For people undecided because of the notch, it might not look as clean on photographs but in practice, macOS knows that it's there and they did a good job in order to avoid displaying anything behind it.

It's empty space, and the whole row goes completely black in most fullscreen cases too as the screen is 16:10 BELOW the menu bar.

You forget it as easily as you forget that you have a nose right in the middle of your vision.

I'm currently sitting at my notchless-MBP noting how there is not a single thing in the middle of my menu bar and there never has been. I can't think of a single reason I wouldn't want a notch in exchange for smaller bezels. Especially given the aspect ratio of a Mac is taller such that it doesn't interrupt typical video or photo content

I have a launch day MBP16" and I haven't noticed the notch a single day so far. I just have more screen space now. Does it really bother you in your day to day?

Honestly haven’t noticed the notch on my MacBook Pro in months until reading this comment. It really does disappear after a little while

The notch doesn't get in the way in daily use as much as it would seem. Look at it this way: without the notch, that area would've been useless black glass. But with the notch, the menu bar doesn't eat into the continuous part of the screen yet remains fully functional, effectively giving you more usable screen area.

I've read all the arguments pro-notch, that you won't notice, and that it doesn't take up screen real estate, and so on. But still, the design compromise bothers me; hiding a camera such that the aesthetic geometry isn't distorted feels wrong and fake, and something not here to stay for long, just as you say. Why not implement a mechanical flip-out camera holder? Helps with perceived big brother effect, too.

Btw, is the mandatory touch bar thingy back? That would be a step back in my book.

> I really don’t get why it is necessary.

This pushes menu and status bars up into the bezel area at the top of your laptop's lid, leaving more room in the primary 16x10 display area for apps and things.

It's free real estate, why not have menus go up there?

I use pure black as my wallpaper of choice and I forgot I have a notch on my m1 MBP.

Hm, I haven’t even noticed the notch in the past 7 months on mine.