What is going on, everybody?
I am Mike.
Welcome back to Tech 24/7 TV, and I'm going to tell
you honestly, I think I screwed up here.
This is the Kensington StudioDock for the twelve point
nine inch iPad Pro.
Right here.
I have the twenty-twenty (2020) iPad Pro and it works with the
twenty-eighteen (2108) iPad Pro.
They also sell version that is available for the 11 inch iPad
Air or the 11 inch iPad Pro.
But I'm going to be the first to tell you that you should
not buy this.
If you have either one of those devices and you have any plans
moving forward to upgrade to a new iPad Pro .
It could be today, could be tomorrow, could be six
months from now, if you were even considering it,
Don't buy this because this is going to muck up
your workflow.
This is a three hundred ninety nine dollars accessory to
extend the capabilities of your iPad Pro.
If you want to use storage if you want to output your display
from your iPad Pro to another display or charge devices here
in the front,
it's limited and it's basically a three hundred and ninety
nine dollars paperweight.
I'm going to tell you why.
If you bought this with the intention of owning a twenty-
twenty one iPad Pro.
Bad news for you.
The tolerances between the backplate here in the back and
the USB-C port in relation to the iPad are so tight you
cannot use this.
So you essentially have to buy a new one, according to
Kensington and their website saying that this model is not
compatible to twenty-twenty-one (2021) iPad Pro .
Now maybe they're going to make an updated version for this
twenty-twenty-one iPad Pro and just release it.
Normal stock, add some more interfaces
that support Thunderbolt.
But at this point, if you were to buy this and you have any
intention of upgrading, don't buy it because you are
going to be stuck using this with your twenty-eighteen,
twenty-twenty iPad Pro, and have no upgrade
path for that.
Which is very sad because this is a nice accessory.
It fills a lot of needs for I think a lot of people in it.
And at three hundred dollars, even though it is expensive,
it does have broad applicability If you want to do
major work or significant work on your iPad Pro and using
your iPad Pro as your main machine.
New into the iPad Pro this year is going to be the addition
of Thunderbolt three.
If you are unfamiliar, it allows throughput
connectivity from your iPad via the Thunderbolt interface,
which is really just USB-C at this point, up to four times
faster at 40 gigabits per second.
The problem with this is that this is USB-C, and with USB C,
you're going to max out at ten gigs per second.
So if you have any type of creative workflow that has a
demand for fast storage, fast media reading files need
to have fast storage.
You need to have a way of connecting to that
fast storage.
Well, the problem is that you are now introducing a
bottleneck into your workflow by having this if you have a
Thunderbolt three device.
What's the point of that?
You are working harder, not smarter on all.
There are a number of different things I like about the
StudioDock including this rotate mechanism.
This is great.
Probably best in class.
I've seen a lot of different mechanisms like this and they
don't rotate smoothly.
The magnets here along the back,
they're really strong.
And hold your iPad sturdy.
It's well-made.
It's all aluminum mashing aluminum.
Also that fact that it does have Fast Charging at thirty
seven and a half what's it is enough to charge your iPad and
any of the different accessories that you have here
on the back of it, including three different USB-A
ports at five gigs per second and each of them in a
gigabit Ethernet port.
It looks good, but a three hundred ninety nine dollars.
How good it looks, it doesn't matter.
I don't want to be more pain for my workflow because
something looks good.
You want something that has expandable, that is
flexible and that allows you to work as quickly as possible
without introducing hiccups or roadblocks to your workflow.
So a lot of flexibility, a lot of robustness, but it's just
not fast enough for kind of modern workflows.
And I think that's where Kensington failed.
At three hundred seventy nine dollars for the 11 inch or
three hundred ninety nine point nine inch.
You're making your life harder when you don't need to be.
This product is not designed for having fast storage,
having Thunderball three connectivity, and by that
you should actually stay away from it.
This is not the ideal product.
If you are creative, if you want to use this because you
have no upgrade path, there's no forward thinking in
this product,
you're tied to it the way that it is.
It may be fine for you, but that's certainly not fine
for me in my workflows.
I want something where I have a little bit of flexibility.
Not so where if I change my workflow, I am not have
to retool everything.
I'm not tied into this paperweight for lack of
a better term.
Any time the coupling between two products are so tight,
where if you were to change something, you have to
buy a brand new product.
It's acceptable, but not when the product is
four hundred dollars.
So that to me is a big fail in my book.
I like this, but again, I don't think that is worth the $400
dollars especially if you plan on buying the new twenty-twenty-
one iPad Pro.
I'd love to see video out over Thunderbolt, over USB-C.
I love to see faster USB ports and I'd love to see faster USB
seaports for data.
Also, I think that there is an opportunity here to decouple
the iPad and the thickness of the device from this
back plate here.
Maybe you make the backplate expandable or detachable where
you can then upgrade at some point down the road.
I'm not asking Kensington to to bear the burden of me
complaining about this, but I am asking that you should at
least make it somewhat kind of upgradable.
You know, it's not a three dollars case for your iPhone.
It's a four hundred dollar accessory for your iPad.
There's a big difference there.
And I think that's where they missed the mark.
If you own eleven and your iPad Pro or twelve point nine inch
iPad Pro , your upgrading to the new twenty twenty one.
Don't buy this because there's no thunderbolt, all the benefit
that you get by adding Thunderbolt three, you lose by
adding up because the bottleneck, you go from
having 40 gigabit throughput down to 10 gigabit throughput.
Why would you willingly introduce a bottleneck into
your workflow where makes it harder for you to work?
Seems kind of silly, right?
I am not a fan of this.
I am not happy that they did this and I am advising you not
to buy it.
Mike, this is Tech 24/7 TV.
Love to hear what you think about this in
the comments below.
I will talk to the next one.