Logitech Combo Contact for iPad Air/iPad Professional 2024 evaluation

Worth When Reviewed

iPad Air M2, 11-inch: $229.99; 13-inch: $259.99; iPad Professional M4, 11-inch: $199.99; 13-inch: $229.99

Greatest Costs In the present day: Logitech Combo Contact for iPad Air/iPad Professional (2024)

Logitech (iPad Air M2 mannequin)

$199.99

$216.91

Logitech (iPad Professional M4 mannequin)

$229.99

Logitech makes a fair wider vary of iPad keyboards than Apple, however selecting the best mannequin is comparatively simple as Logitech’s web site means that you can kind in your iPad’s mannequin quantity – discovered on the again of the iPad – and can then present you which of them keyboards are appropriate along with your mannequin.

Top-of-the-line all-round choices from Logitech is the Combo Contact, which is obtainable in quite a lot of sizes for iPad, iPad Air and iPad Professional. Earlier fashions in Logitech’s Combo Contact vary have been all very related, merely various in dimension to accommodate totally different iPad fashions, and the several types of Good Connector that Apple has launched over time. These older fashions are nonetheless out there for the older iPads, however the brand new editions for the 2024 iPad Professional and iPad Air have had a little bit of a redesign.

It retains the removable, two-piece design of earlier fashions, with a separate case and keyboard panel. You need to use the iPad within the case with out the keyboard, simply to supply some additional safety once you’re holding the iPad in your palms or carrying it round, and there’s a cut-out part on the case that leaves room to connect an Apple Pencil. The case additionally has an adjustable stand that can will let you sit again and watch video whereas the iPad sits on a desk or desk. The stand part fully covers the edges and the again of the iPad for added safety once you’re simply utilizing the iPad in pill mode, and means that you can regulate the viewing angle from 100 to 600 as required.

Whenever you’re able to do some work you’ll be able to merely use the Good Connectors on the case to connect the keyboard panel and begin typing. The keyboard part connects to magnetic holders on the stand, which maintain each sections firmly in place, and the keyboard attracts its energy from the Good Connector in your iPad. The keys journey effectively for such a skinny keyboard, so you’ll be able to definitely get some work executed when it’s essential to, and the keyboard even has an adjustable backlight too.

Like Apple’s costlier keyboards, the Combo Contact additionally features a trackpad, which helps quite a lot of gestures with one, two or three fingers. The highest row of Perform keys means that you can regulate settings akin to brightness and quantity, together with playback controls for music and video. There’s a Perform key to regulate the backlight, and a key that takes you straight to the Dwelling display, and we just like the Lock key that allows you to rapidly flip the iPad on or off (and works rather well in case your iPad has Face ID).

That’s all enterprise as regular for the Combo Contact keyboards, however the redesigned fashions for 2024 are fairly a bit lighter than their predecessors. The keyboards for the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air weigh 495g and 686g respectively, and – as with Apple’s new Magic Keyboard – the iPad Professional model is even lighter, at 474g for the 11-inch mannequin and 660g for the 13-inch mannequin. The colour selections are additionally totally different with the 2024 Combo Contact for iPad Professional coming in Graphite, whereas older variations of that mannequin are Oxford Grey or Sand. The colour and materials of the newer iPad Air possibility can be totally different for 2024.

The trackpad on these new keyboards is bigger than beforehand as effectively, which makes it simpler to make use of multi-finger gestures for duties akin to zooming in on photographs, or flicking from one photograph to a different. The keyboard feels agency and responsive, and there have been some adjustments to the Perform keys for this technology. The keys that beforehand activated the on-screen keyboard and Search have been changed with keys for capturing screenshots and utilizing Siri or dictation, and the important thing that used to lock the iPad display now switches to Do Not Disturb mode.

So whereas it won’t have the luxurious supplies and construct high quality of the brand new Apple Magic Keyboard, the Combo Contact for 2024 gives a light-weight and versatile keyboard/case combo at a significantly cheaper price than its Apple rival.

Costs begin at $159.99/£159.99 for the Combo Contact for iPad mannequin. The 2024 M4 iPad Professional and 2024 M2 iPad Air fashions price extra. Listed here are the costs for every mannequin.

Combo Contact for iPad:

• iPad (tenth gen): $159.99/£159.99

Combo Contact for iPad Air:

• iPad Air M2, 11-inch: $199.99/£199.99
• iPad Air M2, 13-inch: $229.99/£229.99

Combo Contact for iPad Professional:

• iPad Professional M4, 11-inch: $229.99/£229.99
• iPad Professional M4, 13-inch: $259.99/£259.99

The Combo Contact circumstances for older iPad fashions can nonetheless be bought. For extra iPad keyboards check out our Greatest iPad Keyboards round-up or purchase a Bluetooth keyboard from our greatest keyboards round-up.

Shopping for recommendation

The 2024 variations of the Logitech Combo Contact for iPad Professional and iPad Air enhance on the earlier generations with a much bigger trackpad and a lighter construct. It nonetheless seems like some huge cash to spend on a keyboard to show an iPad right into a laptop computer when a 13-inch M2 MacBook Air begins at $999/$999 and a 13-inch M2 iPad Air plus Logitech keyboard begins at $1,028.99/£1,028.99, however, after all, Apple’s iPad keyboard answer would price you much more.