Did you ever have Apple buyer’s remorse over you iPad wishing you would have just gone and got the MacBook instead? (Of course not, right?) But let’s say for example you did though, and then I told you there is a way you can have your cake and eat it too.

CruxCase has given us another new accessory for the iPad turning it into as close to a laptop that any accessory has ever taken us. In the past Cruxcase has offered a few iPad converter cases but nothing like this.

What You Get

There are a few features setting the CruxCase Loaded Clamshell apart from other keyboard iPad accessories. For starters it wraps your iPad into a sturdy flexible case allowing you to prop it up into various positions including: laying it flat, and positioning it to 270 and 360 degrees. By having this position options it allows for ultimate movie viewing and also lets using the touch screen accessible and easy.

The case itself also leaves open spaces so you can still access your iPad’s speakers (well, speaker, it only leaves one uncovered), volume control, USB ports, earphone jack and camera. By being Bluetooth powered this smart case also gives you an external power button and Bluetooth powered keyboard.

But so far this is pretty standard among fellow case and keyboard accessories. What sets Cruxcase apart are two main features: an external battery giving your iPad an extra 7.5 hours of juice and (drumroll please) a Bluetooth enabled remote track pad.

Cruxcase claims that the remote track pad will allow you to do things much easier than using the iPads own touch screen (not to mention it will leave all those oily fingerprints off of your touch screen). What kind of things? Well, things like resizing pictures, playing games and jumping from touch to keyboard.

Also you may be able to control your computer with your iPad, you know sync the two, allowing you to use any of your computers programs remotely. Your iPad has an app for that, but it’s going to cost you $30.

Really Worth It?

After all the shock and awe of a shiny new accessory, let’s get down to some facts here. The CruxCase Loaded Clamshell costs $249 and in a nut shell here is what you get: a case, a keyboard, an external battery and a track pad.

But are you ever going to really use that track pad? And, if you said yes, how often? Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy a MacBook at this point? I mean an iPad runs around $400-$600 hundred dollars and then slap a $249 dollar case on top of that and we are nearly at laptop prices.

There are a lot of other choices out there for a keyboard/case combo that won’t have nearly the price tag as this one will.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a pretty cool accessory, but in all honesty I don’t think that is really all that practical.
I know that I would prefer an iPad case that does something much cooler and much more practical, like the Kudos solar case (it beeps at you if you lose it), but that’s just me. What do you think? Do any of you have one or the other?