Ultra-slim bezels: worth sacrificing a webcam on an iMac? GL-NEWS

Apple was so pleased with its ultra-slim bezels on the iPhone X that it declared the design ‘the future of the iPhone’ – and that was of course reflected in this year’s line-up, where even the lower-cost iPhone XR has a very similar design.

We yesterday confirmed what everyone has been expecting: that this years iPad Pro models will adopt the same ultra-slim bezel design. But there’s one product line where Apple hasn’t yet done the same dramatic slimming-down of its bezels – the Mac …

Designer Andrew Hudson has created renders of his vision for next year’s iMac – with the same ultra-slim bezels the key feature.

As with most such efforts, it’s simply a visual representation without any thought about the engineering challenges it would entail.

Some PC makers have, however, tackled these. We recently looked at Acer’s Swift 7 laptop as one example.

One of the problems, of course, with ultra-slim bezels is: where do you put the webcam? Some manufacturers have opted to position it at the bottom of the screen, where a slightly thicker bezel is less noticeable. Others have taken their ultra-slim bezels quest far enough to provide a ‘chin cam’ in the keyboard.

One question we could pose, though, is: do we need a webcam at all? My personal view is that, on a laptop, they are vital. Anyone who’s done a lot of business travel will tell you that being able to have video calls with your partner or family while away is all but essential.

But on a desktop, I do wonder whether we need consider them core to the product? I rarely use the one on my Apple Thunderbolt Display, and in a desktop setup it’s easy enough to use an external one if required. Could this be a practical route to ultra-slim bezels on an iMac or Apple display? Or do we take the view that if Apple can manage it on the iPad without a notch, then whatever bezel size that requires is fine on an iMac?

Let us know your views by taking our poll and sharing your thoughts in the comments.