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Blurry Text in Browser on external monitor (1440p & 144 Hz)

F

Frank707

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 15, 2020
48
21
Hello everyone,

after I connected my external monitor to my MBA, I thought that the text in the browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) always looked somehow blurry. Not as hot as I like it. B. from my Windows PC know.

I have this monitor here ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ and even get 144 Hz with the Mac.

Anyone with a tip or idea? Is it the Mac OS or the browser?
 
J

JCG_80

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2020
7
5
I bought a M1 Air. I love it. The Retina screen looks amazing but on external. I'm having issues also and I have turned off font smoothing, turned it on, set different levels and the only thing to make fonts look....OK was to change my monitor to a higher PPI rating. However. Windows appears better with finer detail on the External display. The one I am using now is a DEll Ultrasharp 25 with 117.5 PPI. Up from 96 PPI on the 24" Monitor I had before it. This vastly improved the experience of fonts, but still, the built in Retina vs the External graphics, is not good. Its so bad I am even contemplating sending this Air back and stick to a Windows machine because MAC OS doesnt seem to render the same level of crispness Windows does even in browsers, or the desktop fonts. Its, not great. Its a shame I want to move from MS to Apple so much but I cant if I personally struggle with it.

I hope you find a solution but not a big fan. Massive fan of the speed though. Very nice indeed. Im sure the new ARM chips will go along way for apple, but they got to get the some of the other stuff sorted like better rendering on external displays!
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,336
4,726
Georgia
Apple changed font rendering in Mojave. A change which causes blurry fonts on non retina displays. There are some mitigations to reduce this. But they still don't look great. Really you need a display which can use HiDPI mode (2160p or higher).
 
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J

JCG_80

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2020
7
5
I bought a M1 Air. I love it. The Retina screen looks amazing but on external. I'm having issues also and I have turned off font smoothing, turned it on, set different levels and the only thing to make fonts look....OK was to change my monitor to a higher PPI rating. However. Windows appears better with finer detail on the External display. The one I am using now is a DEll Ultrasharp 25 with 117.5 PPI. Up from 96 PPI on the 24" Monitor I had before it. This vastly improved the experience of fonts, but still, the built in Retina vs the External graphics, is not good. Its so bad I am even contemplating sending this Air back and stick to a Windows machine because MAC OS doesnt seem to render the same level of crispness Windows does even in browsers, or the desktop fonts. Its, not great. Its a shame I want to move from MS to Apple so much but I cant if I personally struggle with it.

I hope you find a solution but not a big fan. Massive fan of the speed though. Very nice indeed. Im sure the new ARM chips will go along way for apple, but they got to get the some of the other stuff sorted like better rendering on external displays!
 
J

JCG_80

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2020
7
5
velocityg4 said:
Apple changed font rendering in Mojave. A change which causes blurry fonts on non retina displays. There are some mitigations to reduce this. But they still don't look great. Really you need a display which can use HiDPI mode (2160p or higher).
Click to expand...
I believe I could be onto something. The Windows machine has the EDID set to RGB - the MAC is using YCbCr and that is normally good for TV which normally also look, a little lacklustre when on computers. The MAC could be reading the EDID wrong and sending over that instead of RGB. Looking elsewhere online, this is possibly the problem and a few people are having this issue. There are scripts out there but not running for me.
Im on with Apple support now to see what can be done.
 
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J

Jochheim

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2020
134
49
JCG_80 said:
I believe I could be onto something. The Windows machine has the EDID set to RGB - the MAC is using YCbCr and that is normally good for TV which normally also look, a little lacklustre when on computers. The MAC could be reading the EDID wrong and sending over that instead of RGB. Looking elsewhere online, this is possibly the problem and a few people are having this issue. There are scripts out there but not running for me.
Im on with Apple support now to see what can be done.
Click to expand...
Yep this is sadly a common problem with macOS. I also had this with a Dell monitor (not in use anymore) and I could use the script you mentioned but unfortunately this seems not possible with m1 Macs. I guess you ether have to wait and hope it gets fixed (not by Apple is my guess) or buy an other display or send the m1 machine back.
 
J

JCG_80

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2020
7
5
After a little more investigation, and I found a thread on GitHub https://gist.github.com/adaugherity/7435890#gistcomment-3568281 who posted up a Dock which I got from Amazon for £21. Im using HDMI but the sync between the Air and Monitor is now RGB! And I can say the colours and text quality is as expected. Nice and sharp etc..

First time in a week since I bought the air, I can conformable look at the external display ran off the MAC. The dock has USB C connector on it too, allowing me to charge the Air downstream from the USB monitor connection so I don't lose a port either. Nice win but still Apple need to sort this out!

Link to Dock:
www.amazon.co.uk

USB C Hub HDMI Adapter,QGeeM 7 in 1 Type C Hub to HDMI 4k,3 USB 3.0 Ports,100W Power Delivery,SD/TF Card Readers Compatible with MacBook Pro 13/15(Thunderbolt 3),2018 Mac Air,Chromebook USB C Adapter

USB C Hub HDMI Adapter,QGeeM 7 in 1 Type C Hub to HDMI 4k,3 USB 3.0 Ports,100W Power Delivery,SD/TF Card Readers Compatible with MacBook Pro 13/15(Thunderbolt 3),2018 Mac Air,Chromebook USB C Adapter
www.amazon.co.uk
 
hexxcode

hexxcode

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2021
19
3
Tried several docks and cables....

Still have very blurry text on ASUS PG349Q....(3440x1440 120 Hz).

Tried like every common font smoothing fix...
 
hexxcode

hexxcode

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2021
19
3
Thank you Very much.
I Can select my proper Resolution and Hz.
Maybe my Problem is related to the General Ultrawide Problem?
 
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