The MacBook Pro Notch
An eleventh-hour rumour appeared seemingly out of nowhere last week claiming that the MacBook Pro would be getting an iPhone-style screen notch. The rumour came from an unknown source on Reddit, which led to much doubt and speculation, but it turns out the source was correct on just about every count.
Had that leak not appeared, Apple would have completely blindsided us with the debut of a notch on the MacBook Pro. It’s something that seemed really odd at first glance, but the more we thought about it, the more sense it made, and Apple confirmed that on stage today.
In short, the notch doesn’t take away screen space, but rather adds to it. It allows the menu bar to move up above the main 16:10 display area, into space that was previously wasted by the bezel.
We’ll have to wait and see how full-screen apps will handle it, but we suspect they’ll just ignore it, since developers still have the same size canvas to play with as they did before, and thanks to the high contrast ratio of the new mini-LED displays, that area will just blend in and look like the bezel on the current MacBooks when it’s not in use.