After years of FaceID on their iPhones, it seems they could've done this yesterday and immediately quelled some of the squawking. But, even then, a notch for FaceID isn't required. This all could've gone in the bezel as it has for years. They
wanted to do this, for whatever reason(s).
It was a deliberate choice for stylistic reasons vs. practical ones, IMO. Ohmigosh, Ive's ghost lingers!
The notch exists on the flagship phones for a specific reason...one that doesn't really apply or make sense on a Mac with a larger display and no (reasonable) limits on overall size or bezel width. It's more like "well, our phones have it...let's pare down the MacBook's bezels and put a notch there
too!"
Which I find a bit goofy, and unasked for. Remember Steve's big point when discussing the iMac G4's design?