HELP! I bought a 28" 4K screen but...

[eyeangle]

xraydoc and h9826790 you literally just blew my mind. I had no idea.. for years I thought it changed the monitor's resolution but now I understand the difference between low res and non low res modes. I'm happily playing around with the new format in 1440p and yes I can see it's still 2160p but just displaying everything as 1440p. You guys rock, thanks!

...
Hmm, however I've got a problem going on... if I open a photo or video it won't be the correct resolution according to 2160p. Quicktime, VLC, or Preview for pics, will resize the file according to 1440p. So for example; when I open a 4K video it goes out beyond my monitor, as though my monitor was 1440p. This doesn't really work for me. Everything else is great regarding the UI being a good size for me, but if pics and vids don't open at the correct resolution according to 2160p it's unusable.

Know how to fix this?

 

[h9826790]

xraydoc and h9826790 you literally just blew my mind. I had no idea.. for years I thought it changed the monitor's resolution but now I understand the difference between low res and non low res modes. I'm happily playing around with the new format in 1440p and yes I can see it's still 2160p but just displaying everything as 1440p. You guys rock, thanks!

...
Hmm, however I've got a problem going on... if I open a photo or video it won't be the correct resolution according to 2160p. Quicktime, VLC, or Preview for pics, will resize the file according to 1440p. So for example; when I open a 4K video it goes out beyond my monitor, as though my monitor was 1440p. This doesn't really work for me. Everything else is great regarding the UI being a good size for me, but if pics and vids don't open at the correct resolution according to 2160p it's unusable.

Know how to fix this?

IINA has his option

Preview has this option

I use HiDPI resolutions for quite a few years already, never have trouble about play videos or viewing photos. They should display at their native resolution.

 

[xraydoc]

xraydoc and h9826790 you literally just blew my mind. I had no idea.. for years I thought it changed the monitor's resolution but now I understand the difference between low res and non low res modes. I'm happily playing around with the new format in 1440p and yes I can see it's still 2160p but just displaying everything as 1440p. You guys rock, thanks!

...
Hmm, however I've got a problem going on... if I open a photo or video it won't be the correct resolution according to 2160p. Quicktime, VLC, or Preview for pics, will resize the file according to 1440p. So for example; when I open a 4K video it goes out beyond my monitor, as though my monitor was 1440p. This doesn't really work for me. Everything else is great regarding the UI being a good size for me, but if pics and vids don't open at the correct resolution according to 2160p it's unusable.

Know how to fix this?

Retina-aware apps (most current, up-to-date apps) know the difference between UI elements and image canvas.

When the retina Macs first came out, Microsoft office became very confused and would scale everything up — text would be sharp but the application’s UI icons were mis-sized. Haven’t seen an app do that in a long time.

 

[karansaraf]

I may have missed this in the discussion, so please do education me, as I'm confused. I am using a 2015 MBP running Mojave and connecting a 27inch 4K monitor using HDMI. I always extend displays, never mirror.

When I option click the scaled setting on the display window on my 4K monitor, the ONLY 4k option I receive is (low resolution) and the highest res setting that doesn't say (low resolution) next to it is 1080. I feel like that is wasting the monitor though?

That being said, I don't like how small everything is on 4K... so what I have missed?

 

[h9826790]

I may have missed this in the discussion, so please do education me, as I'm confused. I am using a 2015 MBP running Mojave and connecting a 27inch 4K monitor using HDMI. I always extend displays, never mirror.

When I option click the scaled setting on the display window on my 4K monitor, the ONLY 4k option I receive is (low resolution) and the highest res setting that doesn't say (low resolution) next to it is 1080. I feel like that is wasting the monitor though?

That being said, I don't like how small everything is on 4K... so what I have missed?

That's the poor terms that Apple use to confuse the users.

"Low resolution" means "non HiDPI", therefore, all UI render at 3840x2160, and display at 3840x2160.

The 1080 that you mentioned does not have the term "Low resolution" mean "HiDPI". Therefore, all "UI size" looks like 1920x1080, but still rendering at 3840x2160, and display at 3840x2160.

If you can't choose 1440 HiDPI, then this is usually a more practical choice than 3840x2160. As you said, UI looks too small on a 27" 4K monitor

 

[karansaraf]

OK thanks, so I won't lose out on the 4K aspects of the screen by selecting 1080 HiDPI (eg. when I want to use Photoshop etc)?

Good to know, as I want to buy a second one of these monitors and then just put my MBP in a dock so I only use external monitors, rather than the MBP.

 

[h9826790]

OK thanks, so I won't lose out on the 4K aspects of the screen by selecting 1080 HiDPI (eg. when I want to use Photoshop etc)?

Correct