPad Pro the keyboard cover has been my favorite keyboard for writing. I don’t know if it’s the cloth cover, or if the travel distance for the keys is in my typing sweet spot, but I love typing on it. But it has one drawback. While I’ve only purchased one of these keyboards, I’ve owned three. The connection between the smart connector and the keyboard cover was a serious design flaw in the original generation iPad Pros. It would inevitably bend, leaving the keyboard’s reliability tenuous at best. When I saw how Apple had redesigned both the smart connector and the keyboard cover I saw how it solved this problem which has plagued me for a couple of years ¹.

I wasn’t mistaken. Not only is the connection between the smart connector and the keyboard much sturdier, the re-engineered case offers near wrap-around protection to the device. Because the cover is attached the back of the iPad with magnets it also no longer flops forward when the keyboard is in use. This makes the 2018 iPad Pro much more lapable.

There also two angles at which the cover works, which is a nice addition. While this is nothing compared to the excellent hinged kickstands on Microsoft’s Surface line ², it’s still a nice addition. I find the more vertical angle to be better when I’m using a lap-desk, it makes the screen feel larger and my typing less cramped ³.

Tomorrow I’ll share some more thoughts on the 2018 iPad Pro’s features. But for writers, the redesigned keyboard is a killer feature which makes the iPad usable in even more situations.