• Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve never understood the giant notch on the MacBook since there is no FaceID.

    I’m fairly blind to it now, but it’s definitely a weird design choice.

    • Sumocat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Even without Face ID, the notch houses more than just the camera. “David Pogue posted an image on Twitter, which seems to be the new MacBook Pro’s camera module. In that, we see a 1080p camera, TrueTone sensor, ambient light sensor, and a camera status LED.” https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-s-notch-houses-more-than-just-a-1080p-camera.574456.0.html

      Given that, I don’t see how they lose the notch without losing everything but the camera. Tone and light sensors need some distance from the illuminated display, and the status LED is wired to the camera power to show you definitively when the camera is powered on. That LED has to stand out at any time.

    • stooth64@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think it’s so that they could accommodate a 1080p camera (previous generations were 720p). Looking at other laptops with 1080p cameras, manufacturers have approached this in a few different ways such as a thicker top bezel or a protrusion upwards beyond the rest of the bezel (This shows some computers but is certainly not exhaustive: https://www.adorama.com/lists/laptops-with-1080p-camera). For the MacBook, it’s a reasonable compromise because MacOS has the omnipresent menu bar (except full-screen mode). The top-center portion of the screen isn’t used most of the time. That being said, the height of the menu bar was increased on Macs with the notch, so I’m not sure on the difference in usable space. I would certainly like to see Face ID on the Mac in the future though.