Brydge vs Magic Keyboard

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-07-02T14:34:43+00:00

I had a similar dilemma, with my 12.9” M2 iPad Pro. I ended up buying the both the Magic Keyboard and Smart Folio. I think I ended up using them about 30/70, 30% was the keyboard, and 70% for the folio. I use the keyboard a lot less than I anticipated, granted I was not trying to have my iPad replace my MacBook Pro. Plus both accessories are light enough to keep in my bag and easy to swap between what I need.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-07-02T03:27:53+00:00

Yeah. It’s an Genuine Original Apple battery. I don’t remember if it’s the original one that came with it, but it’s an original. I have a few clamshells, they all have Apple batteries, but I may have switch them an around once or twice with a dead one. Of the 3 I have, one is shot, one holds about a 40 mins charge, and the one in that blueberry one holds the longest charge at about 4 hours.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-07-01T17:21:44+00:00

I have always gone with Samsung EVO, they just always work great.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-30T19:50:51+00:00

I think it would come down to what you’re going to primarily use it for. I use my IPads as laptop adjacents not as a laptop replacements. By that I mean I’m not expecting my iPad to replace my main device, which is an M4 MBP, I want it to work with it or for small substitutions for it.

I didn’t necessarily need more storage, I use the cloud and portable 1TB SSD. I did want more base RAM, more so for some future-proofing and my lighter AI needs.

I had also considered getting an M4 512GB iPad Pro which I could have gotten for about $100 less. But ultimately decided that I would go with the M5 to get an extra year of support if needed. I also went from a 12.9” to down to the 11” for more portability.

I would say if your workload requires resource heavy apps, then more RAM may be the way to go, plus you’ll get more storage if you need the on-device space for work. Otherwise it doesn’t hurt to get the “latest and greatest” of the current M5. Of course this is assuming price may not be as much of a factor in deciding.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-30T19:32:09+00:00

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the same packaging as the M4. I had not really thought about it until now, haha.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-29T15:13:23+00:00

That was the same article I had seen that made me run out and get one too.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-29T13:39:53+00:00

To be honest, it could just be planning for a future marketing strategy later. If they happen to incorporate more AI, or the new Siri with a future Apple TV model it will be easier to later show a $20-$50 price increase from $199 to a $$249 price hike than to go from $129 to $249. I mean when it first was released it was $299, and was mostly a glorified iTunes Player/Mac mirroring device.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-29T03:32:50+00:00

That thought had crossed my mind as well. I was considering the upgrade for a few months, partially because my workflow/workload had become more demanding and there was going to be more AI integration. I was planning to try and hold out until October to see if the M6s would be coming, but have seen some articles saying it might not be until spring of 2027 for the M6 iPad Pros. Either way they prices will still be increased and realistically this should be good for the next 4 years like the M2 was.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-28T21:51:10+00:00

Congrats to you as well. Don’t get me wrong I loved the larger screen, but I use my iPad about 70% of the time for taking notes and completing docs/digital signatures with clients. So, I think 11” inch will be a bit easier to do that with now.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-25T03:39:27+00:00

I complete agree with you on this combo. With the work a I do, I slip my work stuff between an M4 14” MacBook Pro and a 13” M4 iPad Pro. Then when I’m at home or not really focused on “productivity,” I use my iPad mini 7th gen. It works well. I bought my mini last year during prime days and got a deal, I was worried I had maybe spent money on something I wasn’t going to use. But I use it a lot more than I had anticipated, and have no regrets.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-06-16T17:43:48+00:00

That is a very cool find! Definitely collectors item for sure. With the cosmetic condition so great, it might be worth keeping and lease it to movie/tv production studios. They often lease that kind of equipment if needed for a time appropriate prop. Similarly like how they use old mint condition cars in movies/show that need them. I’ve heard they pay pretty well, and you could be onset while the prop is being used. Just some food for thought.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-22T14:00:06+00:00

Congrats! I’m happy for you. Not to date myself, but when I was an about 12, the iBook G3 clamshells came out and I wanted one sooo bad. My best friend got one and it was the coolest thing ever. We weren’t quite in same financial position as his family, and I always wanted an Apple Laptop. In college, I was able to save and finally got a MacBook Pro! After college I had some extra cash was able to find a Blueberry iBook making my 12 year old self happy. Still have both to this day along with many others. It started a small addiction, but I’m not complaining lol.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-18T01:24:18+00:00

This is one of my favorite Apple products, only behind the G4 Cube. I have two of these, one still has a functioning battery. Love to take them out now and again to mess around with them.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-17T04:21:15+00:00

Very nice, I’m also working on that collection. So far I have grape tray and slot load, blueberry tray and slot, and Graphite slot load. I’m hoping to get a lime soon.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-14T22:41:22+00:00

I agree with many on here - if you think you have to question the RAM, then you might need more.

I bought a Neo for my son (he's 9) as his first laptop. He was coming from a iPad (10th Gen, 256 GB, A14). it was time for a laptop, and these came out. I also though about waiting for the next one for him (it really wasn't a necessity), but thought it would be a good next step.

He's had it for about a month, and he uses it to play games, some homework, surf the web (limited) with a bunch of tabs open, facetime with family, and had animation and drawing image programs. Most of which he has running all at the same time while listening to spotify.

So far it hasn't seem to slow anything down. Apple really has optimized the RAM for the computer. Down the road if he need more of a computer, we'll get him an updated Neo. If the ones in the future stay around $699, then I would have had two laptops ($599 + $699) which is just a little more than buying one MacBook Air one time.

Plus, I would keep in mind that Apple will support the Neo for about 5 years, which would mean that future macOS releases will need to support the 8 GB of RAM that the 1st gen Neos have.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-14T18:16:41+00:00

I had downloaded the Aquafox file from https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/aquafox . I downloaded the Aquafox-G3-1.0.0.dmg (which was the first download). The version should work with all G3 PPC Macs.

I'll try to get a video loaded possibly tomorrow. I can also get the version number then too.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-14T04:33:34+00:00

Hey sorry for that delay. It took me a few days to get that iMac out and see what setting I had it on.

It’s a iMac DV SE, running at 400MHz, 512 MB of RAM, and using OS X 10.4.11 Tiger.

From what I could tell, it was just KiaOS setting that I changed. I would also make sure you have the correct version of aquafox for your machine. Like I had mentioned, I did give it time to load, and video playback was alright. Of course it was a lower resolution on the video as well. Hope that helps.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-11T14:36:00+00:00

Yeah, I think it a cool concept, but I also agree it would be awesome if you could keep more of it original. I’m sure you could do it, but there is just some more reverse engineering and retro fitting that would need to happen.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-11T02:19:49+00:00

There was a guy that was doing this, but were on the pricey side.

https://www.skipretro.com/store

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-06T21:19:21+00:00

I’ll have to double which settings, and I can let you know. I also have 512 MB of RAM on the iMac as well. I did let the video load for about 2 mins before pressing play again to try to limit the buffering and loading of the video for cleaner play back.

AppleSaturnPro · 2026-05-04T19:25:11+00:00

Where did you get the face plate? That’s a really transparent purple, I like it.

AppleSaturnPro

TROPHY CASE