But a cell phone, maybe. For a laptop, we are talking about a couple of millimetres on each side max, it is not a big deal.

...and then the same "more space!!!111" people run apps which fill their screen with useless whitespace.

I mean… I would be very happy to whip designers in public but I think that's illegal.

For the love of $DEITY, it’s bezel! :-)

https://www.howtogeek.com/762611/what-is-a-bezel/

I've often wondered about that, because I often see them used interchangeably (and not just here). But you're absolutely right. Here's a random site I found that explains it: https://www.difference.wiki/bevel-vs-bezel/

Is the similarity of the word the only reason they often get mixed up? I think another factor is that flat surfaces surrounded by an angled bevel are fairly common. For example. I just noticed that the bezel of one of my monitors is also beveled.

The bezel on my monitor has a bevel.

TIL. Thank you! Suddenly realizing I've had the words confused my whole life :S

My point was at some point maximising screen size is less important than other usability factors. For phone definitely I do not want screen near the edge because fingers are there. For laptop, true, it's less of an issue. Although while opening my macbook my finger is about 1mm from touching the screen.

And the other comment about wasting screen space is funny. Yeah we need 1mm of extra phone screen space when 60% of most webpages are covered with ads (separate problem but still amusing in combination).

Hi, laptop repair tech here.

You want more bezel. Screens with less bezel have less overall edge protection and will break easier due to opening or closing forces or impacts.

Bezel-less screens are fragile pieces of junk.

Tell me about it. I've replaced 2 screens on a MBP. One was from cleaning the edge of the screen. I applied just a little too much pressure and it destroyed the whole screen.

Another was when my kitten bit the edge of the screen. It didn't even leave a mark but it was just enough concentrated pressure at the edge of the screen that it killed it.

Now I'm a lot more careful, but thank goodness for Applecare.