Does the Magic Keyboard for the 11" iPad Pro Feel Too Cramped?
Many of the Magic Keyboard reviews have been focused on the one for the 12.9" iPad Pro (iJustine, MKBHD, The Verge, etc). There have been far fewer reviews on the 11" version. Granted, many similarities between the two exist, including a sturdy build, meh-ish polyurethane material, fantastic keyboard, and smooth trackpad. You can learn more about them in the links above or see a list of reviews here. Instead of rehashing all of that, I will focus on one question:
Does the keyboard feel too cramped?
The short answer is “no.” For context, I use my iPad Pro as my daily driver and type a lot. For the vast majority of the day, it is docked on my Magic Keyboard, connected to an external monitor, and I sometimes use a Logitech M585 bluetooth mouse with it (old habit). My hand is about 8" in size (tip of the middle finger down to the wrist).
Lack of function row allows for more spacious keys
Most people think the lack of the function row is a downside, but I disagree. I don’t use backlight on keyboards, so controlling the brightness doesn’t matter. While I do miss the media controls, it hasn’t been too bad to do it through control center or the volume rocker. When I do use my M585 mouse, I also set one of the buttons on it to bring up control center, and that helps a bit. A lot of the keyboard cases on Amazon will have a function row. But all of them feel cramped because of how much they are squeezing in.
Here is a typing test. The BT keyboard I used was a Logitech K380, a fan favorite among iPad users. The Logitech K380 is very close to a full sized keyboard. As you can see, the results are basically the same.
Not all keys are created equal (in size)
While the most commonly used keys do not feel cramped, there are a few that are cramped physically. All the keys that are smaller include ~, tab, caps lock, shift, enter, keyboard settings, ctl , opt, CMD, -, =, ], and \. In particular, the ~, -, =, ] , and \ keys are shrunken to about half the size of other keys.
The red boxes above illustrate this point clearly. It seems like Apple has figured out that these keys are less commonly used and thus can be shrunken down. As someone who mostly writes, I don’t use these keys that often. However, I do occasionally use the ] key, so I am still getting used to this smaller footprint.
Note: Apple’s press images did not include a top-down view of the US English layout, so I had to use the British layout of the keyboard.The only major difference between the two is the shape of the Enter key.
The trackpad is decently sized
I used to have a Surface 3, which is about the same dimension as the 11" iPad Pro, but the trackpad on the Magic Keyboard is bigger than that of the Surface 3 keyboard. The size is about 4 inches x 2 inches. I can comfortably use all the multi-finger gestures. It does feel a bit awkard to use on my lap, but it is not a dealbreaker to me because Microsoft also hasn’t solved that issue with their Surface trackpad sizes.
The bottom line is the Magic Keyboard for the 11" iPad Pro does not feel cramped. I haven’t missed the function row terribly, but I never used it that much on other keyboards. There are compromises on some of the keys that are used less frequently. The trackpad works fine for its size. As always, factor in your hand size, workflow, and work environment (using it at a desk or on your lap) when you consider getting this for your iPad Pro.
