Apple’s newest MacBook Pros made quite an entrance this year. While the machines were lauded for their performance and features, the small, black notch at the top of the devices received outsized attention and created waves of controversy. You may love it. You may hate it. Whatever your stance is, now you can decorate it.
Developer Iconfactory delivered a virtual holiday gift for Apple users on Friday with the release of Notchmeister, an app for notched MacBook Pros that, in the words of the developer, makes notches “go wild.” With Notchmeister, users can put flashing Christmas lights on their notch, make their notch look like it’s leaking plasma, adorn their notch with a nice purple-ish glow, or simulate a “nano radar” that lets them see where their cursor is behind the notch, among others.
“Think of it as a fun way to spruce up your notch. Or as a screen saver for something you can’t see. Or, maybe, just a useless waste of time,” Iconfactory wrote in a blog post announcing the app.
Like a screensaver, Notchmeister doesn’t run all the time. It only pops up when you have the app open and you move your cursor on or near the notch. Considering the tendency of human beings to stop what they’re doing and look at flashing lights or anything that grabs our attention, this is a good thing.
If you have an older MacBook or MacBook Pro model that has no notch, like yours truly, don’t worry, Notchmeister lets you know what it feels like to have a notch. The app creates a “genuine replacement notch” on the top of your screen and lets you have fun, too.
“Be warned that side effects of this feature include making you want a new Mac even more than you already do. Sorry,” Iconfactory said.
Luckily, I didn’t experience that side effect (not having at least $US1,999 ($2,795) to spend on a new computer helps), but I did finally learn what it’s like to have a notch on my older MacBook Pro. And all I have to say is, really? That’s what all the fuss was about? Honestly, it’s really not that big a deal.