New MacBook Pro Finally Features a 1080p Webcam Within a Notch

[B4rbelith]

You can already do this with the current MacBook Pros... which I, when I want to stream video content/share my screen... sometimes switch to a 16:9 resolution. The only thing it doesn't do just yet... is cut off the extra pixels from ONE edge only... aka doing it now introduces black bars at the top and bottom. Basically like letterboxing movies. Buuuuut I guess that should still be possible to do.

Yeah, I'm sure there'll be an option to just switch it to 16:10 resolution, and it will completely eliminate the notch for those who want to do that.

People just want to complain, because the notch is the one thing that they can find to moan about on this product. It's actually a very good way to get some extra screen real estate, and you're actually gaining something rather than losing something, but some folks can't see it that way...

 

[bobtem]

Take your MBP screen, look at it. They added space left and right of the camera, for the menu bar. They found additional space for your menu bar, so when you fullscreen apps, you still have it. Otherwise it’s the same screen you had. They added space, they didn’t take away anything.

But this is too hard for the Internet to comprehend, it seems. Every comment on every MBP news today is “but the notch”.

Personally, I really like the choice they made here.

Well, then why didn't they do that 5 gens ago? Not like there's anything new about the technology or screen real estate that made it possible in 2021.

 

[aevan]

Well, then why didn't they do that 5 gens ago? Not like there's anything new about the technology or screen real estate that made it possible in 2021.

Rounding out the corners is on an LCD screen is more expensive, they started that with iPhone XR. But I guess it's also a design decision. Like any design, I'd say tastes and trends change and that's the main reason we have it now. Either way, it's a good decision - regardless whether it was possible 5 gens ago. It's good design: it looks great and adds usable space. It also gives people something to talk about, which is Apple's trademark move

 

[dampfnudel]

So all it took was a notch to finally get a 1080p webcam on the MBP after all of these years. Either that or the company that supplied them with 720p webcams on the cheap finally said come on man, it’s 2021, give your customers 1080p.

 

[dampfnudel]

So this year the MBP gets the notch and next year the iPhone Pro loses it??? Apple keeping everything inconsistent like usual.

 

[falainber]

I agree, utilising dead space in the menu bar is smart. I hate the notch myself, but I think the way Apple will mostly likely have integrated it, most people won't notice it, especially if they have dark mode enabled. For full screen videos, it'll blend in with the black bar across the top and bottom of the videos anyways (aspect ratio dependant).

The only issue I see where it will be an eyesore is when you're using full-screen apps.

I guess you still don't understand what they've done ...

They took away a chunk of the screen creating unnecessary obstacles to software development.

 

[visualseed]

Well, then why didn't they do that 5 gens ago? Not like there's anything new about the technology or screen real estate that made it possible in 2021.

Personally, I think it's the type of concession you make in a consumer oriented laptop. Not a pro model. I'm not going to worry about it too much because the machine will spend most of its life with the lid closed and connected to an external display. But the thought of using it makes me cringe a little in a way the notch on the phone never did even before I used it in person.

 

[azpc]

Wonderful new MBP's. I had planned to purchase two. Unfortunately, that is on hold until the notch is gone.

Great Quote from an earlier post:

"Imagine putting a piece of electrical tape on your laptop at the 12 O'clock position...permanently."

Exactly!!!

 

[Surne]

Wonderful new MBP's. I had planned to purchase two. Unfortunately, that is on hold until the notch is gone.

I had also intended to get one, but that's not happening with those notches present. Totally turned off of these now. I've got an awesome Windows laptop that'll cater to all my needs until Apple gets it's **** together.

 

[azpc]

Interesting Commentary from Windows Central

“It had been rumored, but did anyone really think even Apple would do it? Oh, they did it all right. The all-new MacBook Pro has a freaking notch.

Not only is it ridiculous, but what possible purpose does it even serve? Especially when Apple itself is hiding it in most of the promo renders on its own webpage.

The MacBook Pro doesn't even have Face ID. That's the biggest joke here.

In its first incarnation, it's literally a home for a webcam. And since macOS is all menu bar all the time across the top of the display, you're really making the most of that extra few vertical pixels' worth of space.

The sad part is that the silliness with the notch distracts from some of the actual, serious work Apple has done under the hood with its M1 chips.

Windows OEMs often try their best to mimic the MacBook style. Please don’t! This stupid notch is one trend we really don’t need anyone copying.

The MacBook Pro notch is stupid, and it better not start a trend

Go home, Apple, you're drunk.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[obiwan]

All you people complaining about the notch don’t realize that it doesn’t give you less screen real estate, it gives you more. Same 16X9 ratio, but a bit more on top now for the menu bar. Maybe you don’t like the look, but what on earth will it possibly cover up? Functionally, it’s a no-brainer

I guess we're all 'looking at it wrong'! So why don't Apple put something useful into that 'extra space' instead of trying cram what was already there on the screen into a smaller space? Maybe they should have stuck the missing emoji bar into that 'extra space' instead..!

 

[Seanm87]

I mean I don't like the notch but its not a dealbreaker for me. But why is it so big? It looks roughly the same size as the V1 on the iPhone but that has all the FaceId sensors. This is just the camera is it not?

 

[Philip_S]

That's because the camera is in the keyboard. Which makes very unflattering viewing angels..

View attachment 1869897

Ah, nostril inspection via teleconference. Just what the world needs

And for those with a weird, OCD style aversion to this, I absolutely guarantee that someone will engineer a way to remove it entirely and switch off those pixels altogether. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if there was an option built into the OS itself to alter the resolution to ignore it.

I’d assume there is, but I’m more interested in a potential option in new apps to ask for those extra pixels in full-screen mode.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

next year the iPhone Pro loses it?

Very unlikely. The punch hole rumor never made sense, since the iPhone would then just look like any other Android phone and Apple prefers brand recognition. Not to mention, why would they bother shrinking the notch if they planned to fully remove it a year later?

 

[firelighter487]

to be honest, the notch doesn't seem a problem. it's a 16:10 screen so video's would have black bars anyways.

 

[x-evil-x]

Imagine editing a photo, using your trackpad to zoom into a section and the big black rectangle notch covers part of your image, so you zoom back out again and move it around so you can see the full image again.

The notch was ugly enough on the iPhone, now they've gone and added it to the MacBook. For clean aesthetic fans, the notch is awful. Even more annoying that the iPad looks better and is the more futuristic device (touch screen, pencil, attachable keyboard etc.), but people need devices like the MacBook to do their day job (Xcode, Ableton Live, Unity, Unreal Engine to name a few).

From a programmers perspective, it makes app design that little bit more awkward and I'm wondering if Windows will ever have support for this awkward layout.

I had high hopes for this machine, reluctantly will hold on to my 2013 MacBook pro for now.

Exactly. The display should of just been all the same bezel all around. The iPads are even and look just right. They could of shrunk the bezels down a little more but kept them all the same all around. This just looks odd and no reason it should be done.

 

[x-evil-x]

Very unlikely. The punch hole rumor never made sense, since the iPhone would then just look like any other Android phone and Apple prefers brand recognition. Not to mention, why would they bother shrinking the notch if they planned to fully remove it a year later?

If you don’t understand how a company sells phones I don’t know what to tell ya. Introduce a notch- people don’t like it but still buy. Make it smaller and make it a feature so those people spending 1200$ on a phone get excited its smaller and upgade. Take away the notch and sell it on a full screen phone with no notch and get those same people to upgrade year after year for no other differences on their already great year prior phone.
It’s an upgrading strategy for apple.

 

[bobcomer]

And for those with a weird, OCD style aversion to this, I absolutely guarantee that someone will engineer a way to remove it entirely and switch off those pixels altogether. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if there was an option built into the OS itself to alter the resolution to ignore it.

That's a good way to put it, I have an OCD response to the notch, but what you suggest is impossible, you can't make part of the monitor look exactly like a bezel. Switching pixels off wont do a thing, there's the pixels, the backlights, and the adjacent backlights. (think bloom) We're not talking OLED here.

You could actually do it on the iPhone Pro's, since they have OLED, but nobody has ever did what you suggest, and I'd pay money for it.

 

[bobcomer]

I guess people prefer the large notch of the MacBook Pro 13", that goes across the full length of the screen, over the small notch in the new macbooks.View attachment 1869940

Yep, I prefer the "Large notch" It's symmetrical and looks good, unlike the other two.

 

[bobcomer]

More likely answer is that they want to hold it back as one more new feature of next year's model

Since when does Apple upgrade anything other than an iPhone yearly? It'll be 2 or 3 years until you get another Macbook Pro.

 

[bobcomer]

Apparently, we already know how it works.

Eww, that's even uglier than the notch itself. A menu bar with a large space in it.

 

[Kastellen]

Why would anyone have an issue with the notch when it is so clearly integrated as part of the menubar system? Looks like good use of otherwise dead space?

Dead space? I have menubar icons that go entirely across the screen. The notch is REMOVING valuable space for me.

 

[Kastellen]

To me, the funniest part about all the complaining about a notch that content appears below is that most people have been living with one that content appears above this whole time.

Edit: Yes I mean the Dock, or the wasted space on either side of it depending on how you look at it.

Not if you have it set to auto-hide.

 

[B4rbelith]

That's a good way to put it, I have an OCD response to the notch, but what you suggest is impossible, you can't make part of the monitor look exactly like a bezel. Switching pixels off wont do a thing, there's the pixels, the backlights, and the adjacent backlights. (think bloom) We're not talking OLED here.

You could actually do it on the iPhone Pro's, since they have OLED, but nobody has ever did what you suggest, and I'd pay money for it.

And yet they switch that part of the display off when apps are in full screen mode.

 

[bobcomer]

And yet they switch that part of the display off when apps are in full screen mode.

I don't run in full screen much.. Switch it off all the time and maybe it would work for me, but you'd have to move the menu bar too and then all the programming of the OS and apps to handle the different positions of everything.