This is my Minimalist workspace today.
Sometimes you have writing and podcast editing to do, and all you need is a small folding table, the 2021 iPad Pro with the M1 chip, an Apple Pencil, and the AirPods Max playing some Spatial Audio music from Apple Music’s Dolby Atomos tracks.
Oh. And some peace and quiet in the bedroom whilst the rest of the family occupies the living room for their WFH and HBL.
Some thoughts on the 2021 iPad Pro: it is wicked fast. That new M1 chip chews through any task I throw at it. Including video editing. The Liquid Retina XDR display is the best screen I’ve ever used on a tablet or a laptop.
The Centre Stage feature of the iPad Pro’s new 12MP Ultrawide front-facing camera is also very neat for video conferencing as it digitally zooms in on your face and follows you as you move around. It’s like having your own cameraman.
My only gripe is that the camera is located to the side of the iPad Pro when you use it in landscape mode, and you may look like you are looking away, and not at members of your meeting, when you look at screen.
In case you are wondering, no you can't add an external webcam to the iPad Pro still. So it is just as well the front-facing camera has been improved and has the Centre Stage feature.
And the Thunderbolt 3 port on this iPad Pro means file transfers are going to be so fast. Slap a Caldigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt dock on it and you have a desktop mode iPad Pro. All the ports you’ll need. You can connect up to a Pro Display XDR external display at full 6K resolution but be aware that it is only in mirror mode.
For folks who use a lot of Pencil work, like design, art and AR/VR, the iPad Pro with M1 chip is probably the best computing device for their needs.
I am wondering if I can even use it for a travel video editing tool in lieu of a MacBook Pro when work travel resumes. Hmmmm.
That white Magic Keyboard is really pretty, and it works on this 2021 5th generation iPad Pro as well as the previous 3rd and 4th generation models. I only worry about cleaning it. If you like, you can still buy the black Magic Keyboard for this M1 iPad Pro. It all works. Personally, I think the white Magic Keyboard looks nicer with the silver iPad Pro, and the black one goes with the Space Grey iPad Pro.
On a totally unrelated note, this is a photo of brunch on one of my WFH days with the iPad Pro in the background. Home-cooked food is the best.