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Resolved Scary Fast Event: Notch or Dynamic Island?
- Thread starter Deep_learned_mistake
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Notchy McDynamic Face
In all seriousness, a notch if anything because a constantly changing Island would really mess with everything in the menu bar.
In all seriousness, a notch if anything because a constantly changing Island would really mess with everything in the menu bar.
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There are two distinct questions regarding Dynamic Island on the MacBook—will Apple make the notch an Island? And will Apple make the notch Dynamic? Apple could do neither, either, or both.
Regarding the Island, I don’t think the reason Apple changed the iPhone notch to a pill/island applies to the MacBook. It was basically for horizontal space limitations due to the curved corners of the iPhone display, the limited horizontal space of the iPhone display for status icons, and the “Dynamic” animations they wanted to add (this reason was suggested by another forum user and I agree). Apple had to bring the whole ensemble down away from the curved edges to make more horizontal space, but this is not needed with MacBooks.
But if they still want to make it an island, another thing is, the notch fits right within the thickness of the menu bar. The bottom edge of an island would presumably be below the current menu bar, or maybe flush with it leaving only space above, either of which would look a little weird. They could make the menu bar thicker, but that would be a waste of screen real estate. Or maybe they could shrink the island so that it fits within the current menu bar. They probably can since there’s no Face ID components to fit in there, but that would probably make for a pretty tiny Dynamic Island. I guess the island could grow vertically too when it animates to make its text more readable.
The other thing they could do is make it a pill but not an island. In other words, make the notch into a more pill shape but still attached to the top bezel.
If they do want to make it Dynamic, I’m not too sure which of these is most likely.
But regarding making it Dynamic (whether notch, island, or pill peninsula), I’m not sure it would add any value to a MacBook that the MacBook doesn’t already have or that it needs. The DI is basically trying to make the iPhone a little better at multitasking. But MacBooks are already great at multitasking. A tiny widget in the menu bar might not be compelling enough when you have bigger more functional widgets that you can place anywhere on or off screen. But then again, it might be compelling precisely because it’s a tiny widget in the menu bar—it’s a bit of constantly updating information that’s always visible (if you want it) yet doesn’t take up any desktop space. Not sure if that functionality exists currently.
But another question is, what about desktop Macs which don’t have notches? Do those not get any Dynamic treatment? Would Apple bring it across all Macs? What about iPads?
If I had to bet, I would bet the notch will remain a static notch. But I think there is a reasonable chance of some sort of dynamic implementation. Of those possible implementations, I might bet on a small island that grows both vertically and horizontally with animations, unless Face ID is added in which case I would bet it will be a rectangular notch with bubbly animations.
Regarding the Island, I don’t think the reason Apple changed the iPhone notch to a pill/island applies to the MacBook. It was basically for horizontal space limitations due to the curved corners of the iPhone display, the limited horizontal space of the iPhone display for status icons, and the “Dynamic” animations they wanted to add (this reason was suggested by another forum user and I agree). Apple had to bring the whole ensemble down away from the curved edges to make more horizontal space, but this is not needed with MacBooks.
But if they still want to make it an island, another thing is, the notch fits right within the thickness of the menu bar. The bottom edge of an island would presumably be below the current menu bar, or maybe flush with it leaving only space above, either of which would look a little weird. They could make the menu bar thicker, but that would be a waste of screen real estate. Or maybe they could shrink the island so that it fits within the current menu bar. They probably can since there’s no Face ID components to fit in there, but that would probably make for a pretty tiny Dynamic Island. I guess the island could grow vertically too when it animates to make its text more readable.
The other thing they could do is make it a pill but not an island. In other words, make the notch into a more pill shape but still attached to the top bezel.
If they do want to make it Dynamic, I’m not too sure which of these is most likely.
But regarding making it Dynamic (whether notch, island, or pill peninsula), I’m not sure it would add any value to a MacBook that the MacBook doesn’t already have or that it needs. The DI is basically trying to make the iPhone a little better at multitasking. But MacBooks are already great at multitasking. A tiny widget in the menu bar might not be compelling enough when you have bigger more functional widgets that you can place anywhere on or off screen. But then again, it might be compelling precisely because it’s a tiny widget in the menu bar—it’s a bit of constantly updating information that’s always visible (if you want it) yet doesn’t take up any desktop space. Not sure if that functionality exists currently.
But another question is, what about desktop Macs which don’t have notches? Do those not get any Dynamic treatment? Would Apple bring it across all Macs? What about iPads?
If I had to bet, I would bet the notch will remain a static notch. But I think there is a reasonable chance of some sort of dynamic implementation. Of those possible implementations, I might bet on a small island that grows both vertically and horizontally with animations, unless Face ID is added in which case I would bet it will be a rectangular notch with bubbly animations.
The Genius Bar Podcast enhanced the leaked pic of the soon-to-arrive MBP:
Looks like a notch to me - maybe a bit less wide, maybe not?
Looks like a notch to me - maybe a bit less wide, maybe not?
Wouldn't make sense for it to be dynamic. Imagine you're just about to click on a menubar item and it moves away because the DI increased in size.
the menu bar could implement safe zones for the menu items
Dynamic Island serves no purposes on a Macbook anyways, idk why people think it’ll happen.
Yeah they’d have to solve that issue somehow. Just another reason it’s unlikely.
Dynamic Island is a gimmick on the iPhones due to the pill and the severe lack of screen space on phones. The Macs have neither problem. In fact, Dynamic Island would be incredibly weird for many users who use an external screen.
What? Why would dynamic island be on a laptop? That's only a thing because phones have such little screen real estate at all. It's not even a good idea on smartphones. It forces a dark mode component on you even if you're in light mode, and all the screen confirmations like the FaceID checkmark are at the top of the screen for no good reason, when it should be in the middle of the screen.
I cant speak for the M2 Airs, but if Mini-LED on my MBP can hide the notch perfectly well, it would also allow for the illusion of Dynamic Island. But DI would be bad and unnecessary on Macs.
Nothing. I most definitely don't need any notches or islands on my TV-monitor ) It would be idiotic to have that on a device which size absolutely doesn't prevent to place the camera outside the screen area.
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There will be information displayed in the Dynamic Island, so the corresponding backlight zones can't be turned off to help the "illusion". It's not the same as hiding the notch by turning off the whole row of backlight zones that corresponds to the notch height (72 pixels I think).
I've use an app to add fake rounded corners to the bottom of my display and Mini-LED maintains the illusion that they are part of the bezel. Now I can see the subtle difference if I am at max brightness, while shining a light on the screen, and my face very close to it, but that's in no way a normal way of using my Mac.
Thats in interesting point tho, I wonder if the menu bar increased in height so it didn't have to split dimming zones, or because the notch size dictated it.
What about FaceID and stuff? MKBHD once said that this notch is a pre-reserved area for the future FaceID module, which clearly couldn't fit into the good old fashioned bezel area.
Well, like you say, it doesn't have faceid for one, and I really don't like it anyway and would prefer it not to have it if a notch is the only way to do it. fwiw, my Windows laptop has faceid and no notch. (I don't use it though, nor do I use touchid -- all passwords and passcodes.)