Reclaiming Notch Space Against macOS Display Decisions
When Apple introduced the notch in MacBooks, they left it to app developers to opt-in to using the space around the notch in fullscreen mode. This choice effectively wastes about ~5% of screen real estate on a 13" MacBook Air. Parallels does not use the notch area in fullscreen mode, leaving a black bar at the top of the screen.
As someone who daily-drives a Parallels VM with i3wm (nixos-config), it was frustrating to see the screen real estate wasted. My top bar could beautifully slide under the notch! While searching for solutions, I found this article. It required disabling System Integrity Protection, which was a showstopper for me (and should be for you too). Then I discovered BetterDisplay. It creates a virtual display matching your MacBook's exact dimensions but without acknowledging the notch. This virtual display overlays your physical screen, allowing fullscreen applications to use the entire area.
Shockingly, I found no other articles on this topic. I hope this post helps someone else reclaim their screen space. Here's how:
Note: This requires BetterDisplay Pro. It has a 14-day trial and is $18 for a lifetime license at the time of writing. This is not an ad, they just solved my problem.
Step 1. Install BetterDisplay
Step 2. Create a Virtual Display
Step 3. Match the Resolution
Copying the resolution of my native display from System Preferences worked perfectly.
Enjoy!
This method effectively bypasses Apple's display management decisions, giving users control over their entire screen. It's particularly useful for VMs, coding environments, or any scenario where maximizing screen real estate is crucial.
