52 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2021
FEATURE REVIEW: 14 -INCH MACBOOK PRO (M1 PRO)a more valuable menu bar item. You can
use Apple’s macOS Control Center to
access some of the settings that may
become unavailable in a crowded menu
bar, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Volume.
However, the notch magnifies Control
Center’s biggest flaw, its limited
customization options—not all settings are
available, and you can’t add third-party
apps. Fixing those problems will make
Control Center more useful and provide a
workaround for a crowded menu bar on a
notch-equipped MacBook Pro.
Before Apple gets around to that, there
are utilities that help organize your menu
bar, such as Bartender 4 (fave.co/2ZKVrlL),
which we recently reviewed as one of our
Mac Gems. These types of utilities have
been around for a while, but I suspect they
could suddenly become very popular
again. Apple also offers the
option to run apps in full-
screen mode with the “Scale
to fit below built-in camera”
turned on. Then the menu bar
can use the space that the
notch would usually take.
All this is to say the notch
does stand out. Since I’m so
used to the iPhone notch,
adjusting to the MacBook Pro’s
notch was not an issue. I barely
noticed it while using the
laptop every day, and it doesn’t
infringe on the workspace below, so nothing
is really lost. However, overcrowded menu
bars and lengthy menu items are going to
be a big issue for a lot of users.
Despite having a notch as wide as the
one on the iPhone, the MacBook Pro
doesn’t have Face ID. I thought the M1
iMac would be the first Mac with Face ID,
but that didn’t happen. I hoped these
higher-end MacBook Pros would have
Face ID, but that didn’t happen, either.
Maybe it’ll arrive in the upcoming
replacement for the 27-inch Intel iMac
(fave.co/3CCgMMJ). For now, the MacBook
Pro has the M1 iMac’s new Touch ID
sensor, and it works well.FACETIME CAMERA
MacBook Pros have long had an outdated
720p camera that produced mediocreThe menu bar runs through the notch, and menu listings
will continue after the notch if necessary.