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Does the Air need such a big bezel?

KittyKatta

KittyKatta

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 24, 2011
1,058
1,212
SoCal
I love my 11" Air but it's been causing me some eyestrain lately so I was thinking about how I may reluctantly get a 13". But then I made a bad photoshop to see how the Airs would look if they eliminated the bezels and it's really made me wonder why we need a bezel at all.

9zyc6p.jpg


They may have to make the lid less tapered and relocate/eliminate the VGA FaceTime Camera but upgrading the current models to a 13" and 14.5" screen makes more sense than adding a 3rd larger 15" Air that still has a giant bezel around it. But what do you think? :D
 
I totally agree with you.

If you look at the MBP 17" (or many other PC laptops), the bezel around the screen is significantly thinner, so if Apple managed to reduced the bezel in the MBA models, I'm sure they could squeeze a 12" and 14" screens into the current MBA 11" and 13" models (which could also lead to higher resolution).

I think it should be a priority for the 2012 models to reduce the bezel size.
 
I would guess that since the screen portion is so ridiculously thin as it is, the bezel helps keeps the screen more rigid. I'm amazed when I open my air now that there is not more give. The MBP's bezel is smaller but the screen looks to be about twice the thickness of the air. That being said, I'm sure it will get smaller in the coming years.
Nice photoshop job btw
 
I dont think its as simple as it sounds. The screen needs to be fully supported and made 100% secure. I think that a thinner bezel would jeopardise the screen and glass security.

Also, Apple are really pushing the FaceTime interaction between all their devices; iPads, iPhones, and Macs can all interact with each other using FaceTime. Removing the camera would remove a huge part of what Apple is trying to create.

I dont see it happening.
 
Bezels have been getting smaller on a range of devices. I hope we see it on Macs as each model gets redesigned (not when they just update the internals).
 
Some of the other ultra books have thinner bezels, and the screens definitely flex one. I.e. grab one corner and pull it towards you and watch the screen bend. It's a scary site.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4s: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

All they really need to do is change the front to glass and make the boarder black like the pros. Sorted!
 
Moonjumper said:
A lot of laptops do that, thin bezel or not.
Click to expand...

Yes, and they feel cheap and crappy. The MBA is my first Apple computer and I am 100% impressed with how solid and will-built it feels. I looked at other ultrabooks and they just felt cheap in comparison. Even my HP Pavillion laptop feels like a creaky plastic piece of junk now.
 
If they do utilize a smaller bezel, I think apple is more likely to make the airs narrower to hug the screen as opposed to having a larger screen to fill up the space. I don't see apple moving away from their model of 11-13-15 inch laptops, but smaller computers with the same screen size + keyboard space would be cool
 
Veinticinco said:
Ahem...

Image
Click to expand...

That screen is much thicker than the one on the Air. If you want a thicker screen (and therefore unit), you can get little or no bevel. I agree with the previous poster about upcoming units - since gorilla glass is now available that is thinner (like on the Dell unit), I think we will see much smaller bevels in the future.
 
TheRealDamager said:
That screen is much thicker than the one on the Air. If you want a thicker screen (and therefore unit), you can get little or no bevel. I agree with the previous poster about upcoming units - since gorilla glass is now available that is thinner (like on the Dell unit), I think we will see much smaller bevels in the future.
Click to expand...

Did I say the 2001 TiBook screen was comparable to the 2012 MBA one? Didn't think so.

My point was responding (hence the quote) to the poster who suggested that if it was possible, Apple would have done it by now. I don't think that's true. Unlike a decade ago, Apple these days loves an extra-thick bezel for some reason, whether it's on the black glass MBP or the MBA or the iPad even.

It's got nothing to do with engineering specs or the availability of Gorilla Glass or otherwise. The MBA bezel in particular is ridiculously thick and there's simply no reason to make it such apart from it being part of their current design palette. It's beyond ugly and inelegant on a machine that is the opposite in every other way.
 
Veinticinco said:
My point was responding (hence the quote) to the poster who suggested that if it was possible, Apple would have done it by now. I don't think that's true. Unlike a decade ago, Apple these days loves an extra-thick bezel for some reason, whether it's on the black glass MBP or the MBA or the iPad even.

It's got nothing to do with engineering specs or the availability of Gorilla Glass or otherwise. The MBA bezel in particular is ridiculously thick and there's simply no reason to make it such apart from it being part of their current design palette. It's beyond ugly and inelegant on a machine that is the opposite in every other way.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with this because, as much as I love Apple products, the "if it was possible, Apple would have done it" statement has never been true since Apple is notorious for holding back expected features in order to include them next generation as a marquee selling point.:D

Another reason why I feel it's a fan-made excuse is because the whole point of Apple using a unibody enclosure is to increase durability while still enabling it to be thin. I can't think of a notebook out there that is more durable than ANY of the current MacBooks so how is it that everyone else can use a thinner bezel but for Apple "it can't be done"?!?


And just for kicks, here's a mockup of a MacBook Pro 14.5 in a MBP13 enclosure. :D

33pagpw.jpg
 
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Veinticinco said:
Did I say the 2001 TiBook screen was comparable to the 2012 MBA one? Didn't think so.

My point was responding (hence the quote) to the poster who suggested that if it was possible, Apple would have done it by now. I don't think that's true. Unlike a decade ago, Apple these days loves an extra-thick bezel for some reason, whether it's on the black glass MBP or the MBA or the iPad even.

It's got nothing to do with engineering specs or the availability of Gorilla Glass or otherwise. The MBA bezel in particular is ridiculously thick and there's simply no reason to make it such apart from it being part of their current design palette. It's beyond ugly and inelegant on a machine that is the opposite in every other way.
Click to expand...

I find this argument silly. So Apple has the capability to make the same Air, which the same technology, with a tony bezel, but they aren't because they are adhering to some mysterious design queues? Come on.
 
TheRealDamager said:
I find this argument silly. So Apple has the capability to make the same Air, which the same technology, with a tony bezel, but they aren't because they are adhering to some mysterious design queues? Come on.
Click to expand...
They did with the iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and MacBook Pro. All of them have a ton of wasted screen area which seems to be decided more on aesthetics and uniformity than function or ability. So why do you feel the Air is somehow limited from getting a smaller bezel?

Im not arguing, I'm just saying that it does seem like the decision isn't made due to technological limitations and IF either the next gen Air or MBP get a smaller bezel it would be expected for that "look" to trickle down the entire product line because Apple values uniformity in all their products.
 
KittyKatta said:
They did with the iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and MacBook Pro. All of them have a ton of wasted screen area which seems to be decided more on aesthetics and uniformity than function or ability. So why do you feel the Air is somehow limited from getting a smaller bezel?

Im not arguing, I'm just saying that it does seem like the decision isn't made due to technological limitations and IF either the next gen Air or MBP get a smaller bezel it would be expected for that "look" to trickle down the entire product line because Apple values uniformity in all their products.
Click to expand...

The iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone bezels do serve a purpose, to ensure that you're not constantly touching unintended things on screen. Especially for the iPad, imagine how annoying and/or downright impossible it would be to use with a smaller (or no) bezel. Not to mention the cameras and sensors located in the bezel.

For the MacBooks, yes, they probably could shrink the bezel a bit, but until they can figure out how to move the camera behind the screen; CLICK ME I think the current bezel is a good compromise.
 
Veinticinco said:
Did I say the 2001 TiBook screen was comparable to the 2012 MBA one? Didn't think so.

My point was responding (hence the quote) to the poster who suggested that if it was possible, Apple would have done it by now. I don't think that's true. Unlike a decade ago, Apple these days loves an extra-thick bezel for some reason, whether it's on the black glass MBP or the MBA or the iPad even.

It's got nothing to do with engineering specs or the availability of Gorilla Glass or otherwise. The MBA bezel in particular is ridiculously thick and there's simply no reason to make it such apart from it being part of their current design palette. It's beyond ugly and inelegant on a machine that is the opposite in every other way.
Click to expand...

I should have said "if it was possible with the current thinness" instead. I thought it was pretty obvious that it's what I meant.

I disagree about the thick bezels probably being a design choice. I'm sure it's technical limitations. Who finds thick bezel prettier? Also, notice that small Mac laptops like the 11" MBA have much thicker bezel than large ones like the 17" MBP. How does that make sense, design-wise? It would be more logical to either keep the same bezel to keep uniformity across the whole line or make the bezel thickness proportional to the screen size so that all Mac laptops keep similar dimension proportions.

I don't think the TiBook is any proof that a thin bezel is possible in a screen as thin as the current MBA's. Just look at how thick this screen is, the screen alone is almost as thick as a whole MBA, and it's not tapered at all.

1570447_2.jpg
 
I think I'm a slim (pun hyuk hyuk) minority who like a little bezel space. it sets a good overall background and a contrast to the screen. I especially like the white bezel as it draws attention away from a TN's fairly poor black reproduction (Imagine having a TN's black up against a black bezel, you will clearly feel like it's not right")
 
The wide bezel on the Air allows the enclosure to taper to the thin width we all love so much. To include less bezel would result in a thicker lid and edges. Just look at older Macbook Pros. My 17" had a remarkably small (and secure!) bezel, but the lid was very thick.

Tapering has been part of the core design that makes the Air feel thinner than any other ultrabook since the product's inception. Just look at the first generation: it tapered all over. Now the shape is more of a wedge.

I think if we want larger screens in these products we shouldn't be asking Apple to make smaller bezels, we should be asking screen supplies to engineer thinner screen panels (or Apple to buy thinner panels).
 
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