Like it or not, it’s Apple’s way of standing out in a sea of identical slabs and clamshells.ĭo I love the look? No, can’t say I do.
CHANGE SCREEN ON MACBOOK PRO PRO
It does for the MacBook Pro the same thing it always did for the iPhone, creating a trademark look. However, the notch is also about branding. In that sense, it bears a lot of resemblance to the screen on the Surface Laptop Studio. I view the notch as a compromise, not a design flourish.įor the first time in a long time on a MacBook Pro, the notch ensures an equal-sized bezel in every direction around the screen, and even allows Apple to introduce rounded corners at the top. And yes, the notch is where Apple houses a number of important components, which would have been very difficult to fit without increasing the bezel size or reducing the quality of the webcam. It’s a larger and more intrusive notch than what the iPhone has, opting for a boxier shape. A notch was even considered as a possibility in the first few years of thin-bezel XPS laptops, but it never came to fruition.Īnd yet, to the surprise of almost everyone, the 2021 MacBook Pro has a big notch hanging down from the top, housing the camera module and a host of other sensors. As companies like Dell pushed forward with razor-thin bezels in the XPS laptops, Apple stayed the course with its thick bezels in the years since then.
The idea of a notch in a laptop has been something I’ve been wondering about ever since it debuted on the iPhone X in 2017. That bezel comes with a compromise, of course - though that’s not how Apple will hope you view it. The other small changes to the design include the removal of the “MacBook Pro” logo from the bottom bezel, new rubber feet on the bottom, and ultrathin bezels up top. It’s not unlike the strategy used in fashion and design industries. This is an expensive product, and Apple wants to welcome you to the cool club. That’s why it most certainly includes a black Apple sticker in the box. Like the Space Gray iMac Pro and matching accessories, Apple uses the slightest change in color scheme to give a premium, exclusive feel. It also immediately distinguishes these MacBook Pros from the otherwise similar-looking MacBook Air (and 13-inch MacBook Pro). Silver laptops with black keycaps has become ubiquitous in the laptop world, and the MacBook Pro’s changeup is refreshing. The black keyboard, in particular, feels like a statement piece when so many laptops have copied the MacBook look. Black has become the dominant accent color, gracing both the Apple logo and the backdrop of the keyboard. It’s still made from a unibody aluminum chassis, it still comes in silver or space gray, and there’s still an Apple logo on the lid.īut the changes in this generation aren’t subtle enough to be missed. Taking a step back, the 2021 MacBook Pro still very much looks like a MacBook. You can even get last year’s model for a discount thanks to this Cyber Monday MacBook Pro deal. One thing’s for sure: They won’t need to apologize for this one. You might even call it the best of both worlds - which is exactly what you want in a “pro” laptop.
It’s bold in ways that make it exciting, yet familiar in ways that keep it convenient. Whether it’s the thickness of the chassis, the Touch Bar, or the ports, the MacBook Pro represents a reversal of nearly every major design decision from the previous generation.Īnd yet, the 2021 MacBook Pro manages to be more than just a referendum on the 2016 MacBook Pro. Instead, Apple corrects its errors by putting out a product like the 2021 MacBook Pro. It won’t grovel or ask for forgiveness either. It’s not a phrase you’ll hear a company like Apple ever utter.