Comment by pompino
8 months ago
It's horrible for consuming media, among many other things. I honestly don't get why you're defending something that is bad design. And yes, I could do better. Remove the notch. ta-da ! Instantly better. Users, developers, testers, device repair folks, part suppliers, all will thank me :)
"Consuming media" seems like the worst possible argument against the notch, since the area below the notch is already 16:10 and will have letterboxing when watching 16:9 or wider content whether or not the notch exists.
Pictures don't exist? Sorry, I am out of this conversation. Its patently obvious that I will fail to convince the fans of the notch here.
>And yes, I could do better. Remove the notch. ta-da !
I can do one better. Don't buy it! Ta-da! Notch gone from your life and you can be happy again.
Consider that you are wrong and are not adept to designing products when compromises need to be made.
If you like it so much, take a piece of black tape and apply a notch to all your screens. I'll continue to criticize bad design.
It's a compromise, not a feature in itself. I get more screen for the compromise of having a small portion of it be blacked out. If you hate it so much, cover the entire menu bar with black tape and change the resolution and pretend like that's how it came if you want less screen space for no reason.
In the kindest way possible, consider that you may have OCD or similar. Like others have said, we haven't noticed or thought about this once in years of using it all day everyday. Preferring worse function (read: less display) over form (read: no notch) is not the galaxy brain you think it is.
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I have never noticed the notch when watching fullscreen videos or seeing fullscreen pictures.
I do notice it with my current background, but it doesn't bother me.
Removing the notch (by removing the webcam) is not an option that most people are interested in. Removing the notch by putting a forehead (and therefore shrinking total available screen space) is not an option that most people are interested in. What is your design brilliance for a relatively lightweight 14" laptop with minimal bezels and a high quality web camera in the centre of the screen?
You don't have one, because you have convinced yourself that anyone who disagrees with you "likes" the notch.
Literally everyone who has said that you're wrong has said some variation of:
1. Haven't really noticed it in X time using it 2. It doesn't bother me, because I have more screen space for the main windows, and the menu / task icons are now in space that wasn't available before 3. It's not a selling point for the laptop, but neither is it a disaster, and it's barely noticeable.
You have called it bad design. Pretty much everyone who has responded to your repetitive message has said "it's a compromise". Bad design is anti-human. This isn't anti-human, it's a compromise.
Statistically, no one is going to immediately buy a new version of a MacBook that does not have the notch just because it does not have the notch. They will do so because it offers a substantial boost over their current configuration (speed, RAM, display space, storage), and they may not even notice that there's not a notch anymore…unless they have used tools like Bartender or Hand Mirror that can take advantage of your cursor being under the notch to trigger useful functionality.
If you actually had a useful suggestion, I’m sure that Apple would love to hear from you (I’ll bet they've tried a lot of ideas that you have had and many more you haven't; they're not perfect, but they are really good at design experimentation and industrial processes). Until then, you’re just another Abe Simpson complaining about things on the Internet.
He's probably just a young kid or trolling. Kids have a tendency to overdial on the thing itself instead of the utility the thing can offer you. There's no way a fully functioning adult can be this obtuse.
>1. Haven't really noticed it in X time using it 2. It doesn't bother me, because I have more screen space for the main windows, and the menu / task icons are now in space that wasn't available before 3. It's not a selling point for the laptop, but neither is it a disaster, and it's barely noticeable.
I routinely jump between different devices with and without notches. The notched devices continue to highlight the flawed UX each time. For people who unconditionally love Apple (quite a few on HN) or don't care either way, its not a problem.
>You have called it bad design. Pretty much everyone who has responded to your repetitive message has said "it's a compromise".
Its true, 10 people on an online forum disagreed with me.
>Bad design is anti-human.
Anti-human? You've lost me sorry.
>Statistically, no one is going to immediately buy a new version of a MacBook that does not have the notch just because it does not have the notch. They will do so because it offers a substantial boost over their current configuration (speed, RAM, display space, storage), and they may not even notice that there's not a notch anymore…unless they have used tools like Bartender or Hand Mirror that can take advantage of your cursor being under the notch to trigger useful functionality.
Yes, I agree and said so. Its not enough of an irritant to disqualify the purchase.
> I’m sure that Apple would love to hear from you (I’ll bet they've tried a lot of ideas that you have had and many more you haven't; they're not perfect, but they are really good at design experimentation and industrial processes). Until then, you’re just another Abe Simpson complaining about things on the Internet.
Apple doesn't want to hear from me because they already know the notch is ridiculous. They're working on removing it, they have stated all but publicly - because Apple never acknowledges their flaws unless they are sued.
> It’s true, 10 people on an online forum disagreed with me.
If you were to look at any other forum, the comments seem about 10:1 for people who are not bothered by the notch. The other people who are not coming onto a forum to complain seem to not be bothered enough to post about it.
> Apple doesn't want to hear from me because they already know the notch is ridiculous. They're working on removing it, they have stated all but publicly - because Apple never acknowledges their flaws unless they are sued.
It may bug you so much that you call it “ridiculous” but most of us recognize that it is a compromise between conflicting constraints and the downsides are minor. Certainly Apple would like to resolve that compromise with fewer downsides, but to do so requires them developing the tech to put those components under the screen. That doesn’t exist yet without bringing in new compromises. Just like on the phone, once they can hide those components they will. In the meantime, we can either continue to get worked up about it or relax and get on with our work.
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Great! You removed the notch. Now we don't have a webcam.
:)