Scaling of external 4K display

[John6Plus]

I updated my 2015 Retina MacBook Pro to Sierra last night, and was very happy with it, particularly the watch unlock feature.

However.

I got to work this morning and discovered to my horror that they removed my go-to intermediate "resolution" for scaling my 28" external monitor - the one that gave the appearance of a 2560x1440 for the size of UI elements. Is there any secret hidden MacRumors ninja method of getting this back? Now it goes from 3840x2160 (native resolution) to 1920x1080, a 4x reduction with nothing in between. They added 1152x648 as an option though... yeah I'll get right on using THAT for my 28" monitor.

It's an Asus PB287Q, but I found others that had the exact same problem in prerelease with Dell 4K monitors. (I never saw a resolution... pardon the pun.)

 

[CheesePuff]

What if you option-clicked the Scale radio button?

 

[John6Plus]

What if you option-clicked the Scale radio button?

Unfortunately no, it jumps straight from 3840x2160 to 1920x1080. It adds other super unhelpful low resolutions though:

[doublepost=1474462890][/doublepost]I rebooted with the monitor plugged in. (I had rebooted before but the monitor wasn't there) and it's back as it was before, with 1920x1080 being the lowest resolution offered by default with three in between. I have a bad feeling this will rear its head again though; one of the other threads I found about this from the beta was that it would reset after going to sleep. I have to get some work done though so I'm not messing with it anymore at the moment

 

[mouthster]

Unfortunately no, it jumps straight from 3840x2160 to 1920x1080. It adds other super unhelpful low resolutions though:

View attachment 656190
[doublepost=1474462890][/doublepost]I rebooted with the monitor plugged in. (I had rebooted before but the monitor wasn't there) and it's back as it was before, with 1920x1080 being the lowest resolution offered by default with three in between. I have a bad feeling this will rear its head again though; one of the other threads I found about this from the beta was that it would reset after going to sleep. I have to get some work done though so I'm not messing with it anymore at the moment

I've been having the same issue. I tried rebooting with the monitor plugged in and sure enough the high resolution 2560x1440 is back. The interesting part is I have to have my laptop open and that monitor on as well. If I reboot with the laptop closed the monitor will never come on. Also if I close my laptop once it's working, I lose the resolution again.

 

[John6Plus]

I've been having the same issue. I tried rebooting with the monitor plugged in and sure enough the high resolution 2560x1440 is back. The interesting part is I have to have my laptop open and that monitor on as well. If I reboot with the laptop closed the monitor will never come on. Also if I close my laptop once it's working, I lose the resolution again.

Yes, I've seen exactly that. I had rebooted with my mac open, and it worked for a bit, then I closed my Mac and it went back.

Definite bug, now just trying to find a way to override the scaling options and it doesn't appear to be easy, if at all possible.

 

[CheesePuff]

Same exact issue I have with my Dell P2415Q 4K where I need the MacBook open for the external monitor to work at startup/restart.. I always operate in clamshell mode at my desk so its quite annoying that I need to now open it up and then wait for the login screen before closing it.

 

[John6Plus]

Same exact issue I have with my Dell P2415Q 4K where I need the MacBook open for the external monitor to work at startup/restart.. I always operate in clamshell mode at my desk so its quite annoying that I need to now open it up and then wait for the login screen before closing it.

For me it goes back to not working as soon as I close my MBP, I'd have to leave it open and not ever turn off the monitor. otherwise I need to reboot. So yeah.

I'm tempted to try the beta of 10.12.1 that was just released.

 

[campyguy]

I just posted in a related thread in this Forum. I have more hi-res options in Landscape mode on my two Dell P2715Q displays. All are running the 323 Build of 10.12. No new resolutions in Portrait mode. All/each of those resolutions works perfectly and the transition between resolutions is smooth as well...

And, HD/1080p is the "lowest" hi-res option in the 5 choices in the standard Scaled options, compared to one lower option available in 10.11. No issues and similar findings on the 25+ other Macs in my offices that have been upgraded to 10.12 - none of my engineers or drafting techs have made any noise...

 

[John6Plus]

I just posted in a related thread in this Forum. I have more hi-res options in Landscape mode on my two Dell P2715Q displays. All are running the 323 Build of 10.12. No new resolutions in Portrait mode. All/each of those resolutions works perfectly and the transition between resolutions is smooth as well...
View attachment 656561
And, HD/1080p is the "lowest" hi-res option in the 5 choices in the standard Scaled options, compared to one lower option available in 10.11. No issues and similar findings on the 25+ other Macs in my offices that have been upgraded to 10.12 - none of my engineers or drafting techs have made any noise...

Thanks for looking into this; this sounds like it is most likely a problem relating to a certain set of monitors. Now to figure out what is different...

What Macs are you and your office running? All similar or a mix?

 

[campyguy]

Thanks for looking into this; this sounds like it is most likely a problem relating to a certain set of monitors. Now to figure out what is different...

What Macs are you and your office running? All similar or a mix?

I am pretty sure I know what's different, and I've blathered about this matter in these forums. I'm being self-deprecating here. All late-2013 rMBPs with dGPUs - we've not upgraded these because we need nVidia GPUs for the work they're tasked with. Several nMPs with nVidia GPUs. A few 2015 5k iMacs.

My blathering is that only the spendy Eizo displays in my shops shipped with proper DP cabling, and the ASUS and Dell display we use shipped with crap that doesn't convey EDID data between the computer (we had this issue with Win PCs too) and display(s). I swapped out the stock junk cables for this cable:
http://www.accellcables.com/product...t-to-displayport-1-2-cable?variant=3258804356

I tried several other brands, all returned power over Pin 20 and did not convey EDID data. No more haxies or rebooting/powering off/on displays. My screen shot shows "DELL P2715Q" in the Displays Window header - that's what is being conveyed by the display to my rMBP, no hack or workaround, in clamshell or not. I swapped out the non-Eizo cables for Accell cables and all of my problems disappeared that day.

Eizo cables are on the DisplayPort.org Products list but I couldn't find them anywhere without a pretty spendy display in the same box...

 

[LON1ST]

I just posted in a related thread in this Forum. I have more hi-res options in Landscape mode on my two Dell P2715Q displays. All are running the 323 Build of 10.12. No new resolutions in Portrait mode. All/each of those resolutions works perfectly and the transition between resolutions is smooth as well...
View attachment 656561
And, HD/1080p is the "lowest" hi-res option in the 5 choices in the standard Scaled options, compared to one lower option available in 10.11. No issues and similar findings on the 25+ other Macs in my offices that have been upgraded to 10.12 - none of my engineers or drafting techs have made any noise...

Oh NO!!.... Same monitor but problem still there. 1440p scale resolution only shows it when I restart my mac. But disappear again after waked up from Sleep Mode
[doublepost=1474505328][/doublepost]

I am pretty sure I know what's different, and I've blathered about this matter in these forums. I'm being self-deprecating here. All late-2013 rMBPs with dGPUs - we've not upgraded these because we need nVidia GPUs for the work they're tasked with. Several nMPs with nVidia GPUs. A few 2015 5k iMacs.

My blathering is that only the spendy Eizo displays in my shops shipped with proper DP cabling, and the ASUS and Dell display we use shipped with crap that doesn't convey EDID data between the computer (we had this issue with Win PCs too) and display(s). I swapped out the stock junk cables for this cable:
http://www.accellcables.com/product...t-to-displayport-1-2-cable?variant=3258804356

I tried several other brands, all returned power over Pin 20 and did not convey EDID data. No more haxies or rebooting/powering off/on displays. My screen shot shows "DELL P2715Q" in the Displays Window header - that's what is being conveyed by the display to my rMBP, no hack or workaround, in clamshell or not. I swapped out the non-Eizo cables for Accell cables and all of my problems disappeared that day.

Eizo cables are on the DisplayPort.org Products list but I couldn't find them anywhere without a pretty spendy display in the same box...

So that means we have to buy a new cable to make it right just bc we upgrade to 10.12?

 

[John6Plus]

My blathering is that only the spendy Eizo displays in my shops shipped with proper DP cabling, and the ASUS and Dell display we use shipped with crap that doesn't convey EDID data between the computer (we had this issue with Win PCs too) and display(s). I swapped out the stock junk cables for this cable:
http://www.accellcables.com/product...t-to-displayport-1-2-cable?variant=3258804356

That's interesting - it worked fine before the Sierra upgrade, but there are a lot of people reporting the same thing. It's not something I would have expected to change between updates, but it's certainly possible. It could be a case of a driver now adhering more strictly to a standard than it used to, making subpar cables unreliable.

I just want it to work. I'll have to look through some cables tomorrow.

 

[BenTrovato]

How do you guys use the 4K monitor at 2560? Isn't it far too blurry compared to 3840?

 

[campyguy]

So that means we have to buy a new cable to make it right just bc we upgrade to 10.12?

That's interesting - it worked fine before the Sierra upgrade, but there are a lot of people reporting the same thing.

About the cables, the DP portal has extolled compliance for quite some time - I didn't buy the claims but my workstations with Eizo displays (which included compliant cables) never had issues. See my related posts in these forums. I know better now.

Related to "it worked, but now it doesn't" - I don't have an answer to that one. I can offer that it worked, but it works better now. Before one of Apple's updates, I didn't even see 4k/60Hz on my Dells. Then I could see 4k/60Hz on 2 Dells at the same time, plus full res @60Hz on my Mac's internal display (see the P2415/P2715 massive thread for my discovery - I was the first to report it in that thread, and I wasn't using Accell cables at that time...). An Apple update was issued and it opened up new capabilities on my main Mac at that time; Accell products only enhanced my experience but only after reading about many negative experiences online (consider the negative comments about Dell/LG/ASUS displays online but none about Eizo displays - think about it in the context of this thread...).

All I can offer was I had a great experience before Sierra in regard to my personal and small business, and now it's better. I can offer that every single 4k/5k display our Macs are attached to works better than a week ago, with more display options and without the need for utilities like SwitchResX (which I own several licenses of, but are no longer using now). FWIW, my inspiration was a member of [Hard|Forum.com who had posted about issues with Dell displays and someone who had posted about Dell displays, Macs, and EDID hacks - none of them IMHO had concluded that non-compliant cabling could be the source of their problems - I did, and DP-compliant cabling fixed it for me and my company.

I own zero/0/nada/none of Accell's stock, FWIW - but my therapist sees less of me...