Resolution scaling

[N3xusPr1me]

Hello,

I would like to know if, using a rMBP 13inch, I could use a different resolution, but also keeping the size of all the on-screen elements. To be more precise, I have got a mid-2014 rMBP, and I'd like to "downgrade" the display resolution to the one of a Macbook Air, 1440x900, (because I want to see if it is usable, and it will also draw less energy of the battery due to less pixels to push for the GPU), but also I want to keep everything the size it is.

I have already tried SwitchResX, but the 1440x900 resolution it offers also scales down everything, and it is close to unusable. I have had a look at the advanced settings but it tells me not to play with it as it could prevent the display from working properly and therefore "softkill" my device.

So can you guys please help me with it ? I know OS X doesn't work as Windows does but I think there is something to tweak somewhere in the config files.

Thank you for your help,

N3xus

 

[chrfr]

Hello,

I would like to know if, using a rMBP 13inch, I could use a different resolution, but also keeping the size of all the on-screen elements. To be more precise, I have got a mid-2014 rMBP, and I'd like to "downgrade" the display resolution to the one of a Macbook Air, 1440x900, (because I want to see if it is usable, and it will also draw less energy of the battery due to less pixels to push for the GPU), but also I want to keep everything the size it is.

Unfortunately OS X is not resolution independent in the way that Windows is. If you set your 13" rMBP to act like 1440x900, everything gets scaled down, and that's how it'll look on the Air, aside from the fact that the Air isn't a retina screen. If you find it unusable on the rMBP, it won't be better on the Air.

 

[N3xusPr1me]

Hello,
Thank you for replying,
I actually looked it up and found the exact thing I'm looking for : change the DPI of OS X, I mean virtually. I know it isn't possible to add more pixels into the actual screen, but I know it should be possible to somehow change the scaling. Here is a screenshot from W10, what I'm looking for is the equivalent of the "change apps, texts, other items sizes" like here.

My friend has an Air and it actually looks EXACTLY the same size, but the resolution is just approximately 2 times smaller. What I would like is tell my rMBP to render everything in 1440x900, which I can do, but then scale everything up as it is a bit too small (because it goes from 1280x800HiDPI to 1440x900, so things are smaller). I've heard of something called AppleDisplayScaleFactor, has it something to deal with all of that ?

Thank you for your help,

N3xus