This Free App Made Me Forget About My Macbook’s Notch

In case you’ve stared at your attractive MacBook show and wished that little black interruption on the high wasn’t there, you are not alone. Whereas some have realized to dwell with the notch, many people nonetheless desire a completely seamless display screen. Fortunately, there’s an app for that.

Apple first launched the notorious display screen notch to MacBooks with the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in October 2021. It was a controversial transfer, bringing a design component acquainted to iPhone customers (for the reason that iPhone X in 2017) to the laptop computer world. The thought was to permit for thinner bezels by housing the webcam and sensors throughout the show space, successfully supplying you with extra vertical display screen actual property than if there have been a thicker high bezel.

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MacBook Docking Stations Are So Much Cooler Than I Thought

The mix of a MacBook with an M chip and a docking station appears like the final word setup. I am unsure I can ever return to dividing my time between a desktop laptop and a laptop computer. There’s one thing downright magical about pulling a pc out of my bag, plugging in a single cable, and seeing my full desktop battle station gentle up. That is the longer term I wish to dwell in, and it is all as a result of I lastly realized how cool docking stations are. Who knew!

Functionally, the notch accomplishes precisely what it is designed to do, however aesthetically, it’s a bit odd to have a look at. After I obtained my first MacBook final 12 months, I wasn’t terribly bothered by the notch, however I had heard about an app referred to as TopNotch. This little app does one thing quite simple and really efficient—it merely turns your menu bar fully black. For the reason that menu bar sits proper on the high of your display screen, it hides the notch inside that black house and creates the phantasm that the notch is not even there.

TopNotch works within the background, continually monitoring your wallpaper adjustments and adjusting to maintain that menu bar completely black. It additionally tries to play good with macOS Dynamic Desktop Wallpapers, although that specific characteristic could be buggy generally. It helps a number of shows as nicely, so that you get that constant notch-free expertise throughout all of your setups. One bonus contact that I like is the flexibility so as to add rounded corners on your wallpaper, which helps the phantasm much more.

One other cool characteristic is the flexibility to make use of TopNotch solely on your MacBook show, not screens. After I’m sitting at my desk with my MacBook docked and my big ultrawide monitor, the menu bar reveals my desktop wallpaper from behind, like regular. However once I unplug and swap to laptop computer mode, the menu bar turns black to cover the notch. It’s extremely seamless.

Once more, I wasn’t bothered by the notch, however I can actually say I legitimately forgot my MacBook had it for a very long time since utilizing TopNotch. I used to be solely reminded of it not too long ago when photographs of latest MacBooks. I’ve the TopNotch menu bar icon hidden, so there’s actually no indication that something is operating. It genuinely simply works and makes my expertise a bit of bit nicer than it might be in any other case.

TopNotch is a free app, and it couldn’t be simpler to make use of. If you’re aggravated by the notch in your MacBook display screen, otherwise you simply desire a cleaner look, I extremely suggest it. Chances are high you’ll set it up as soon as and fully neglect it’s there. That’s the signal of an efficient instrument.

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I Can’t Imagine Using My Mac Without This Free App

After I made the large swap to Mac as a long-time Home windows consumer, there have been a handful of options that have been a high precedence to interchange. One such characteristic was the flexibility to snap home windows into particular layouts, and I discovered a wonderful Mac app to do it. Window tiling is a vital a part of my every day workflow. I take advantage of an ultrawide monitor, and I just about completely function with a number of apps on the display screen without delay. macOS has some built-in window-tiling performance, nevertheless it’s not as feature-packed as I might like. So, I enlisted the assistance of a free app referred to as “Rectangle.”