The case of the vanished iSight indicator

As some of our more astute and early-adopting readers have pointed out, new MacBook Pros have achieved another delectably admissible landmark in the stylish machine's symmetrical form. The iSight indicator -- the green LED that lets you know when your integrated camera is activated -- has now been integrated directly into the bezel. No more visible dot in the aluminum to constantly distract you from absolutely nothing; trust us, it's there underneath. Besides, it's not like Apple really wants to surreptitiously watch you read Engadget all day anyway.

[Thanks, Dan & everyone who sent this in]

[Drew @ Oct 28th 2006 10:59AM]

Oh shut up! If you don't like it, then skip the damn article! Don't go bitching about it in the comments.

[A @ Oct 28th 2006 12:49PM]

Someone likes windows

[Dan @ Oct 28th 2006 6:21AM]

It's interesting to see each tiny dot on the large version of the photo.

I wonder why Apple felt this necessary over something like the magnetic latch, or a full case update for that matter.

[Gareth Burleigh @ Oct 28th 2006 7:10AM]

Thats a nice little touch. On the magnetic latch subject I wonder if its because of metal the metal bending easy while the Macbook is made out of plastic? Just a thought

G

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Oct 28th 2006 11:40AM]

The simple solution would be to use four magnets instead of two. Put two medium powered ones either side of the iSight to hold it shut, and then put two very light ones on either end of the display. Not only would that work perfectly, but it would also hold the door seemlessly shut when in the closed position. It's not the material that would cause it to bend, but the length of the display. The MacBook's a 13" widescreen, so it's only around 12" long, whereas the Mabook Pro 15" widescreen is around 13"-14" long. I think the light magnet soulution would work, don't you?

[Woody Sabran @ Oct 28th 2006 7:12AM]

quit your moanin! its a well spotted new feature and im glad some one brought it to my attention...

[evansls @ Oct 28th 2006 7:24AM]

http://images.apple.com/macbookpro/images/isightcameranim20061024.gif

[Larry C @ Oct 28th 2006 7:36AM]

Woah... I think these little tiny details are that parts Apple from the rest. I still couldn't figure out how they did that on the metal bezel. I got to see one in person to believe...

[Michael May @ Oct 28th 2006 7:47AM]

Meh. Integrate the camera into the bezel. Then I'll be impressed ;)

[wackybit @ Oct 28th 2006 7:56AM]

evansis, most of the people saw the photo that you linked from the apple site. But we were not sure that the picture was a bad photoshop and some dude forgot to put the dot in or a real product photo.

The same thing happened when the MacBook Pro came out in January. In the MBP gallery on the Apple site the laptop in one of the pictures is actually not a MacBook Pro but rather a PowerBook with an IR sensor photoshopped in. Since it had the IR sensor, but not the iSight above the screen.

[evansls @ Oct 28th 2006 8:49AM]

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/gallery/index5.html

[Galley @ Oct 28th 2006 8:51AM]

So what happened to the microphone?

[fabio @ Oct 28th 2006 9:29AM]

the mic was since begin near the the ambient light sensor, means not in the screen but left to the keyboard

[Xell @ Oct 28th 2006 9:31AM]

It's amazing. Our world is full of people who want 'nice looking' objects. Even if they sacrifice the main purpose of a computer.

Welcome to the iPod generation...

[Alex C @ Oct 28th 2006 10:00AM]

Then perhaps it is time that you reconsidered your idea of the "main purpose of a computer". Things have changed a lot since 1996.

[Chris @ Oct 28th 2006 11:26AM]

"Even if they sacrifice the main purpose of a computer."

Where is the sacrifice being made here?

[Bill @ Oct 28th 2006 3:42PM]

Just because you don't understand good design, don't bemoan those that do.

Image a sqaure divided into sixteen panels with a word on each panel. You've never seen it before. Someone asks you to press one of the words in order to activate a function.

What if the square was designed in such a clever way that it only needed four panels instead of sixteen, and the twelve other functions only make themselvs apparent when necessary?

Now you understand good design.

[James Whited @ Oct 28th 2006 9:32AM]

While the Apple Site seems to confirm this as truth, this photo looks like a bad photoshop job. Where is the camera. It looks like an IR sensor there.
plus in the close up, the camera looks a little off, like its rotated. Thanks evansis for the link to the Gallery.

[LittleJoe @ Oct 28th 2006 9:53AM]

Great... my 1st gen mbp is getting more outdated by the second :P

I guess I can always spray paint some scotch tape aluminum and put it over my light

[mortysalt @ Oct 28th 2006 10:34PM]

Apple tries to have the best of both world with good looks and ease of use with some of the newest tech out there. We have 5 computers at our house 2 are Apples and when guest come over we always hide the other computers since they look like computers, while the Apple products look like pieces of furniture designed for your home.

[Shane @ Oct 29th 2006 1:10AM]

Macs = Art? In our house, we use an aging 17 inch "Lampshade" iMac as a fancy (and quite stylish) digital photo frame. We had it on hand and weren't actively using it any more, so we put it to use showing a screen saver of our pictures!

[Dan @ Oct 28th 2006 10:14AM]

Just one more feature to blow in my 1G MacBook Pro-owning friend's face.

[rogersmj @ Oct 28th 2006 11:15AM]

Nice touch. Just like the iMacs.

[Nick @ Oct 28th 2006 7:05PM]

Just what I was thinking.

[MacTX @ Oct 28th 2006 12:42PM]

reducing the amount of bezel at the top would have been better. the larger bezel at the top is an eye sore compared to the powerbooks which had a much more uniform top and side bezels. I'm suprised apple hadn't been able to intergrate the isight better. in it's current form, the isight looks like it's basically tacked on instead of designed in.

[MacTX @ Oct 28th 2006 12:56PM]

I don't use windows.

[nobi @ Oct 28th 2006 12:57PM]

hi there,
I am the photographer.
I also have blogged about it here in English:
http://nobi.com/nobilog/archives/001795.html

and here in Japanese:
http://nobi.cocolog-nifty.com/nobilog2/2006/10/macbook_pro_bb68.html

If anyone know how Apple has done it I'd appreciate to have your input at one of the above blogs.

If you click the picture in this article and follow the link to my original picture on flickr, click on the button that reads "ALL SIZES" so you will have a magnified view of the invisible iSight indicator. It is unbelievable.

When the light is off, you can't tell where the indicator is hidden.

I'd like to give a big applaud to the Apple's industrial design team for making things better even at this TINY level!!

[nobi @ Oct 28th 2006 1:50PM]

As someone had already mentioned in the comments I am far from being a good photographer.
I strongly recommend to those who acutually care about fine finishing of products to go to the nearest Apple Store and check it out for yourself.

[Silver R. Wolfe @ Oct 28th 2006 2:11PM]

Soo... why do we care about this? Are small aesthetic changes like this really important?

I mean, as far as looks go, Apple really went downhill from the G3 Powerbook days.

[Larry C @ Oct 28th 2006 3:01PM]

I personally like the new shapes much better than the curvy bodies of the old days. It allows tighter fit of components and makes the most use of the internal spaces. Although I did miss the removable optical bays. I really don�t know how they can top the current aluminum design any more. What Apple did was to keep hiding things to make it even sleeker. Remember the Al PowerBooks had the Torx screws above the speaker grills? Gone. What�s next? Maybe those 2 latches on Rev. C MacBook Pro?

[Silver R. Wolfe @ Oct 28th 2006 5:39PM]

Personally, aesthetically speaking, I like the curvy bodies. The Pismo is probably my favourite powerbook of all time. The thin, flat, aluminum Powerbook/MBP design is just bland, IMO.

I mean, sure you can have sleekness but you had to sacrifice the swappable drive bays to do it. Think if you could remove the Superdrive in a MBP and replace it with another battery!

[friko @ Oct 28th 2006 3:07PM]

The aluminium in the MBP is covered by a thin plastic layer that emulates the metal appereance, that's how they do it.

[Ryan @ Oct 28th 2006 3:31PM]

Mac fans have gotten worse and worse ever since they've been getting PC parts..(Ahem, intel)

[Superdotman @ Oct 28th 2006 7:26PM]

I must say, that is the best analogy ever.

I'm serious. Well, maybe there was a bit hyperbole. But still.

Oh, and cheers to Apple. I hope they don't add this feature to MacBooks any time soon, as I don't want mine to become obsolete.

[crescentdavid @ Oct 28th 2006 6:06PM]

What if, instead of one hole, you could have 37 tiny holes, which, all together, looked like, well ... one hole?

Now you understand Apple design.

With apologies (almost) to Bill

[crescentdavid @ Oct 28th 2006 6:07PM]

Of course, one would want proof of this design genius, I'd think. And here it is: http://tinyurl.com/ye6aan

[JustinGurbisz @ Oct 29th 2006 2:44PM]

looks nifty

[Ignacio @ Oct 28th 2006 9:13PM]

For a second I though they had recovered the formula for transparent aluminum from the MacPlus Scotty used in that Star Trek movie :)

http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/collection/articlepics/macplus/scotty2.jpg
http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/televisionads/movies/other/scotty.mov

[nobi @ Oct 28th 2006 10:58PM]

Art is art for some people but garbage for others.
I am lucky to be the one who can feel happy seeing one.

[pirloui @ Oct 29th 2006 8:08AM]

We still don't know how it works... Someone sugested a plastic filp, I don't believe there could be a plastic film over the whole piece, and we don't see any zones around the led.
Very thin holes filled with grey plastic?

[Dan @ Oct 29th 2006 12:25PM]

I think the difference between those who think this is stupid, and those who think it's nice is that the former sees it with an attitude of "What difference does this make for a computer?" whereas the latter group of people see it as someone's/people's talent to invent, design, and implement something which can be considered art.

To the former group: Don't bother calling me a "fanboi" or anything else. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.