Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

nanoblade

macrumors newbie
Sep 22, 2012
13
1
He told me it's unsure if these hacks will ever be work again.

That is a real shame, 1920x1200 was the perfect 13" resolution in my view & really makes 13" a great alternative to a 15" MacBook. Any idea specifically why this may never work again?
 

oklhost

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2020
47
34
That is a real shame, 1920x1200 was the perfect 13" resolution in my view & really makes 13" a great alternative to a 15" MacBook. Any idea specifically why this may never work again?
Yeah.... That's really a shame. I have not really an idea, that's what he told me. Maybe because it's blocked by Apple?! But please let Apple know and use forums as well as feed back assistant!
 

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
16,109
17,030
Yeah.... That's really a shame. I have not really an idea, that's what he told me. Maybe because it's blocked by Apple?! But please let Apple know and use forums as well as feed back assistant!

I don't understand. the GitHub method doesn't work?

SwitchResX apparently doesn't but I thought someone else reported success getting custom resolution on their M1 a few pages back ?
 

caaalebbb

macrumors member
Mar 15, 2011
79
12
Has anyone managed to unlock custom resolutions on the M1 MacBook Air? And, if so, what are some of the usable larger resolutions?

I use a 2015 12” retina MacBook on which 1680x1050 is my preferred resolution. Since (unfortunately, in my opinion) they no longer offer a 12” laptop, I was thinking about going for the 13” MacBook Air if I decide to upgrade in the near future. Since the screen is an inch bigger, I imagine that I should be able to get a slightly bigger scaled resolution (1792x1120?), is this right? I would be bummed and disincentivized to upgrade my 12” MacBook to a 13” screen if it turned out I couldn’t go above the scaled 1680x1050 I’m used to on the 12” screen (especially since I think I prefer the smaller 12” laptop size, which is also almost a whole pound lighter than the air... it’s just the battery is getting to the end of its life on my MacBook, and $200 to replace the battery is a steep cost for such an old laptop, whereas the battery life on the new M1 laptop is impressive).
 
Last edited:

itsphilgeorge

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2020
127
83
Has anyone managed to unlock custom resolutions on the M1 MacBook Air? And, if so, what are some of the usable larger resolutions?

I use a 2015 12” retina MacBook on which 1680x1050 is my preferred resolution. Since (unfortunately, in my opinion) they no longer offer a 12” laptop, I was thinking about going for the 13” MacBook Air if I decide to upgrade in the near future. Since the screen is an inch bigger, I imagine that I should be able to get a slightly bigger scaled resolution (1792x1120?), is this right? I would be bummed and disincentivized to upgrade my 12” MacBook to a 13” screen if it turned out I couldn’t go above the scaled 1680x1050 I’m used to on the 12” screen (especially since I think I prefer the smaller 12” laptop size, which is also almost a whole pound lighter than the air... it’s just the battery is getting to the end of its life on my MacBook, and $200 to replace the battery is a steep cost for such an old laptop, whereas the battery life on the new M1 laptop is impressive).

I have successfully managed to inject a 1920x1200 resolution into the Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.3 Beta 3.

OS: macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta (20E5196f)
Tool: SwitchResX Beta 4.11.1a4 (Build 2022)

Method:
  1. Install SwitchResX Beta.
  2. Open SwitchResX within System Preferences.
  3. Navigate to About SwitchResX
  4. Install Helper tools and Launch Daemon.
  5. Select Internal Display on the left-hand menu.
  6. Select Custom Resolutions
  7. Click the + icon at the bottom left-hand side.
  8. Ensure the options dropdown on the top left-hand side is Scaled resolution
  9. Enter 3840 under Horizontal Resolution
  10. Enter 2400 under Vertical Resolution.
  11. Click OK
  12. On the System menu for SwitchResX on the top left hand of the entire screen click Display.
  13. Click Write System Settings
  14. Reboot your machine.
  15. Navigate back to SwitchResX upon reboot
  16. Under the Current Resolutions tab, look for a new HiDPI resolution of 1920 x 1200. 60 Hz.
  17. Activate by clicking the radio button to the left of the resolution.
Comments: Resolution works well and without issue. At present, I am unaware of how to accomplish this without an app, but SwitchResX is extremely light and effective.
 

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
16,109
17,030
I have successfully managed to inject a 1920x1200 resolution into the Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.3 Beta 3.

OS: macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta (20E5196f)
Tool: SwitchResX Beta 4.11.1a4 (Build 2022)

Method:
  1. Install SwitchResX Beta.
  2. Open SwitchResX within System Preferences.
  3. Navigate to About SwitchResX
  4. Install Helper tools and Launch Daemon.
  5. Select Internal Display on the left-hand menu.
  6. Select Custom Resolutions
  7. Click the + icon at the bottom left-hand side.
  8. Ensure the options dropdown on the top left-hand side is Scaled resolution
  9. Enter 3840 under Horizontal Resolution
  10. Enter 2400 under Vertical Resolution.
  11. Click OK
  12. On the System menu for SwitchResX on the top left hand of the entire screen click Display.
  13. Click Write System Settings
  14. Reboot your machine.
  15. Navigate back to SwitchResX upon reboot
  16. Under the Current Resolutions tab, look for a new HiDPI resolution of 1920 x 1200. 60 Hz.
  17. Activate by clicking the radio button to the left of the resolution.
Comments: Resolution works well and without issue. At present, I am unaware of how to accomplish this without an app, but SwitchResX is extremely light and effective.

did you have to do anything in recovery mode first like disable SYstem integrity protection?
 

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
16,109
17,030
No.

System Integrity Protection is currently enabled. The implementation of SIP in Big Sur is different from previous versions. (Details here)
Thanks!

I will possibly give this a try, but still want to keep my uptime for monitoring SSD r/w in Activity Monitor for the time the machine is running

If others do, please chime in! I'm sure it works great, I've heard wonderful things about SwitchResX over the years.

Oddly enough too, when I hop on my 2016 no touchbar thats usually on 1920x1200 scaled I actually think I've come to like 1680x1050 more often. But having the ability to do that, for some scenarios or lots of multitasking, is what's great.
 
  • Like
Reactions: itsphilgeorge

oklhost

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2020
47
34
I have successfully managed to inject a 1920x1200 resolution into the Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.3 Beta 3.

OS: macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta (20E5196f)
Tool: SwitchResX Beta 4.11.1a4 (Build 2022)

Method:
  1. Install SwitchResX Beta.
  2. Open SwitchResX within System Preferences.
  3. Navigate to About SwitchResX
  4. Install Helper tools and Launch Daemon.
  5. Select Internal Display on the left-hand menu.
  6. Select Custom Resolutions
  7. Click the + icon at the bottom left-hand side.
  8. Ensure the options dropdown on the top left-hand side is Scaled resolution
  9. Enter 3840 under Horizontal Resolution
  10. Enter 2400 under Vertical Resolution.
  11. Click OK
  12. On the System menu for SwitchResX on the top left hand of the entire screen click Display.
  13. Click Write System Settings
  14. Reboot your machine.
  15. Navigate back to SwitchResX upon reboot
  16. Under the Current Resolutions tab, look for a new HiDPI resolution of 1920 x 1200. 60 Hz.
  17. Activate by clicking the radio button to the left of the resolution.
Comments: Resolution works well and without issue. At present, I am unaware of how to accomplish this without an app, but SwitchResX is extremely light and effective.
No way?!?? Men, if that really works - you made my day! Is that public beta or dev beta? With 11.2.3 in SwitchResX is no option to add custom resolutions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: itsphilgeorge

itsphilgeorge

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2020
127
83
No way?!?? Men, if that really works - you made my day! Is that public beta or dev beta? With 11.2.3 in SwitchResX is no option to add custom resolutions.
Yep! A good outcome.

Make sure you have the Beta version of SwitchResX.

I am running macOS 11.3 Beta 3 which is a developer Beta. I believe the current Public Beta is the same version, so you should be able to get it from Apple's Beta site.

Now we just need to be able to find a way to inject resolutions higher than 6016 pixels wide for better scaling options for external monitors!
 

oklhost

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2020
47
34
Yep! A good outcome.

Make sure you have the Beta version of SwitchResX.

I am running macOS 11.3 Beta 3 which is a developer Beta. I believe the current Public Beta is the same version, so you should be able to get it from Apple's Beta site.

Now we just need to be able to find a way to inject resolutions higher than 6016 pixels wide for better scaling options for external monitors!
Doesn't work for me. Installed Dev Beta 3, after I followed your steps, SwitchResX says "not installed". I'm already in touch with Stephane.
 

oklhost

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2020
47
34
These resolutions are not gone, just not accessible from the Display panel in System Preferences.

You can still access them all within SwitchResX. Hope that helps!
Of course, thanks again. :) Oh! Another question... does your login screen after reboot look normal? Mine is at very vary low resolution. I did already enabled my root user, adjusted the display prefs as root - no change at all.
 

iqjrozct

macrumors newbie
Mar 11, 2021
1
1
I have successfully managed to inject a 1920x1200 resolution into the Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.3 Beta 3.

OS: macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta (20E5196f)
Tool: SwitchResX Beta 4.11.1a4 (Build 2022)

Method:
  1. Install SwitchResX Beta.
  2. Open SwitchResX within System Preferences.
  3. Navigate to About SwitchResX
  4. Install Helper tools and Launch Daemon.
  5. Select Internal Display on the left-hand menu.
  6. Select Custom Resolutions
  7. Click the + icon at the bottom left-hand side.
  8. Ensure the options dropdown on the top left-hand side is Scaled resolution
  9. Enter 3840 under Horizontal Resolution
  10. Enter 2400 under Vertical Resolution.
  11. Click OK
  12. On the System menu for SwitchResX on the top left hand of the entire screen click Display.
  13. Click Write System Settings
  14. Reboot your machine.
  15. Navigate back to SwitchResX upon reboot
  16. Under the Current Resolutions tab, look for a new HiDPI resolution of 1920 x 1200. 60 Hz.
  17. Activate by clicking the radio button to the left of the resolution.
Comments: Resolution works well and without issue. At present, I am unaware of how to accomplish this without an app, but SwitchResX is extremely light and effective.
Has anyone successfully tried running 1080p HiDPI on 1440p display?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DCMcCartt

Lap1ace

macrumors newbie
Mar 11, 2021
4
1
Now we just need to be able to find a way to inject resolutions higher than 6016 pixels wide for better scaling options for external monitors!
My Mac Mini M1 got no HIDPI options to my 2560x1440 monitor. I tried 3840x2160 and 5120x2880. Both resulted in "Not activated - invalid?" Any suggestions?
 

itsphilgeorge

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2020
127
83
Of course, thanks again. :) Oh! Another question... does your login screen after reboot look normal? Mine is at very vary low resolution. I did already enabled my root user, adjusted the display prefs as root - no change at all.
My login screen actually looks fantastic. I think that there are some settings in SwitchResX that allow you to configure a default resolution at boot when you install the Agent and the Helper. But I think mine has always worked correctly for Login Screen.
 

itsphilgeorge

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2020
127
83
My Mac Mini M1 got no HIDPI options to my 2560x1440 monitor. I tried 3840x2160 and 5120x2880. Both resulted in "Not activated - invalid?" Any suggestions?
The 5120 resolutions are what I used for my LG 5K2K. You should not attempt to use these resolutions on your monitor.

For your monitor, you really want to try the 1080p HiDPI setting.

Use the guide I provided above but use the following pixel settings for a scaled resolution:

Width: 3840
Height: 2160

As you have said you have already tried this, the next step is to ensure you have written the configuration and then completely rebooted the Mac Mini.

Let me know how you go.
 

Lap1ace

macrumors newbie
Mar 11, 2021
4
1
As you have said you have already tried this, the next step is to ensure you have written the configuration and then completely rebooted the Mac Mini.

Let me know how you go.
SwitchResX ver. 4.11.1a4 (Apple Silicon) (Build 2023)
macOS 11.3 Beta

Yes, I did reboot my Mac Mini as what SwitchResX suggested. After the reboot, SwitchResX just showed "Not activated - invalid?" next to my customized resolution.

According to what I have tested and other people's responses, the displays with original resolution 2560x1440 do not work with the current SwitchResX. However, some Dell displays, such as U2520, may support HiDPI without SwitchResX or any other third-party modifications. That makes me believe that it is somewhat feasible as long as Apple unlocks the limitation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: itsphilgeorge
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.