Apple Says Notch is a 'Smart Way' to Give Users More Space for Content on New MacBook Pros

The notch on the newly redesigned MacBook Pro offers a "smart way" to give users more room for their content and allowed Apple to make the bezels thinner and provide more screen real estate to customers, an Apple official has said during a recent media interview.

macbook pro 2021 notch feature
The inclusion of a notch on the entirely revamped MacBook Pros was a surprise and was one of the few last-minute rumors that surfaced ahead of Apple's "Unleashed" event last week. As expected, some social media users have criticized Apple's design choice of adding a notch to the display.

Addressing the company's decision, Shruti Haldea, a manager for the Mac product line and one of the presenters of last week's Apple event, said during an interview on the Same Brain podcast that the notch is a "smart" solution for the Mac as it provides users more room for their content by moving the macOS menu bar out of the way.

What we've done is we've actually made the display taller. Like on the 16-inch notebook, you still have a 16.0 active area on the diagonal in that 16:10-inch window, and we just grew the display up from there and put the menu bar up there. We just kind of moved it up and out of the way. So it's a really smart way to give you more space for your content, and when you're in full-screen mode, you have that 16:10 window, and it looks great. It's seamless.


Compared to previous iterations of the ‌MacBook Pro‌ design, the new 14-inch and 16-inch models do feature significantly smaller bezels. Apple says the bezels are 24% thinner than the previous generation on the left and right sides of the display, measuring only 3.5mm. On the top, thanks to the notch, the bezel is 60% thinner, also measuring at 3.5mm.

While the notch is noticeable at first, Apple is betting on some macOS software features, including dark mode, to help minimize how noticeable it is to some users in day-to-day use. For example, when macOS apps are in full-screen mode, the system adds a black border to the top of the display, hiding the notch while not interfering with a user's content. Developers can choose to have their app's content shown on either side of the notch.

The notch is one many changes to the new MacBook Pros. The new laptops feature an entirely redesigned chassis, additional ports such as HDMI and an SD card slot, MagSafe, a mini-LED display with ProMotion, and either the M1 Pro or M1 Max chips, which are the first Apple silicon chips designed for professional consumers.

Both the 14-inch and 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models became available for pre-order last week and will start arriving to customers on Tuesday, October 26. Both sizes can be configured with either the ‌M1 Pro‌ or ‌M1 Max‌ chips, giving users substantial performance gains compared to the M1 Apple silicon chip. Learn more about the new MacBook Pros using our detailed roundup.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

a m u n Avatar
48 months ago


Attachment Image
Score: 128 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFather Avatar
48 months ago
Why not remove the notch and sell a webcam as a dongle?
Score: 76 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
48 months ago
Doing this without notch would be way smarter though
Score: 69 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Superhappytree Avatar
48 months ago
It still looks bloody awful no matter how they or anyone else tries to spin it. It’s an eyesore. Not everyone likes using dark mode to try and ‘hide’ it either.

When you have to resort to using workarounds via software to try and disguise a hardware design decision then that is bad design. End of story.
Score: 67 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
48 months ago
Apple does have a good point here. Especially if it was designed by Jony Ive’s. The notch was able to introduce a bigger screen factor on an iPhone X too comparing with iPhone 8 Pro Max.

It only took Apple 4 years to admit a NOTCH is necessary for a bigger screen.

Years later same concept is being assigned to the MacBook Pro line up.

The fact Apple is so proud of the notch is just amazing! Impressed by the creativity at Apple.



Attachment Image
Score: 67 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Milennia Avatar
48 months ago
Once I learned that the notch area doesn’t impede on the actual 14.2" etc. of the screen and is instead EXTRA space to fit the menu bar in, I stopped caring about the notch entirely, not that I cared much anyway
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)