[Waterluvian]

There’s like four different things in the notch. Not just a camera. Plus some recessed screw holes to mount it.

The notch feels weird, but when I try to redesign it without sacrificing features, I can’t come up with a better option. …Not that I’m a brilliant designer by any means.

[pimanrules]

Not really? There's a webcam, an indicator LED, an ambient light sensor, and a lot of empty space. As far as I can tell, the MacBook notch is wide just to make it look like the iPhone notch.

https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/5JIdAqwLsxWAFAyZ

[Tagbert]

There is also the mounting hardware. It’s not an unreasonable size for what it contains. If they were to really redesign the module they might shave a little off of it but how impactful would that reduction really be?

[Tagbert]

Here is the module behind the notch: https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/img_0383-jpeg.22053...

[johnwalkr]

They probably set the notch size with some margin too, so they could develop the camera module and LCD at the same time.

[dlivingston]

> The MacBook notch is wide just to make it look like the iPhone notch.

I'm convinced this is true, at least partially.

The iPhone notch is branding and a visual differentiator from the competition, which is Apple's forte, and carrying over that very distinctive design element to other product lines seems right in Apple's playbook.

In other words: glass slab in your hand? Who knows. Glass slab with a black notch? iPhone.

Person typing on metallic laptop in a cafe? Who knows. Ah, but the screen has a notch? MacBook.