New macOS 'Compatibility Mode' Options Let Developers Decide How Fullscreen Apps Handle the Notch

[francjl]

I mean what can be expected from a website called macrumors?

Of course people are defending a notch on a laptop lol
Extra screen real estate? ok.

Now you also have a noth in the middle of the screen that distorts symmetry. To make matters worse
top is rounded bottom of screen with a chin - square lol

so it has a notch and a chin -

 

[elptdbi3lYI]

The headline is wrong. It's exactly the other way around. The compatibility mode actually lets full screen apps NOT interfere with the notched area. Until developers update their apps to support the extra screen size, apps will run in compatibility mode.

Apple should provide examples on how that space could be used, because I don't see how it can be useful for anything than menu bar

 

[PBMB]

I use a camera blocking slider, all of my webcams come with them these days too. It's not about being hacked so much as accidentally turning on the camera in a web conference when I didn't intend to.

Caring about accidental activation is a very good reason. Plus, since the light sensors used by macOS to automatically adjust the display brightness are next to the camera, having them facing daylight from the window behind me increases the screen brightness to annoyingly high levels because my eyes do not look outside but inside. One solution is to disable automatic brightness adjustment. Another is to cover the camera and let the sensors see less light, setting the display to more appropriate brightness levels for indoors use.

 

[Grohowiak]

Yeah, people complaining about this seems to ignore how most PC laptops are 16:9 (which is annoying for real productivity) and use as bad or worse webcams (and with lousy mic and speakers to boot).

Price any $2000+ windows laptop and you will be shocked at how good everything you just mentioned is.
But hey, for the macboi crew it's good to compare a $2K+ laptop to a $599 windows machine right? riiiight?

 

[aevan]

Contact an enterprise-grade desktop management solution provider and ask them.

That’s a non-answer.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

People don't realize that the notch area is extra screen space.View attachment 1870940

Which line is the 16" ??? Not the diagonal line you draw here, right?

 

[PBMB]

You know how to turn on a Mac’s camera without activating the activity LED?

Citation?

It is possible at firmware level. It has been demonstrated here. This concerns older Macs but it shows how one can bypass the hardware interlock and disable the activity LED while the camera is transmitting data. I don't know if Apple took further action to prevent such modifications in more recent machines.

 

[nph]

This just makes me even happier with my MBP M1, no notch and i keep my touchbar. Don't want it the other way around so i hope my M1 will last me many years to come! Don't know if you noticed but the MBP M1 still has the best battery life according Apples own measurements. 20 hours on my little MBP.

 

[YellowCarrot]

Now we have 'notch gate' on a host of their devices perhaps its time for Apple to rethink its logo....

 

[mosh.jinton]

Which line is the 16" ??? Not the diagonal line you draw here, right?

I'd like someone to do the proper calculations. But from my very simple screenshot-and-draw-lines method, I calculated that the diagonal line drawn here is 99.01% the length of a diagonal line going right into the top corner (beyond the curved edge, to the point where the screen would end if it wasn't curved off.) So if the full screen is 16", the green line on this picture would be 15.84".

 

[involuntarheely]

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but does the Monterey menu bar on top have a resizable height? It looks taller, which nicely matches the notch height but also is going to take a way precious screen space from us poor plebeians with older gen Macbooks.

 

[ian87w]

Price any $2000+ windows laptop and you will be shocked at how good everything you just mentioned is.
But hey, for the macboi crew it's good to compare a $2K+ laptop to a $599 windows machine right? riiiight?

Care to share an example?

 

[x-evil-x]

For you I guess, for many others not. I would rather have a "bezel" I can use for menu icons rather than a dead frame. And lets be honest, not many people are fan of thick bezels. Just the way it is.

Then do it right and make the bezels similar all around including the bottom. There’s no reason why they couldn’t of just put the camera in the upper case and had the same bezel all around. There are other companies with small top bars with cameras in the top. This just looks weird plain and simple. Not elegant in any way.

 

[bsolar]

It is possible at firmware level. It has been demonstrated here. This concerns older Macs but it shows how one can bypass the hardware interlock and disable the activity LED while the camera is transmitting data. I don't know if Apple took further action to prevent such modifications in more recent machines.

AFAIK Since 2009 the firmware is signed.

 

[simnew]

Notchgate is such a non issue. You have more space than you had before and you have an OS that works around it. In due course you will probably find this notch will have additional features - LIDAR scanner / FACEID scanner etc and in doing so, they won't have to get every app developer to change their software because the OS has already incorporated this in the architecture of the MacBook Pro for the few years.

What I am more disappointed in, is that they have dropped the 'MacBook Pro' label on the screen. Why ? there will be an after market business of labels to reapply this !! And why did they leave it off ???????

 

[AppleMad98004]

Simple reason that is there. It is a place holder for FaceID next year. When they will introduce the "revolutionary FaceID for MacBook Pro" on stage. It's just there so they don't have to redesign the unit to add it.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Apple should add a new "Baby mode" for all the petulant infants crying about "losing screen real estate to the notch." It'll just permanently black out the notch row and you can have your 16:10 MacBook Pro display with enough bezel to house a camera.

Seriously though - look at the MacBook Air. There is 2x the height of the notch in bezel alone for just a webcam. Dell has laptops with smaller top bezels, but you also get a beautiful grainy "1080p" webcam image because the sensor is as small as the original iPhone. Or do like other manufacturers and just ditch the camera entirely.

Look at your Mac, and look at the menubar. Are you really going to miss those blank pixels? For any sane person, no.

Also in the article - compatibility mode refers to the backwards compatible part where the display becomes a 16:10 rectangle. There is no "mode" for putting content around the notch, that is just the default if the developer supports it - enabling compatibility mode would turn it off.

None of the Dells with tiny bezels have 1080p webcams.

If someone wants a Dell with a 2MP/1080p webcam, here’s an option: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/sho...-or-2-in-1/spd/latitude-14-7420-2-in-1-laptop

Notice that it has a bigger bezel and would have a notch if Dell wanted to give you extra screen space like Apple does.

Other options: https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-1080p-webcam/

Notice that they all have larger bezels. It’s almost as if the sensors for 1080p webcams take up more space…

 

[svenmany]

The example above is when the menu bar is not too overcrowded with icons stuff like dropbox vpn google drive time wifi search, time machine etc etc and on the left an app with many menu items. I guess they'll put an arrow to expand or they'll be obstructed by the notch.

Yeah.

I have a 2018 15" and my icons from the right extend to the center of the screen. I'm not up in arms about it though; some of the icons are there are not that important to me. I like having most of them visible, but I'll be okay with some compromise solution.

I never use a camera, even on Zoom calls. I love the extra room of the bezel free display, but giving up some of that to the notch seems like a flat-out loss for me; I'll get over it.

 

[icolove]

None of the Dells with tiny bezels have 1080p webcams.

If someone wants a Dell with a 2MP/1080p webcam, here’s an option: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/sho...-or-2-in-1/spd/latitude-14-7420-2-in-1-laptop

Notice that it has a bigger bezel and would have a notch if Dell wanted to give you extra screen space like Apple does.

Other options: https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-1080p-webcam/

Notice that they all have larger bezels. It’s almost as if the sensors for 1080p webcams take up more space…

The resolution of the image sensor doesn't affect the size of the sensor. The only thing that I can think of is heat dissipation for the higher resolution. However, I'm on the "who cares about a 720p or 1080p webcam" train. Connectivity and lighting play a bigger role in how one looks in their silly zoom meeting.

 

[_Spinn_]

I'm still not sold on the need for a notch on a laptop and I say this as someone who doesn't mind the notch on the iPhone. In fact I would be upset if Apple removed the notch and FaceID or pushed FaceID into a bezel on the iPhone.

 

[humblecoder]

...

I really do not understand why people are so up in arms about this. It makes the screen bigger in one mode, the same size in the other, and the camera vastly better.

I think that it's simply initially off-putting to look at the split menu bar. I put up with it, but I'm still not used to it after 3+ years on my iPhone. Additionally, I think it will be interesting for those that have several app icons across the menu bar. It's "missing real estate" no matter how you cut it. To be clear, I just ordered a max-spec Max (well I didn't go for the 8TB HD), so I'm "in" . . . but still no fan of the notch. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Shirasaki]

Don't have time to skim through 8 pages of mumble rumble but here is what I get from this whole debacle:
Losing screen space vs gaining screen space is mostly from different perspective.

From one side, the screen could've been edge to edge with near 3:2 ratio, including a full menubar, but now middle menubar got cut off because of this new notch, so icons and menu items are going to be messed up for sure.

From the other side, previous 16:10 screen always get cut off by permanent menubar so it eats away some of the contents, but in turn, you have full menubar to put icons etc on, and the screen is a complete screen.

I still prefer a full screen rather than having a notch. That front-facing camera can be housed from somewhere else. Heck, Apple can just increase the depth to accommodate the new camera and even Face ID, plus more internal rooms for the battery. But no. Apple introduces notch.

 

[Mockletoy]

I think that it's simply initially off-putting to look at the split menu bar. I put up with it, but I'm still not used to it after 3+ years on my iPhone. Additionally, I think it will be interesting for those that have several app icons across the menu bar. It's "missing real estate" no matter how you cut it. To be clear, I just ordered a max-spec Max (well I didn't go for the 8TB HD), so I'm "in" . . . but still no fan of the notch. 🤷‍♂️

I guess that’s where we differ. The notch on my phone might as well not exist. I haven’t thought about it or even really seen it since basically day one.

As for app icons on the menu bar, I keep most of mine tucked away out of sight with Bartender anyway, so that won’t affect me either.

 

[KPOM]

Let's be clear here: this upper space is NOT an "extended screen area", right? The notch cut's into the regular screen resolution, right? The Finder configuration option therefore cut's away display space and will downscale the full screen app, is it?

No, it seems to be an extended screen area. ”Full screen” apps will default to the 16:10 aspect ratio as if there were still a larger top bezel, unless they take advantage of this “compatibility” feature.

 

[KPOM]

I still prefer a full screen rather than having a notch. That front-facing camera can be housed from somewhere else. Heck, Apple can just increase the depth to accommodate the new camera and even Face ID, plus more internal rooms for the battery. But no. Apple introduces notch.

Dell tried putting the camera in the base of the notebook, but it led to weird angles. Perhaps Apple could address this with the “Center Stage” technology from the iPad, but that would require additional design changes.