Any way to disable font smoothing in Big Sur?

[0906742]

You can always do this which gets you a bit better font quality by forcing Apple's supersampling on a 1440p display.

Does that actually work in M1's? For example running ioreg command to get display mode results nothing.
I'm afraid that might not work the same way in these new models, and I recall seeing that mentioned few times elsewhere when I was searching information about how to enable HiDPI in M1 machines but I could be mistaken.

 

[KALLT]

The Safari Technology Preview 127 contains the fix I mentioned above. The system-wide AppleFontSmoothing setting is applied again.

 

[0906742]

The Safari Technology Preview 127 contains the fix I mentioned above. The system-wide AppleFontSmoothing setting is applied again.

So what does that mean exactly in practice? From what I have tested playing with font smoothing setting is that none of the settings really make smaller fonts look acceptable in 1440p panel. Some larger fonts then again look pretty good. Also some web sites obviously have different type font or some code to to make fonts appear better, for example this site looks just fine in my 1440p panel but sites like Wikipedia are more or less bad looking despite what ever font smoothing setting.

I'm getting 4k panel and see if I like fonts better with that. If that will make appearance about the same as it is in my MBA M1 I'm happier. Just hate the idea all graphics will be scaled wrong unless I stick with just 1920x1080 resolution which I can't because it is just too small screen estate for me.

 

[asus389]

Is there any improvement in font smoothing in Monterey for non HiDPI displays?
Trying to make up my mind whether to wait for new OS or just go to the store and get 4K display...

I currently have 2560x1440 display (Dell U2518D) running at native resolution. I need all that screen estate so using lower looks like resolution is out of the question for me.

I installed the public beta of Monterey on my non-touchbar 2017 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro and used it with the built in retina display. I found the rendering to be similarly blurry/irritating to Big Sur. I didn't try any of the font smoothing or CSS settings, I just used the default settings.

Interestingly I have noticed that running Safari 14 on Catalina introduces a similarly irritating text rendering difference. Safari 13 looks better to me, not sure why.

I guess I'm stuck on Catalina.

 

[KALLT]

Interestingly I have noticed that running Safari 14 on Catalina introduces a similarly irritating text rendering difference. Safari 13 looks better to me, not sure why.

The bug is in WebKit and made its way into Safari 14.1, which was also released for Catalina. Big Sur 11.3 contained Safari 14.1 too. Presumably the issue is also present in Mojave.

 

[Asclepias]

Can confirm defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0 in macOS 11.5 works again, in safari and other webkit apps as mails etc.

 

[jezzastern]

Hmm, even tho the text is better now, it's not as crisp as it used to be.

Maybe time for an eye check?

 

[nmeed]

Can confirm defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0 in macOS 11.5 works again, in safari and other webkit apps as mails etc.

Is it just me, or is text clearer everywhere? I don't know and I don't care, I just hope they don't mess with it again.

 

[helloapple1]

So glad I found this thread. I have a M1 MacBook Air and ever since getting it my eyes have been KILLING me reading text on it which I didn't know why was happening.

I turned the font smoothing to 1 (light) and it's WAY WAY WAY better.

Thank you all.

 

[KALLT]

Even with font smoothing turned off (value 0) I find the text not as sharp as before. There is still a slight smoothing that was not present in Big Sur 11.2.

 

[guitarguy316]

What’s the best way to get the sharpest text/fonts using a 4K monitor?

I haven’t checked in months but I assume we should still disable font smoothing?

 

[Aggedor]

What’s the best way to get the sharpest text/fonts using a 4K monitor?

I haven’t checked in months but I assume we should still disable font smoothing?

As far as I was aware, font smoothing is still not possible in Big Sur. Connecting my M1 MBA to a 4K display, I have the scaling set to the middle of the six options, which is the equivalent of 2560 x 1440. Looks incredibly sharp to me.

 

[helloapple1]

As far as I was aware, font smoothing is still not possible in Big Sur. Connecting my M1 MBA to a 4K display, I have the scaling set to the middle of the six options, which is the equivalent of 2560 x 1440. Looks incredibly sharp to me.

Are you connecting by display port?

 

[Aggedor]

Are you connecting by display port?

No, HDMI, using Apple's Multi AV Adaptor. The M1 MBA only supports 4K at 60Hz via DP or HDMI, and I have the DP of the display connected to my PC, so I can switch between the inputs. I did compare the MBA via DP and HDMI and could see no different whatsoever.

 

[guitarguy316]

As far as I was aware, font smoothing is still not possible in Big Sur. Connecting my M1 MBA to a 4K display, I have the scaling set to the middle of the six options, which is the equivalent of 2560 x 1440. Looks incredibly sharp to me.

Yeah I still don't feel like it's sharp no matter the setting on my LG 4K display. I am using the Apple AV connector with HDMI. Well it's at least not as sharp as my Windows PCs trying to match the similar scaling resolutions.

 

[Aggedor]

Yeah I still don't feel like it's sharp no matter the setting on my LG 4K display. I am using the Apple AV connector with HDMI. Well it's at least not as sharp as my Windows PCs trying to match the similar scaling resolutions.

Yeah, Windows scaling is actually REALLY good. Switching between my MBA (HDMI) and PC (DisplayPort), and Windows is sharp as anything. MacOS still looks good, but certainly for text, it could be better, especially at small font sizes.

But I suspect it's only noticeable really when you have that direct Mac to Windows comparison, as we do! Otherwise, macOS looks pin sharp.

 

[guitarguy316]

Yeah, Windows scaling is actually REALLY good. Switching between my MBA (HDMI) and PC (DisplayPort), and Windows is sharp as anything. MacOS still looks good, but certainly for text, it could be better, especially at small font sizes.

But I suspect it's only noticeable really when you have that direct Mac to Windows comparison, as we do! Otherwise, macOS looks pin sharp.

Well I'd argue the built in LCD is sharper than using an external 4K monitor with scaling. MacOS scaling is just not up to par with Windows and it blows my mind that a company like Apple can't figure that out.

 

[Mac2727]

Anyone know if Monterey has the same font smoothing problem as Big Sur and if the terminal fix works?

 

[bryan85]

Anyone know if Monterey has the same font smoothing problem as Big Sur and if the terminal fix works?

wondering the same as well.

 

[helloapple1]

Anyone know if Monterey has the same font smoothing problem as Big Sur and if the terminal fix works?

also wondering this

 

[Ron21]

Anyone know if Monterey has the same font smoothing problem as Big Sur and if the terminal fix works?

I upgraded today and don't see any issue with fonts on my end.

 

[neodynia]

Same here, the only adjustment that I continued to use for Big Sur with regards to font display was:

defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0

and it appears to have the same effect for me and produces a quality of text that I cannot discern as different from the quality of text on Big Sur.

 

[Mac2727]

I upgraded today and don't see any issue with fonts on my end.

Just to check did you have to apply the terminal command to turn off font smoothing or does Monterey now have it off by default?

 

[Luis Glez]

I just did a Monterey clean install and it has the same font smoothing issue as Big Sur on my external 4K display. At least, the Terminal fix works fine.

 

[nebojsak]

I've found out that proper display calibration does the trick. I have a few years old calibration profile for my display, and I've just activated it after moving to Big Sur. It's outdated for professional work though, and I have to calibrate display again, but that ugly font smoothing is definitely gone.