[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.

 

[MacProFCP]

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...

Minor annoyances aside, I stopped using SwitchRezX years ago due to some funky bugs. I hope they fixed them, but have used the program since.

I use MBP and MBA for live shows and needed to have specific resolutions for certain projectors. I found some issues with the program, I forget exactly what went wrong, but I had to remove it.

 

[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?