For years, Apple has been walking a tightrope with the iPad, trying to turn it into a true laptop replacement without cannibalizing its Mac lineup. With today’s announcements, Apple takes its biggest swing yet at making an iPad that can fully replace a laptop for most users.

Alongside the hotly anticipated OLED iPad Pro models, Apple has unveiled a thoroughly revised Magic Keyboard. The new accessory, compatible only with the latest iPad Pros (M4), features a larger trackpad with haptic feedback, an aluminum palm rest, and — at long last — a full function row.

These upgrades aim to provide a more MacBook-like experience when paired with an iPad Pro. And Apple is betting that enhanced experience will help sell the new and incredibly expensive $999 11-inch and $1,299 13-inch OLED tablet models.

The two new Magic Keyboard sizes precisely match the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro displays. They come in black and silver aluminum finishes, mimicking the colors of the new tablets. Pricing is a lofty $299 for the 11-inch model and $349 for the 13-incher.

Those eye-watering prices are par for the course with Apple’s Pro-level iPad accessories. But this Magic Keyboard represents a sizable upgrade from the original 2020 version, which lacked a function row and had a cheaper-feeling plastic palm rest area.

Apple said the larger glass trackpad with haptic feedback felt very MacBook-like, with a solid and responsive click. The function row is also a game-changer, allowing quick media controls, brightness adjustments, and a wealth of other shortcut options at your fingertips.

Of course, no accessory can disguise the fundamental differences between iPadOS and macOS. Apple’s tablet operating system still lacks support for external displays, free-floating windows, and many other desktop-class multitasking capabilities. It remains a more restricted, mobile-oriented experience.

Still, for the many consumers and professionals who can live within those confines, Apple is clearly trying to make the iPad Pro just as viable of a productivity machine as its laptops. Between the stunning new OLED displays, the M4 chip performance, and now the more MacBook-like Magic Keyboard, the gap between Apple’s tablets and notebooks is narrowing.

Whether customers will embrace that pro-level iPad life at over $1,000 for the hardware alone — plus another $300-plus for the Magic Keyboard — remains to be seen. But Apple is certainly giving them their best argument yet.

Pre-orders for the new iPad Pro models and Magic Keyboards open today, with availability starting next week.