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Notch on the M1X MacBook Pro? [MERGED]

What do you prefer?

  • Notch

    Votes: 37 46.8%

  • Forehead

    Votes: 42 53.2%
  • Total voters
    79
m.x

m.x

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2014
260
967
Hi guys, I'm so excited for the M1X Pros and I can't wait to order my 14", but I couldn't wrap my head around the resolution of the new displays:

Current displays have a perfect 16:10 resolution:
MB Air / MB Pro 13": 2560x1600 -> 2560/1600=1,6
MB Pro 16": 3072x1920 -> 3072/1600=1,6

But the leaked resolutions don't match the ratio:
Leaked 14": 3024x1964 -> 3024/1964=1,540
Leaked 16": 3456x2234 -> 3456/2234=1,547

Now I found a comment of a user called u/NickXiao on reddit where he has a theory which is too convincing for me. I know, no track record or something like that, but he made the point that the new MBs have a notch for the camera (but no FaceID). The notch would be 74px tall, and if you take these 74px into the calculation:
14": 3024x1890(+74px notch) -> 3024/1890=1,6
16": 3456x2160(+74px notch) -> 3456/2160=1,6
Which would fit perfectly with the previous ratios. It just makes too much sense to not be true, what do you think? Wold a notch be a dealbreaker for you?
 
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It wouldn't be for me, if the bezels are thin enough to make it worth it.

I'm just thinking, could the strange leaked resolutions be due to rounded corners, like on the ipad? Or is the resolution not affected by rounded display corners?
 
1.54, so almost a 3:2 ratio screen. That would be brilliant if true.

I'm currently using a 16:9 Windows laptop I have been supplied with for a project. As a lot of the work includes reading and writing documents, the lack of height is awful.

16:10 on the MBP is better, but having used a Microsoft Surface laptop with 3:2, I can say that is generally awful to use (mainly bacause it's Windows), but the fantastic screen is great to use. Much less scrolling, and Photoshop ends up with a nice square workspace between the menus.
 
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This is interesting, very good chance it’s true imo. (Although I’m not sure why they would make this decision.) Recall the iPhone X leaks: A lot of folks thought the notch rumor was crazy, that Apple would never do something like that.
 
m.x said:
Which would fit perfectly with the previous ratios. It just makes too much sense to not be true, what do you think? Wold a notch be a dealbreaker for you?
Click to expand...
Glass half empty vs. glass half full => “notch” vs. “ears”...

If the main body of the screen is a full 14 or 16” at a decent resolution and they have found something useful to do with two extra “ears” added on to that (extra status display etc.) then fine.

If the 14 or 16” turned out to be “13.8 or 15.7 inch with a honking great notch carved out of the middle of the menu bar” then, no.

I doubt that it is either of those - if they’re making a custom panel just for these Macs then there’s no magical reason to stick to standard aspect ratios or pixel counts.

Maybe the bottom 72 pixels are going to be permanently black apart from the words “MacBook Pro” and an Apple logo? :)
 
It would be freaking awesome if it had a notch — if they had to resort to that, it would mean a true edge-to-edge, bezel-less screen, leaving even less wasted space than iPads!

Plus the bellyaching would be soooo funny. Even worth it just for the laffs

It will not have a notch.
 
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I am almost certain the 74px would be from reducing the top and bottom bezels which would also justify the removal of the MacBook Pro branding. The 16:10 ratio is also largely irrelevant as Apple has changed aspect ratios many times with redesigns on new iPad and iPhone models. Monday’s close enough so we’ll just have to wait and see but believing rumours from a reddit account with no activity for 5 years is a rather low bar for credibility.
 
If it does have, people will cry and make fun of it, but the sells will show how hypocrite people are...same was with the iphone with the notch, all make fun of it, but it was sold in millions
So the vote on paper is NO, but with their wallets the vote is YES
 
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Kasco45 said:
I am almost certain the 74px would be from reducing the top and bottom bezels which would also justify the removal of the MacBook Pro branding. The 16:10 ratio is also largely irrelevant as Apple has changed aspect ratios many times with redesigns on new iPad and iPhone models. Monday’s close enough so we’ll just have to wait and see but believing rumours from a reddit account with no activity for 5 years is a rather low bar for credibility.
Click to expand...
removal of the macbook pro branding?
"MacBook Pro” markings there have moved back to the bottom of the machines"
So the leak has 2 mistakes, no notch, and no branding ?
again that 74px is just for a small part of the vertical display, thats the thing
 
I'm not saying Apple wouldn't do it (you just have to look at Safari 15) but it's a bad idea from a UI standpoint. The menu bar for complex apps is often wider than the centre of the screen on a laptop and space is at a premium so the menu bar would need to be below the notch. The system icons could be placed on the right side of the notch and something could go on the left side and then the menu bar could go below. But one of the benefits of macOS over Windows is that the menu bar is anchored to the top of the screen. Fitt's Law states that the time to move the mouse cursor to a target area is a function of the distance divided by the size of the target. Because the top of the screen is an infinitely large target (you can't overshoot it), the user doesn't have to decelerate the mouse to position the pointer exactly on the menu bar so the time is ridiculously low compared to any other target. Selecting a menu in Windows is always slightly slower than on Mac. Apple would be ridiculed by serious UI designers for giving up this advantage.

There is an argument to be made that in a world of super large monitors that anchoring the menus to the top of the screen isn't optimal if you're not working in full screen mode. I think the day will come when Apple does have to abandon the anchored menubar for super large monitors and come up with something new, perhaps an algorithm that detects that you intended to decelerate to the menubar but overshot it a bit, sort of a magnetic effect, but on a laptop screen, it makes no sense to un-anchor the menu bar.

The only alternative would be to make the menu bar notch aware so that menus are never positioned across the notch. But this could lead to a spacing issue. I have very few system icons and there's only one inch of blank space in the menu bar when I use my key app. App developers would be quite unhappy.
 
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Serban55 said:
removal of the macbook pro branding?
"MacBook Pro” markings there have moved back to the bottom of the machines"
So the leak has 2 mistakes, no notch, and no branding ?
again that 74px is just for a small part of the vertical display, thats the thing
Click to expand...
I believe that is referring to earlier rumours suggesting no branding on the bottom of the screen similar to the 2015 MacBook Pro. 74px might not seem like much but with the camera and the hinge assembly drastically reducing the top and bottom bezel dimensions would be difficult.

Also I’m not sure how the original reddit post referencing earlier confirmed leaks makes it credible in any fashion with its only claim to knowledge being that the poster speaks Chinese and knows undisclosed people in various factories. It just seems like a joke similar to those suggesting iPhone X would have a large bottom bezel.
 
Current MBP 16 screen height is 21.54 cm.

2234px - 74px = 2160px

So, doing simple proportion for the MBP notch height:

74 : 2160 = x : 21.54

x = 0.7379444444 cm

(iPhone 12 notch height is 0.74cm)
 
TheYayAreaLiving said:
Apple is trying to get rid of the notch why would they bring it to other line up of products? Makes no sense
Click to expand...
It won't be the first time that Apple rolls out a feature and rolls it back in. But that's an Apple marketing strategy conversation. What I mean I don't get is why would anyone regard it as a dealbreaker. It doesn't affect its usability whatsoever.
 
Just saying, Dell XPS laptops have had super thin bezels with absolutely need for a notch for the last 7 years or so. And with better resolution too.
 
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