Haven't really noticed mine. Even after I've used it plugged into the studio display for a couple of days and go back to laptop mode, it's just such a non issue.
I live with it, the most annoying part being how big it is vertically. It has a weird psychological effect of screaming WASTED SPACE!!! at me, even though I rationally know that if the screen would start below would make for less space.
It's constantly bothering me to the point that I set a background with a black area at the top so that it blends with the menubar. I don't have a problem with the menubar icons though because I keep that tidy and minimal.
I punt on the issue through clamshell mode most of the time though.
To each their own, and TBH I have worse pet peeves.
The way I see it, we can think of the screen below the notch as actual display area and consider the area next to notch as bonus display dedicated for menubar. The bonus area goes dark when in fullscreen app. So, the app area is consistent in both modes.
This way you don't have to feel like there's wasted space.
No way lol. I bought a 15" macbook air and the notch is the one thing I hate on that laptop.
Like seriously, why is it so dang big?! I could understand a little cutout for the camera, but it's not like there's a faceid scanner array in there. It's just a dang camera. They could've stuck the ambient light sensor anywhere else.
IIRC, Apple used to have the ambient light sensor under the left speaker grille. If you happened to rest your hand there, it would make your screen suddenly start dimming.
When using the laptop in a dark environment, it was also prone to a feedback loop where the screen dimming would result in less light hitting the sensor, leading to further screen dimming, or runaway brightening. Putting the sensor facing outward from the plane of the screen minimizes that feedback.
It's trivial to notice when you go looking for it. But if you keep your machine in dark mode and don't use apps with an overloaded menu bar, it's also very easy for the notch to entirely disappear from your awareness.