- The iPad is one of my favorite devices ever
whether it's the Standard iPad, the iPad Pro
or even the upcoming iPad Air 4,
these things are super powerful and versatile
in what they can do.
They can do so many things just on their own
but beyond what the iPad can do all by itself
by adding just a few accessories,
you can completely change
and enhance what you can do with iPad.
So today I wanted to show you my favorite accessories
for my iPad Pro.
Hey, I'm Jerry and I use the crap out of my iPad Pro
and one of the biggest reasons for that is
the iPad Magic Keyboard.
As we all know, the iPad Magic Keyboard
was released earlier this year
and includes this crazy double-hinge floating iPad design.
The iPad just attaches with magnets
and just kind of hangs over the keyboard
and it's very odd and also cool.
The keyboard itself is the same redesigned magic keyboard
that Apple has been putting on all of their devices
over the last year or so.
The keys feel really good to me.
I have a decent amount of travel,
they don't sound too loud and they're back lit.
On the bottom of this case, you have a track pad
which is very much like other Apple track pads, it's glass,
it's multi-touch and you can click it anywhere.
The track pad is what really kind of transforms the iPad
into a real laptop replacement.
With the addition of mouse support in iOS 13.4,
the iPad has become more of a productivity tool
being able to easily edit text
or be able to move around the screen
with a tool other than your finger.
The USB port on the bottom backside is really handy
for charging the device from the case through to the iPad.
This allows for the USB port on the side
of the iPad to still be available
for other accessories that we'll get to later.
If you'd like to see more of my opinions
on the iPad magic keyboard,
I made a video after you're using it for six weeks.
If you're interested in that, check out the video below.
You may have noticed
that I have a skin on my iPad magic keyboard.
This is a soapy guard skin, the 3M matrix version.
This skin is awesome because the iPad magic keyboard
by itself has this external rubbery material
that just picks up dirt and grime and finger oils,
no matter what you do.
You can try using rubbing alcohol
or dish soap to try and get the stains out
and it works for a while
but eventually they just kind of stick around.
So the next best option was recommended
in the comments on one of my videos
and that's this soapy guard skin.
The skin itself is not that difficult to apply.
You just take your time,
go slowly and make sure everything's lined up correctly.
What is nice about this soapy guard skin
is that it gives you pieces for the exterior top and bottom
but also on the inside around the palm rest
and above the keyboard.
Having a scan on the iPad
makes the iPad Magic Keyboard feel more durable
and more rugged.
I no longer have to worry about what's on a table
or making sure I wipe it off
or being more aware of where I set it down.
I can just set it down, open it up and use it.
Next up the Apple pencil.
Although I'm not a huge Apple pencil user,
I do enjoy playing with it from time to time.
And now with iPad iOS 14 and the new scribble feature,
you can basically write inside any text field on the iPad
and have it converted to text.
You can go from a note taking app or a drawing app to Safari
and write in a URL without needing to put the pencil down.
From writers and note takers to fidgeters,
this can be a handy tool to have.
In fact, I've fallen more in the fidgeter category
and sometimes they do this or that
or maybe sometimes I put it up in my ear like that
and look, I pretend I'm a carpenter.
One of the rare instances that I actually use
the Apple pencil is inside Microsoft One Note
I take notes usually with the keyboard
and then sometimes if I'm in a technical discussion
or a whiteboard discussion, I will then transcribe
or draw the item next to my typed out notes.
You can actually make the Apple pencil even better
with a matte screen protector.
The eyecare is matte screen protector provides
a little more texture,
a little more resistance to writing on the screen
and it's more like paper than writing on glass.
I never liked the feeling of any tablet or PDA
using a stylus and writing on glass or plastic
or whatever the screen was made of
that transition from the physical world
with a pen and paper never quite worked for me,
going to a digital world with glass and plastic.
More important to me than pencil support,
the matte screen protector also reduces glare
and fingerprint smudges.
I'm now able to use my iPad anywhere
there's bright light like in my living room
or in my backyard.
And I don't have to play angle adjustment gymnastics
just to be able to see the screen.
And just like installing the skin
on the iPad Magic Keyboard,
you just go slow, take your time
and it's really not all that difficult,
just follow the instructions or watch my video.
Now let's say you don't want an iPad Magic Keyboard
for some reason but you still wanna be able to prop up
the iPad to watch a movie or take a video call.
That's where this Yoassi Tripod Adaptor
for iPad comes in handy.
This is a tripod adaptor for iPad
that obviously screws onto the top of a tripod.
Now that can be the Amazon 60-inch, Amazon Basics Tripod
or it can be a Manfrotto Pixie Mini-tripod,
whatever you need.
All you need to do is put the iPad in here,
clamp this down and that works for an iPad Pro
or even an iPad Mini.
Turn this knob to tighten it and you're good to go.
We'll put this Manfrotto mini
on the bottom here and stand it up.
And then you can actually make additional adjustments
on the Yoassi Tripod Adapter itself.
If you loosen up this nut back here,
you now have the ability to make angle adjustments
to get it just perfect the way you want it.
Just tighten it up when you're done and you're good to go.
I've actually used this exact setup
for many of virtual happy hours
with friends and family over the last few months
as well as for work calls and Zoom meetings.
Next up is probably the second most important accessory
after the iPad Magic Keyboard, AirPods.
Yes, these magical little noisemakers
that look a little funny hanging out of our ears
are incredibly important for how I use my iPad.
I got my first pair of AirPods in 2018
and ever since they're always in my pocket.
Having a case that is this tiny, this compact
and that can fit in your pocket
without feeling bulky is invaluable to me.
Whether I'm sitting on the couch, standing in line
or going for a walk, the ability to just pull this out,
slap these in my ears
and have a good wireless audio experience
is so much more convenient than I would've imagined.
I never leave the house without them.
I have my phone in my left pocket,
I had my keys, my wallet and my AirPods in my right pocket
and they're just always there always ready to go.
And now with iOS 14 audio switching
between iPad and iPhone is so much faster
like check this out.
(rock music)
(fast-paced music)
- Needless to say, the beast--
(fast-paced music)
- Yeah, right.
I no longer have to go into control center
and then click on the audio sharing icon
and then tap on my AirPods when I'm moving
from my phone to my tablet, it's just instant.
I can just go back and forth
and I guess it's supposed to be available
in macOS Big Sur as well so that'll be awesome.
So I've talked a lot on this channel about making your iPad
your primary computer
and different ways that you can do that
and how to get rid of apps
and use more Safari just like you would on a laptop.
But what about when you start to run into storage issues?
For backing up my iPad or offloading off the iPad,
I use the Samsung T7 SSD.
This is a one terabyte USB 3.1 Gen2 SSD
that is incredibly fast on a computer,
not so much on the iPad, but it works.
Because the iPad Pro has USB-C,
you're able to connect directly from this SSD to the iPad
with no adapters and no external power supplies needed.
Like I said, the drive is not as fast
on the iPad as it is on a Mac or a PC
and I don't know exactly why that is
and it's actually gonna feel really slow
if you just buy this, pull it out of the box and connect it.
To make this run at its top speed for the iPad,
you actually have to format this in APFS using a Mac.
And if you're interested in seeing a video on that,
you can check the description below.
I've also used this drive
when transferring large video files like the ones coming off
this camera right here to my iPad for video editing.
And you might ask why I don't just use AirDrop.
Well, when you start getting into 10, 15, 20, 30 gigabytes
for video files, that airdrop
is not always the most reliable.
So in that instance, I connect this to my iPhone
using the Apple USB 3 camera adapter,
having files to this and then USB-C from this to the iPad.
And that makes the transfer go much quicker
and it's much more reliable.
Now you don't need to actually go out
and spend a bunch of money on a Samsung SSD
since you're not going to be getting the top drive
of the speed when connecting to the iPad anyway.
So if you already have a thumb drive
or an external USB drive of some kind,
you can just get something like this.
This is an anchor USB-C to USB-A adapter.
This guy comes in handy
if you're looking to copy files directly off of a camera
or maybe an SD card reader
and you can even connect mice to it.
I use this for testing mice
with the iPad earlier this year when iOs 13.4 came out.
Speaking of mice, the Apple magic track pad
and the Apple Magic Mouse are great accessories
to go along with your iPad
even if you have the iPad Magic Keyboard.
As much as I love having a built-in track pad
to go with my iPad,
sometimes your arm gets a little bit tired,
you just need to change the pace
or sometimes you just need something more precise
for editing text.
Well, that's where a mouse comes in handy.
The ability to move over to the right side of the keyboard
for a more ergonomic position
can really save the stress on your arm.
And of course the space gray colors go perfectly
with the iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard.
I know a lot of people don't like the Apple Magic Mouse
for one reason or another
but I like it for the initial scrolling that it offers.
It gives me the ability to just flick my finger
and have it keep going
or I just keep slowly moving my finger
and it's just a much smoother scrolling experience.
If you don't get all the features you want
from the Apple Magic Mouse,
the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 is great
because it offers all of the same features
as the built-in track pad and a much larger size
that you can place wherever you need for ergonomics.
It swipes between apps, it goes to the home screen
and it has the same initial scrolling as the mouse.
Of course, having an external mouse and keyboard goes great
with the iPad when connecting it to an external monitor
although not yet best overall experience,
you can run your iPad off an external monitor
by using a USB-C to HTMI adapter
like this Apple USB-C Digital Avi MultiPort Adapter.
Yeah, I got all the words.
The adapter has input for USB-C power, HTMI out
and USB-A in for hard drives or mice or whatever.
With an external monitor connected,
the iPad can now give you an almost desktop like experience.
Unfortunately, the screen stays on and depending
on where you have to place your iPad
to connect everything up and could be a little distracting.
So now that I think about all this stuff,
it's actually quite a bit and a left a few out
regardless the iPad of any version
is an incredible device all by itself
and you don't need any of this stuff to get
a lot of use out of it.
However, if you are interested in doing more with your iPad,
being more creative, being more productive,
you can grab a few accessories and go to town.
For me, the most indispensable accessories
are going to be the magic keyboard and AirPods.
With those things and my iPad,
I can get 95% of everything I do done.
I can remote into work servers,
I can edit videos.
I can manage my home expenses, I can edit photos.
I can do all my shopping from here.
How much more do you need?
I know at some point you're just thinking to yourself,
why not just buy a laptop?
Well, that's some of the fun of having an iPad.
So what accessories are you using?
What am I not using that I should be?
Let me know below.
If you're interested in hearing more
about this iPad Magic Keyboard which I love,
I have a great video about it.
You can check out right over here.
Hit the like button if you did,
hit subscribe if you want and we'll see you next time.
(mellow music)