Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock

I’ve been using this iPad keyboard dock for a while now, and I guess it’s time for a short review.

The iPad keyboard is an official Apple device and was made by Apple in China, just like all the iDevices. Unlike the bluetooth or the infrared docks available in the market now, this dock requires no battery or any power source whatsoever, as it sap (!) power from the iPad itself. You can also charge the iPad while using the keyboard dock by using the dock connector port at the back. There’s also a connector for connection to external speakers.

Here it is...

From Apple’s sales brochure:

With the iPad Keyboard Dock, you get a useful home base for your iPad. It combines a built-in aluminum Apple keyboard with a dock for syncing, charging, and more. It also works with other iPad accessories, such as the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter and the iPad Camera Connection Kit.

The attached keyboard features a sleek anodized aluminum enclosure with low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel and an ultracompact design that fits on even the most crowded desk. Special keys provide one-touch access to a variety of iPad features — the Home screen, Spotlight search, display brightness, picture frame mode, the onscreen keyboard, and screen lock.

Unboxing...nice plastic packaging inside the box...smells good too

Packaging is superb and very minimal (very Apple-like), where there’s only the dock, USB cable and a small booklet inside the box. I think Apple can make the box smaller, but probably to not complicate things during shipping, they stick to a rectangle box.

Looks good in real-life

From my first impression during the unboxing (ironically at Austin Chase Coffee The Gardens), the dock is solidly built and not too heavy for carrying and not too light for operation (if it’s too light, the dock will moves around while you’re typing). Built quality is top notch (expected from Apple, again), with a clever usage of plastic and aluminum to make it some sort of a premium product (just like their MacBooks, iPhones and iPads). There’s no sample dock at Machines (where I bought the dock), so there’s no sample set to check before buying. Minus point for Machines.

Have I mention that the dock is a full-sized keyboard? If you own a MacBook, then you’ll feel at home. It’s very comfortable to use the chiclet keys and you’ll rarely missed a key. To make the keyboard looks even better, it was made to be as low profile as the MacBook Air.

Connecting the dock with iPad

Connecting the iPad to the dock is very easy, aligning the iPad with the connector and you’re good to go.

Now for some real life world usage of the keyboard dock. How do I feel about the dock? Well, I’m quite happy and comfortable with it but (yeah, there’s a but) I think Apple should incorporated some improvement on the keyboard itself and not to concentrate too much on the shell design.

It charges the iPad too

I can only wish that:

• The angle of the iPad is adjustable;
• The iPad can be used horizontally too;
• The dock should comes with a carrying case or something like that. It’s a bit weird having to carry the dock inside your laptop bag;
• Larger base at the back of the dock – equals to steadier stand for the iPad;
• Apple sells the dock cheaper, so I can buy two – one for my office and one for home.

But overall (despite the shortcomings), I’m happy with my RM229 purchase. You can get the iPad keyboard dock at Machines or online at Apple Malaysia.

Looks good from the back too

Pros: Excellent built quality; easy to use straight from the box; durable.

Cons: Can be cheaper; sometimes there’s lag while using dock (you press a key and nothing happen); keyboard can be a bit hot when using for extended time; no horizontal mode; hard to carry around.

I’m sorry for the bad photos as I’m using my backup phone (Nokia E5 – fixed focus) to photograph the review.

iPad 2 in Malaysia on 29th April 2011!

There’s a buzz among gadget blogs and gadget freaks alike on the arrival of Apple iPad 2 in Malaysia. Some say Singapore will likely be receiving the iPad 2 first before Malaysia. But now it’s official. Machines will start selling the much anticipated iPad 2 this Friday, 29th April 2011.

iPad 2 is finally here!

This is based on the SMS that I received at 10.51pm yesterday from Machines Malaysia:

iPad 2 available 29/4/11 @machines Mid Valley, KLCC, Lot 10, AEON Bukit Tinggi, Sunway Pyramid & JB City Square. http://www.facebook.com/machines.apple.reseller

Official prices are:

Wifi: 16Gb – RM1,499, 32Gb – RM1,799, 64Gb – RM2,099

3G+Wifi: 16Gb – RM1,899, 32Gb – RM2,199, 64b – RM2,499

Go get ’em, people!

My Long-term Test: Apple MacBook (White – Oct ’09)

I’ve been using my MacBook for about 6 months now, and I guessed it’s time for my long-term test.

My MacBook White Duo Core

Since using the Mac OS X, I’m getting more familiar with the OS, and almost 8 out of 10 times, I will usually opted for the Mac OS X over Windows 7. I won’t be dwelling on which OS is better, but it’s safe to say that I like Mac OS X very much. And very stable.

The spec of my MacBook is standard: Intel Core 2 Duo (1.07 GHz), 2Gb DDR3 RAM, 250Gb HDD and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphic card. Performance wise, no complaint. But I wish I can afford to add more RAMs, just to speed things up, if needed.

Since the MacBook’s body is all white, some kind of protections are needed. Therefore, I purchased the Moshi palmguard, rubber keyboard protector (brand unknown) and the Speck SeeThru’ Hard Shell Case. I also bought the Golla MacBook sleeve and the Deuter Giga Office Pro laptop bag to complete the protection aspect of the MacBook.

Cool design

So far I’ve installed several software into my Mac, and the more interesting ones are iLife ’11, iWork, Microsoft Office 2008 Mac Edition, Toast Titanium 10, TechTool Pro 5, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Aperture 3.0.3, CleanMyMac 1.9.3, iStat Menus, iAntiVirus, Parallels Desktop, jDownloader and some games (Drawn, EggFarm, Mystery of Cleopatra and Plants vs Zombies).

Sometimes I missed my Windows. Therefore, I need Windows on my Mac. Fortunately, Apple has an app for this purpose: Bootcamp. You can install Microsoft Windows on your Mac using a specific driven instruction in Bootcamp. I’ve installed Windows 7 Home Edition and whenever I needed my Windows, I just booted it up. Simple.

With all the applications and games installed, I noticed that the MacBook is a tad slow, and this is probably due to the applications’ resources in the memory and the not-so-optimum 2Gb RAMs. I planned to install another 2Gb RAM to further optimise the experience. While waiting for that, I think the MacBook performs quite well.

As for the battery, I can only get about 4 hours with full charge (far off from the quoted 10 hours). And this is with bluetooth and AirPort (WiFi) on. If I turned off both the bluetooth and WiFi, I still can get only 4.5 hours of usage till empty. This is bad.

Black mark on palmrest area

My worry before I purchased the MacBook is the colour. It’s too white. And it’s prone to smudges and definitely a dust magnet. The frame of the MacBook is made from shiny polycarbonate, and it can be quite dirty if handled roughly. I eliminated the problem by using the Speck shell to protect the exterior and Moshi palmguard to protect the palm area. As you can see from the photo above, the right side of the palm area has become dark through constant use. Imagine if there’s no palmguard to protect that particular area.

Discolouring. Notice the difference between the screen area and the keyboard

I also noticed that the white interior has become a bit yellowish, especially around the screen area. I don’t really know the reason for this, but probably due to exposure. There are already reports on the internet about the yellowish issues, and it happened to almost every owner. I guess I have to live with it, as long as I can use the MacBook normally.

Time to change to the aluminium-bodied MacBook Air?