Astropad Slate turns an iPad and Apple Pencil into a drawing tablet for a Mac.
There’s no need to purchase a basic Wacom tablet or a similar accessory when the iPad and pen you already own can be used to draw into desktop creative application.
If you’re the proud owner of an iPad, you should get yourself a stylus that will help you write and draw well on the tablet. But an Apple Pencil 2 will set you back $129 (if you don’t find a good sale). So how about something just about as good for less than half the price? Enter SwitchEasy’s EasyPencil Pro.
Check out the SwitchEasy Sale in the Cult of Mac Store to get 20% off two versions of the stylus, plus extra tips for writing and drawing.
Just about everything electronic requires firmware — Apple’s iPad stylus is no exception. With software comes updates, and there’s new one for the recently released version of the Apple Pencil with a USB-C port.
Here’s how to check what firmware version your Apple Pencil is currently running, and a suggestion on how to get the new update.
You can get the incredibly useful Apple Pencil 2 for its lowest price ahead of Black Friday. Amazon is taking $40 off the iPad accessory, dropping its price to $89.
The Apple Pencil 2 works with iPad Air, iPad mini 6, and iPad Pro to make note-taking and drawing a breeze.
★★★★☆
The just-launched Apple Pencil includes USB-C charging, making it easy to use with the budget iPad. While top quality, the new model doesn’t have all the features of Apple Pencil 2 but costs $50 less.
I tested the stylus with my iPad and found reasons to like it even more than the premium version.
Apple put its new budget Apple Pencil with USB-C connectivity on sale Wednesday for all your sketching and note-taking needs. Just $79, it’s now available in 33 countries, including the United States.
That price saves you $50 compared to Apple Pencil 2, but it also buys you fewer features.
Apple just took the wraps off a lower-price version of its iPad stylus. The new Apple Pencil uses a USB-C port for charging so it’s a better fit for use with the budget iPad.
“Apple Pencil has revolutionized note taking, sketching, and illustrating, unleashing endless possibilities for productivity and creativity,” said Bob Borchers, Apple VP of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Combined with the versatility of iPad, the new Apple Pencil unlocks another great option to experience the magic of digital handwriting, annotation, marking up documents, and more.”
The new version is $50 less than Apple Pencil 2, the premium model. But it lacks some of the features of the top-of-the-line version.
A newly published patent filing shows Apple is exploring the possibility of building support for the Find My device locating system into a future version of the Apple Pencil. At the very least, the stylus might be able to play an alert sound to make it more findable.
Other products from the company already have this feature.
With National Small Business Week starting Sunday, Apple profiled three small businesses Wednesday, describing how they harness Apple products to grow.
In addition, the company will feature “Grow Your Business with Apple” Today at Apple sessions next week in select U.S. cities.
Digital artists, or those who would like to be, can pick up an Apple Pencil 2 for a whopping $40 off the usual price. That’s a 31% discount.
I use this stylus with my iPad all the time, and there’s no better tool for painting on your tablet. It’s also great for taking notes and sketching out ideas.
Someday, you might be able to pull a color out of the real world just by touching your Apple Pencil to it. Apple patented a version of its iPad stylus with color sensors in the tip.
The device would be a real boon to artists who paint on an iPad.
It’s not easy to find the perfect iPad case, whether you’re walking around with a little iPad mini 6, a standard 10.2-inch iPad or the latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro. But it gets a lot easier if you know about Zugu Case. The company’s practical and attractive cases are among the highest-rated and best-reviewed iPad cases in the world for a reason.
So cease your searching. You just found the Zugu iPad case you didn’t know you were looking for.
A sketchy rumor claims Apple planned to introduce a $49 Apple Pencil with iPhone compatibility. The company wanted to launch the budget Apple Pencil alongside new iPhones in September.
For unclear reasons, though, Apple changed its mind at the last minute and canceled the product’s launch.
Even if you have an Apple Pencil 2 that sticks magnetically to the edge of your iPad, that’s not a super-secure storage option for the stylus because it could get knocked off. And it’s not an option at all for the original Apple Pencil. So it’s a good idea to have another, much more secure way to carry your stylus.
That’s where the Elago Apple Pencil Holder comes in. Strong adhesive lets you stick it anywhere.
And right now you can pick it up for just $10.99 in the Cult of Mac Store.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: For once, Apple’s new products leave us scratching our heads more than reaching for our wallets. We let loose our first impressions of this week’s new iPads, the surprisingly affordable Apple TV 4K, that ridiculous Apple Pencil dongle and more.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Squarespace. Get all the tools you need to set up your very own website and commence selling anything online. Start your free website trial today at squarespace.com/cultcast (no credit card required). Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with code cultcast at checkout.
The decision to make the all-new iPad compatible with the original Apple Pencil looks likely to go down as one of Apple’s most ridiculous design decisions.
Since the new entry-level iPad utilizes USB-C rather than Lightning, you can’t plug the Apple Pencil into the tablet to charge the stylus. And Apple’s “fix” — the $9 USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter that will come packaged with old-school Apple Pencils — sent some Apple fans into an accelerated version of the five stages of grief.
A slipup by a retail employee revealed that the upcoming iPad 10 will support the Apple Pencil 2. That’s a change from the current version of Apple’s most affordable tablet, which is compatible with the original version of the stylus with fewer features.
Update: No, it does not. There are many changes in the iPad 10, but it still supports Apple Pencil 1.
The next budget iPad is expected to launch any day now. This is only the latest leak revealing info about it.
If you’re like me, you love your iPad for its many uses and its portability. And an Apple Pencil is fun to use for both writing and drawing on the tablet. But wouldn’t it be more rewarding if it felt more like writing and drawing on real paper?
This may be why I still use an old-school notebook for most of my notes and doodles. But now the SwitchEasy PaperLike iPad Screen Protectors offers an inexpensive way to make the iPad screen feel more like paper when you use Pencil.
And better yet, you can get the screen protector at 20% off in the Cult of Mac Store from October 14 through October 21. That’s a savings of $6.
Buying an iPad doesn’t usually mean just buying an iPad. Many people want useful accessories, like a stylus that lets them write and draw more precisely than they can with their fingers. But Apple Pencil 2 usually goes for a fairly steep $129.
If you’d like to get an advanced stylus with most of Apple Pencil 2’s features for much less, you have options. A good one is the SwitchEasy EasyPencil Pro.
You can get the fourth-gen version of it in the Cult of Mac Store for just over half the cost of Apple Pencil 2, plus a supply of extra tips for different uses. Or you can nab the third-gen EasyPencil for a little less. See more information below.
Some people care deeply about cable management, with nary a cord to be seen in their computer setups. Others couldn’t care less about it, leaving wire-spaghetti all over the place. And folks in the middle want to do it right, but meh, maybe next week, and maybe only somewhat.
Today’s featured MacBook Pro and iPad Pro setup stakes out much of the ground described above. Cable management is in play, but it’s done in a way that drove some neatniks crazy while others applauded the controlled mayhem.
Place the Adonit Neo Pro on the side of an iPad and the stylus will start charging. The Apple Pencil 2 can do the same trick, but the Neo Pro costs less than half as much.
Adonit’s stylus can do most of what Apple’s can, as it offers tilt sensitivity and palm rejection. All it’s missing is pressure sensitivity.
Cupertino’s latest Apple Store location is coming to tony Brompton Road, London, on July 28. To go along with that opening Apple just put out a flowery new wallpaper with some hidden imagery to help pique your interest.
Among the exotic flora in the image above, can you spot an Apple Pencil, an iPhone and Siri remote? That’s not everything lurking there, but it’s a start.
In the run-up to Juneteenth, which takes place on Sunday, Apple showcased an artist Friday who created a series of digital drawings with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
The series, by Juan Mance, celebrates and chronicles Black figures throughout U.S. history, putting them in modern contexts.
You’d probably no sooner carry around your iPad mini in public without a case than you would your MacBook Pro. But you can keep the slim form factor and terrific portability of your tablet while keeping it safe by slipping it into an Elago Smart Folio Case.
And what’s more, Elago just put out a new product that goes with iPads and the Apple Pencils that work so well with them. The Elago Apple Pencil Holder is a super-secure and protective sleeve for a stylus that fixes strongly to a tablet or its case.
And best of all, two versions of the folio are a great deal in the Cult of Mac Store, as is the Pencil holder — all detailed below.
A cool aspect of both Mac minis and the newer Mac Studio are the platform-like USB-C hubs festooned with ports and added storage capacity that third parties have designed for them to sit on. Satechi was quick out of the gate with one for the mini, but there are other such cleverly designed, space-saving hubs on the market. And many of them also fit the Studio.
Today’s featured setup boasts a powerful new Mac Studio perched on a Qwiizlab hub as it drives an LG UltraWide display, among other gear.