Notch on a Pro Laptop - A Modern Day Disaster

[macduke]

I’d rather have it than not. They increased the usable space and it doesn’t get in the way.

I think they made it this size because they’re adding Face ID next autumn and didn’t want to have a bigger notch then and appear to go backwards. They plan these upgrades out years in advance.

You think the 5nm M1 Max is fast, just wait for the 3nm M2 Max next autumn!

 

[PeytonT123]

I really don't get the fuss about the notch. It's literally just maximizing the screen space....the alternative is less screen space, adding a full line across the top.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I hate the notch. I still ordered the laptop.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I really don't get the fuss about the notch. It's literally just maximizing the screen space....the alternative is less screen space, adding a full line across the top.

It truly looks ugly.

 

[tygurr]

Yo, mods, can we get a sticky explaining why the notch is there and how it doesn't interfere with workflow?

The amount of threads based on people not understanding how it works is getting ridiculous. Then everyone has to dive in and explain it again to prevent misinformation from spreading.

For some people its not how about how the notch works, its about how it looks. In my opinion it looks ridiculous regardless of whether it affects apps or not etc.

 

[Jonathan50]

Offer a version with the existing slim bezels and no camera at all. For those who must have a camera, an optional, magnetically snap-on thingie should suffice.

 

[Jayson A]

I guess the notch is going to become a regular thing on more and more of their displays. They’re going to have to own it and somehow spin it as a feature only Apple has. I personally think it’s fugly.

They're doing this so that when the day comes for the notch to disappear, they can act like it's some amazing new feature. Now you can enjoy your Macs and devices without the notch! The crowd goes wild!

 

[leman]

Regardless if the notch area goes black in fullscreen mode, it will still cause massive problems. People often have 2/3 windows open at the same time and that huge notch will massively interfere.

You don't understand how the notch on these screens work. Your windows will always stay below the notch. The notch will "interfere" with absolutely nothing.

 

[Fishrrman]

<--- is getting tired of putting all the "notch threads" on "ignore"...

 

[Pro Apple Silicon]

Nope. It's fine. The way they used it makes sense. It was the better choice.

 

[fa8362]

This is ridiculous, what on Earth were they thinking?

I have a Macbook Pro and I definitely won’t be ‘upgrading’ to this awful looking thing. There is no need for any fancy cameras or even face id on a pro macbook.

Regardless if the notch area goes black in fullscreen mode, it will still cause massive problems. People often have 2/3 windows open at the same time and that huge notch will massively interfere.

Has Apple forgotten why people buy the Macbook Pro? It’s like the Mac Pro all over again, Apple started screwing with bin designs until they realised all Pro users wanted was a powerful computer so they could do their work.

I can’t be the only one feeling this way, as someone who owns multiple apple products.

Is this sarcasm?

 

[TopToffee]

Offer a version with the existing slim bezels and no camera at all. For those who must have a camera, an optional, magnetically snap-on thingie should suffice.

That would be an astronomically dumb business decision.

 

[bluecoast]

I can honestly say that I've never ever really noticed - or been bothered by - the notch on my XR in daily use. it's as if it's not there.

This is meant in the nicest way, but if you choose to be obsessed and bothered by something like this, likely it will bother you.

Conversely, if you choose to forget about it, you'll likely forget it's there.

And weren't we all having these discussions in 2017 with the X?

 

[Hakiroto]

disaster / noun

1. a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life.

While I'm sure we'd all prefer the new MacBook Pro to have no notch, I wouldn't call it a disaster. There's a better camera in there and we get a larger screen. Just like the constant complaints with the iPhone X, as soon as people have been using the device for a few days they'll forget and focus on all the other great things about it.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Personally, I prefer touchID, I don't like faceid, but I understand those who do. My biggest gripe is still no ethernet port. Ethernet is way faster, far more secure, and far more reliable. Further, every client I have has ethernet, only some of them have wifi, and some of them have outright banned wifi for security reasons. Are most pros who work with large files like 4k video really wifi only? I suppose it's possible, but it's really hard for me to believe.

It's a pretty cheap solution to just carry a USB-C to Ethernet adapter...just don't forget it at a customer's office attached to their Ethernet cable...

 

[Fomalhaut]

I think you are confusing what the menu bar is. What is to the left of the notch? Drop downs like Edit, View, Help and more.

View attachment 1871703

Now, out of the screen shot I provided, the left of the notch is "Facetime, Edit, Video, Window and Help". I have software that has dozen of these dropdowns. Which goes well passed the center of the screen where the notch is. THIS is the concerning part. Will there be a scroll bar now to see these extra dropdowns? Will it suddenly shift to the right of the notch which leads into my Creative Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, and other status icons?

Here is one from Apple's site that shows Photoshop. I have software that has a couple more dropdowns than Photoshop and right now Photoshop is right at the notch.

View attachment 1871706

Presumably, the top-level menu items will continue to the right of the notch, won't they? The only issue I see is if you had so many menu items that they run into the status icons on the right. This problem must be catered for in current MacOS on "un-notched" computers as well. I think the status icons get squashed together to compensate when you're running short of space, and maybe end up in a drop-down, similar to Windows 10.

In reality, I don't think is going to be a problem unless your software has more than 15 top-level menus, which is unlikely.

[Update: I just checked with Davinci Resolve, which has 13 menu items. The status icons do in-fact disappear and only show the default adjustments panel icon, so you lose access to the status item features...which isn't great. Here's a screen-shot with "largest text" screen resolution set to show the effect.

With the default resolution (on my MBP16) it looks like this:

....so I lose access to nearly all of the app icons on the right when the application menu needs the space.

The notch will exacerbate the problem, but I don't think it's a deal-breaker ]

 

[Exponent]

Personally, I prefer touchID, I don't like faceid, but I understand those who do. My biggest gripe is still no ethernet port. Ethernet is way faster, far more secure, and far more reliable. Further, every client I have has ethernet, only some of them have wifi, and some of them have outright banned wifi for security reasons. Are most pros who work with large files like 4k video really wifi only? I suppose it's possible, but it's really hard for me to believe.

I don't disagree, but:
- Ethernet cables are huge;
- Ethernet is in transition: 1GbE has been around for eons, and some are finally going to 2.5GbE, 5GbE, or 10GbE;
- using a TB port for that keeps the case thin and lets the user choose the speed of Ethernet they need