[2023 MPB14] The Notch > Menu Bar impact was a dealbreaker for me until...

[cman-uk]

I bought the 2023 14" MBP a few weeks after release.

The Notch began to annoy me, spefically the way it impacted the Menu Bar's depth, probably owing to my OCD more than anything else.

Minor Annoyance:
How the bottom of the Menu Bar sits 8px or so below the Notch. Much discussed elsewhere. It just looks odd/unfinished.

Major Annoyance:
How the thickness of the Menu Bar meant you no longer need to hover over the actual Menu Bar item to select it, e.g.:

You can place your cursor in the green spots and it still selects the menu item 'Help' 😕.
How did the Apple/macOS UX team let this pass?!
The Menu Bar is simply far 'fatter' than it needs to be!

The Workaround:
Enter SwitchResX.
There are probably other tools that achieve the same result. But it allows moving to a 16:10 aspect ratio which yields the following result:

No more fat Menu Bar. No more wasted space above or below the Menu Bar items.

Compromise: Yes, you lose a small fraction of screen real estate because the Notch is effectively carried across the whole width of the screen, but this is far better user experience overall.

This probably appeals to the minority of owners but hope it helps someone...

 

[Basic75]

Switching the menu bar to always visible and opaque black completely hides the notch, too. I frequently forget it's even there.

 

[cman-uk]

Switching the menu bar to always visible and opaque black completely hides the notch, too. I frequently forget it's even there.

Does that method not keep the menu bar the same thickness? Which is the main issue described, i.e. the impact of the Notch, rather than the Notch itself.

Compare the two images in the post above see how the Menu Bar has became thin again, like in the pre-Notch days.

 

[Basic75]

Does that method not keep the menu bar the same thickness? Which is the main issue described, i.e. the impact of the Notch, rather than the Notch itself.

Compare the two images in the post above see how the Menu Bar has became thin again, like in the pre-Notch days.

Don't know, don't care about a couple of pixels. The notch is gone and I'm happy.

 

[cman-uk]

Don't know, don't care about a couple of pixels. The notch is gone and I'm happy.

Cool. I guess that's a different thread topic to this one...😀

 

[After_Much_Hullabaloo]

I discovered "Say No to Notch" in the Mac App store. It works great and is free with an optional tip jar. I really like it.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I think they should switch to Dynamic Island. The inconsistency between product lines is not attractive.

 

[cman-uk]

I discovered "Say No to Notch" in the Mac App store. It works great and is free with an optional tip jar. I really like it.

Looks like a great alternative to reach the same result!

 

[Jack Neill]

I like TopNotch even on Macs with no notch, I love the black menu bar.

 

[OllieOxenFree]

I bought the 2023 14" MBP a few weeks after release.

The Notch began to annoy me, spefically the way it impacted the Menu Bar's depth, probably owing to my OCD more than anything else.

Minor Annoyance:
How the bottom of the Menu Bar sits 8px or so below the Notch. Much discussed elsewhere. It just looks odd/unfinished.

Major Annoyance:
How the thickness of the Menu Bar meant you no longer need to hover over the actual Menu Bar item to select it, e.g.:

You can place your cursor in the green spots and it still selects the menu item 'Help' 😕.
How did the Apple/macOS UX team let this pass?!
The Menu Bar is simply far 'fatter' than it needs to be!

The Workaround:
Enter SwitchResX.
There are probably other tools that achieve the same result. But it allows moving to a 16:10 aspect ratio which yields the following result:

No more fat Menu Bar. No more wasted space above or below the Menu Bar items.

Compromise: Yes, you lose a small fraction of screen real estate because the Notch is effectively carried across the whole width of the screen, but this is far better user experience overall.

This probably appeals to the minority of owners but hope it helps someone...

Shortly after receiving the MBP 16 Max in 2021 I installed BARTENDER and have never noticed the NOTCH since then.

 

[TracerAnalog]

I installed TopNotch the moment I was setting up my MBP, but when I some weeks later switched my wallpaper I did not immediately re-enable the black menu bar… and completely forgot about it. Now I’m used to the notch, and it’s fine for me. 🤷🏻
I do still wonder about the size of the notch though: why is it so much bigger than the camera?

 

[Tagbert]

There are reasons why the menubar is thicker than the notch.

If the menubar was the same height as the notch, it would make the notch look larger than it is. Human perception would see it as larger and hanging down a little. Having the menubar below makes the notch look like it is pulling up.

If the bottom of the notch and the menubar bottom were the same level, it would introduce weird bend optical effects where the curve of the notch would "pull" on the menubar line and make it look like it was bending. These are some of the things that your perception does when lines intersect or run close to each other. You have to be very careful when doing designs like that.

The notch and menubar are actually very well designed in allowing for how our visual systems work. Someone though this through. It just isn't obvious if you have had training and experience in design.

 

[dmccloud]

Does that method not keep the menu bar the same thickness? Which is the main issue described, i.e. the impact of the Notch, rather than the Notch itself.

Compare the two images in the post above see how the Menu Bar has became thin again, like in the pre-Notch days.

Doesn't matter what thickness the menu bar and notch are if you don't even see the notch. That's how I have my MBP set up, and the notch does in fact disappear entirely into the menu bar. Your primary concern was that you could see the menu bar extending below the notch. With the setup Basic75 describes, you can't see where the notch begins and the menubar ends.

 

[dmccloud]

I installed TopNotch the moment I was setting up my MBP, but when I some weeks later switched my wallpaper I did not immediately re-enable the black menu bar… and completely forgot about it. Now I’m used to the notch, and it’s fine for me. 🤷🏻
I do still wonder about the size of the notch though: why is it so much bigger than the camera?

The notch accommodates more than just the camera. The True Tone sensor is also located there. Another thing to consider is that the area below the menu bar is the same 16:10 aspect ratio used on Mac screens without the notch, so that entire top area is essentially added space. You can also hide the notch entirely by making apps go full screen, without any additional software.

 

[cman-uk]

Doesn't matter what thickness the menu bar and notch are if you don't even see the notch. That's how I have my MBP set up, and the notch does in fact disappear entirely into the menu bar. Your primary concern was that you could see the menu bar extending below the notch. With the setup Basic75 describes, you can't see where the notch begins and the menubar ends.

No, the primary concern wasn't that. It was (is) what is listed as the major annoyance in the first post of this thread.

 

[MrGunny94]

I haven't used anything at all, just got used to it that's all. I can understand people's frustration with this.

Hoping they do switch to Dynamic Island eventually.

 

[Basic75]

You can also hide the notch entirely by making apps go full screen

Opaque black always visible menubar = invisible notch that you can completely forget + fixed 16:10 application area below. Given this situation I don't understand why anybody considers the notch a problem.

 

[Tagbert]

I haven't used anything at all, just got used to it that's all. I can understand people's frustration with this.

Hoping they do switch to Dynamic Island eventually.

Switching to a dynamic island in the sense of a differently shaped notch-like thing isn't much different. Apple might bring the dynamic software notices of Dyanamic Island to the Macs in some way. Eventually they will likely be able to move the camera and all those sensors to below the screen and then there won't be a fixed hardware element at all.

In the meantime, it's not much of a problem in real life. As you say, it's easy to get used to.