Solution. QuadHD monitor with HiDPI and Mac Mini M1

[Aleksid1]

Hi,

Many users ask how to enable HiDPI on external QuadHD monitor (2560 x 1440) connected to your Mac Mini M1.

macOS does NOT allow you enable HiDPI on such monitor. And you see a very blurry picture with large fonts (low screen resolution), or sharp picture (with native screen resolution) with very small fonts.

SwitchResX or RDM utilities cannot force HighDPI on Apple M1 Mac Mini but it worked earlier with Intel Mac mini.

UPDATE. Nov 2021

Try a software solution without real dummy 4K HDMI emulator - BetterDummy.

Download and read instruction on this page:

GitHub - waydabber/BetterDisplay: Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more!

Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more! - waydabber/BetterDisplay

github.com

On first glance it works fine on my Mac Mini M1. Don't forget to enable auto-start option to keep HiDPI mode after restart.

Old Solution:

Buy dummy 4K HDMI emulator; USB-C to DisplayPort/HDMI converter; and enable Mirror Displays in macOS.



Important! If you have Macbook Pro M1 or Air M1 you don't need to buy dummy 4K HDMI emulator. Just skip this step. More info

Step by step:

1. You need to buy any 4K HDMI EDID emulator on Amazon. It's a small device (like flash drive) which costs about 8..10 USD. This device should emulate 4K at 60p, check that a description contains word "EDID".

2. If your QuadHD monitor (2560 x 1440) has DisplayPort buy USB-C > DisplayPort converter.
Or if your monitor has HDMI buy USB-C > HDMI converter. I purchased VCOM CU422 USB-C to DisplayPort converter. It costs about 8 USD.

3. Connect your QuadHD monitor to USB-C > DisplayPort converter connected to your Mac. Make sure that it works as earlier (with non Retina resolutions).

4. Now connect dummy 4K HDMI EDID emulator to HDMI port of your Mac Mini.

macOS thinks that it's a real 4K monitor and enables HiDPI for native or scaled resolutions.

5. Open System Preferneces > Monitors. You'll see two pages for real QuadHD monitor and for dummy 4K monitor.
Click Arrangement tab. Then select Mirror Displays.



6. In Display tab choose Optimize for your dummy 4K monitor. In my case I see "82E850". It means that dummy 4K monitor will be primary and will mirror screen for your real QuadHD monitor.

7. Now for this dummy 4K monitor enable any scaled HiDPI resolution. I could enable
1152 x 648 (it means 2304 x 1296 in HiDPI),
1504 x 846 (3008 x 1692 in HiDPI)
1920 x 1080 (it's 4K)

Picture already looks much better than earlier.



8. Howerver we need to enable 1280 x 720 (2560 x 1440 in HiDPI) which looks native for this QuadHD monitor.

In System Preferences > Displays > Display tab. Switch "Resolution" to "Default for display". Now hold Option key and click "Scaled" option. You'll see a lot of scaled resolutions. Choose the best option for you.

Setting "1280 x 720" means HiDPI mode which is rendered at 2560 x 1440. Large fonts and sharp picture. It's native mode for your QuadHD display.

That's all.

When you restart macOS, or turns off Mac Mini, it remember all settings and you continue work with HighDPI screen when you turn on your Mac again.

In case of any problem, just unplug dummy 4K monitor emulator - and your Mac will work as earlier.

I tested with macOS 11 Big Sur 11.4

UPDATE. I successfully activated HiDPI modes in macOS 12 Monterey Beta 4.

WHEN YOU UPDATE macOS: On first run desktop may look incorrectly, small fonts.
Solution: unplug dummy 4K HDMI emulator. Wait 5-10 seconds. Then plug-in dummy 4K emulator again. macOS will enable HiDPI resolution correctly and desktop also will look correctly.

Import. This solution does NOT work correctly for Ultra wide monitors (3440 x 1440 for example), only with 16:9 monitors (2560 x 1440 or higher).

Good luck!

Thanks for members calpine and Thebnt who found this solution. I just wrote this tutorial with screenshots.
You can find more info in this thread.

 

[0906742]

7. Now for this fake 4K monitor enable any scaled HiDPI resolution. I could enable
1152 x 648 (it means 2304 x 1296 in HiDPI),
1504 x 846 (3008 x 1692 in HiDPI)
1920 x 1080 (it's 4K)

Picture already looks much better than earlier.

View attachment 1802289

8. Howerver we need to enable 1280 x 720 (2560 x 1440 in HiDPI) which looks native for this QuadHD monitor.

I'm not sure I got you right but do you mean you get 1280x720 looks like resolution? If so that is so overly small screen estate that I think many not find usable today. Last time I used something like that was nearly 2 decades ago back in the CRT and first LCD-panels. Even those listed under 7. if I got you right 1920x1080 looks like resolution is the highest from 2560x1440 native panel, right? 1920x1080 somewhat better of course but still just pretty small when used to use 2560x1440 at full native resolution. So is there anyway to make 2560x1440 panel running HiDPI mode with 2560x1440 looks like resolution?

I just got new 27" 4K monitor and fonts just are excellent when using 2560x1440 or 3008x1692 looks like resolution and there is very nice increase in screen estate using 3008x1692 compared to my old 25" 2560x1440 panel I used to run at native resolution with horrible looking fonts in MacOS.

 

[Aleksid1]

QuadHD (2560x1440) monitor in macOS looks awful. Original resolution (2560 x 1440) non-Retina looks sharp, but fonts are very small.

1280 x 720 with HiDPI (it means 1280 x 2 = 2560 and 720 x 2 = 1440) looks sharp with large fonts. Yes, probably fonts are too large. But it's a native the best resolution for this QuadHD monitor on Mac.

If you prefer smaller font, 1504 x 846 HiDPI (3008 x 1692 pixels down scaled to 2560 x 1440 of real screen pixels) could be a good compromise.

On my opinion, these resolutions looks very good on QuadHD monitor. And honestly I don't see too much difference with my old iMac 21.5" Retina from an usual viewing distance.

Anyway, with QuadHD monitor looks much better with this trick described in this thread.

 

[0906742]

QuadHD (2560x1440) monitor in macOS looks awful. Original resolution (2560 x 1440) non-Retina looks sharp, but fonts are very small.

Not sure what you mean but my 2560x1440 monitor fonts look terrible with Mac mini M1 running Big Sur. Sure fonts are "sharp" but they look just terrible depending on situations either strange bold look or sharp needle thin in other. I mean fonts look nothing like they look in Windows using the same monitor and resolution. I believe there is a lot of talk about this in this forum.

1280 x 720 with HiDPI (it means 1280 x 2 = 2560 and 720 x 2 = 1440) looks sharp with large fonts. Yes, probably fonts are too large. But it's a native the best resolution for this QuadHD monitor on Mac.

If you prefer smaller font, 1504 x 846 HiDPI (3008 x 1692 pixels down scaled to 2560 x 1440 of real screen pixels) could be a good compromise.

OK, I'm stupid but I must ask again, do you mean that looks like resolution in above examples would be then 1280x720 or 1504x846? You cannot get desktop looking like 2560x1440 with good fonts with 2560x1440 monitor?

I mean if actual look like resolution would be just 1504x846 in above example it would be me like going back 2 decades. I currently use 27" 4k monitor with 3008x1692 looks like and screen estate is about right for me now, could be more but much better than it was with 2560x1440 25" monitor at native resolution.
I mean going down to half screen estate would be just endless scrolling all day long. Sure fonts would be large.

 

[Aleksid1]

I meant that usually 2560x1440 monitor (non-Retina mode) looks terrible in macOS. Small fonts with sharp picture, or large fonts with blurry picture.

With a solution described above, 2560x1440 monitor looks very good in macOS. It's not pure Retina yet, but looks similar, good.

I found that my 2560 x 1440 monitor looks good with two Retina modes:

1280 x 720 virtual pixels which mean 2560 x 1440 real pixels which are shown on 2560 x 1440 display. Picture is sharp, almost Retina.

1504 x 846 virtual pixels which means 3008 x 1692 real pixels and then scaled down to 2560 x 1440 display pixels. Picture almost good, a bit more blurry than mode above. Fonts look more small.

Both modes are very good and should fit needs for all users who have such monitor.

 

[waydabber]

I am using this fix on my M1 Mac mini with a QHD display and HDMI dummy. I am running at For whatever reason the mouse pointer in the mirrored screen becomes glitchy sometimes - instead of moving smoothly it is vibrating slightly and is jerky. Does anybody else notice this behavior?

My setup is this (the 28E850 is the fake display):

 

[0906742]

I meant that usually 2560x1440 monitor (non-Retina mode) looks terrible in macOS. Small fonts with sharp picture, or large fonts with blurry picture.

With a solution described above, 2560x1440 monitor looks very good in macOS. It's not pure Retina yet, but looks similar, good.

I found that my 2560 x 1440 monitor looks good with two Retina modes:

I'm still not quite sure I got you right but do you get HiDPI mode with this trick in your 2560x1440 monitor SO THAT FONT SIZE IS EQUAL TO WITHOUT THIS MOD? So I try to ask you really can fool 2560x1440 monitor give you actual HiDPI fonts making it look identical to 4k monitor with 2560x1440 looks like resolution?

1280 x 720 virtual pixels which mean 2560 x 1440 real pixels which are shown on 2560 x 1440 display. Picture is sharp, almost Retina.

That just does not sound right to me, it should say resolution 5120x2880 and UI looks like 2560x1440. From what you say it sounds like it is either giving you actual look and size of 1280720 or it is doing some weird upscaling and not like how HiDPI usually works.

1504 x 846 virtual pixels which means 3008 x 1692 real pixels and then scaled down to 2560 x 1440 display pixels. Picture almost good, a bit more blurry than mode above. Fonts look more small.

Again does desktop in this case look like 1504x846 or 3008x1692?

Anyway if you really can get 2560x1440 monitor working and looking exactly like 4K monitor in HiDPI mode at 2560x1440 I seriously consider returning my 4K monitor and go back to my trusty old 2560x1440 monitor. Uniformity issues in these 4K panels are practically killing me.

 

[Aleksid1]

Of course, real 4K monitor with the same diagonal size (24-27") will give sharper picture than QHD monitor (24-27").

I have some doubts about 27" QHD monitor. But 24" QHD monitor looks really good in macOS with sharp picture. Very close to real 4K screen 24-27".

1504x846 HiDPI means that real pixel resolution is 3008x1692 but QHD monitor is 2560x1444, so 3008x1692 picture will be down scaled to 2560x1440 of real screen. On my opinion this resolution looks good on QHD monitor.
Buttons, controls and fonts on 1504x846 HiDPI have visual sizes as on 1504x846 without Retina (just more blurry).

Personally, I'm very happy with a visual quality of QHD monitor with macOS now. I don't need 4K monitor. By the way, I'm a photographer and software developer.

 

[Aleksid1]

You need read more about Retina and HiDPI.

Visual font size in 1280x720 HiDPI and 1280x720 NOT HiDPI is the same. The only difference - sharp or blurry fonts/picture. Because 1280x720 HiDPI means that screen picture is rendered at 2560x1440 pixels (4 pixels = 1 pixel).

 

[0906742]

1504x846 HiDPI means that real pixel resolution is 3008x1692 but QHD monitor is 2560x1444, so 3008x1692 picture will be down scaled to 2560x1440 of real screen. On my opinion this resolution looks good on QHD monitor.
Buttons, controls and fonts on 1504x846 HiDPI have visual sizes as on 1504x846 without Retina (just more blurry).

So you can only get low looks like resolutions with QHD panels. I mean 1504x846 desktop real estate is just so small for anything these days.

Personally, I'm very happy with a visual quality of QHD monitor with macOS now. I don't need 4K monitor. By the way, I'm a photographer and software developer.

You don't think software developing would benefit from more screen estate you get with 4k monitor?

You need read more about Retina and HiDPI.

Visual font size in 1280x720 HiDPI and 1280x720 NOT HiDPI is the same. The only difference - sharp or blurry fonts/picture. Because 1280x720 HiDPI means that screen picture is rendered at 2560x1440 pixels (4 pixels = 1 pixel).

I know what Retina and HiDPI means. That's why I was wondering what benefit this trick actually gives for QHD owners in case you have to give up a lot of screen estate to get even that?

 

[0906742]

Actually I just realized I have all what it takes to try this out myself. I plugged U2720Q 4k monitor to USB-C and then my 2560x1440 monitor to HDMI using mirroring so it allowed me to make my M1 mini MacOS seeing this QHD monitor as 5120x2880 and let me select UI looks like to full 2560x1440. It made fonts in QHD monitor look better than the same without HiDPI but still nothing like what is looks like in 4K monitor but it does improve a bit.
Also it even let me use 3008x1692 or 3840x2160 resolutions in my QHD monitor...

 

[waydabber]

I know what Retina and HiDPI means. That's why I was wondering what benefit this trick actually gives for QHD owners in case you have to give up a lot of screen estate to get even that?

My wife does not want a display bigger than 24" so I got a 24" QHD display for her mini (24" 4K displays are a niche market, they are rare or way too overpriced). She feels that the default QHD resolution results in too small font sizes for her taste, but 1920x1080 (or a bit higher) results in perfect size for her. Simply setting the resolution to 1920x1080 would result in a very blurry desktop on QHD. But creating a scaled 4K resolution, enabling HiDPI mode (which creates a logical 1920x1080 desktop) and then scale back the result to QHD will result in a very crisp, almost retina-like desktop.

Even if somebody actually wants use QHD desktop resolution, there is much benefit to create a scaled 5K resolution and enable HiDPI and then let the system scale it back to the native QHD resolution. The result will almost be the same as by simply having a 1x native QHD resolution, but all screenshots will be high resolution and if you use the zoom accessibility feature, since you can zoom in to a 2x sized desktop, you'll have much better clarity.

So this mod makes a lot of sense for QHD users, especially in the 24" size range.

 

[0906742]

Actually I'm right as we speak testing my 25" QHD against 27" 4K panel both running at 2560x1440 looks like UI (so OS thinks both are 5120x2880 panels). Surely QHD panel looks this way better than without HiDPI at all but it is still very far from how this looks in 4k panel. Depending on program and font size some are much worse some close. But simple things like this forum looks so much worse in QHD even with this trick. I use to use my 25" panel always at full 2560x1440 resolution with my Windows PCs for years and now struggled two months with my M1 Mini but I just don't think it is good enough even with this mod now that I've seen how 4K panel looks like.

 

[Aleksid1]

stevemr123,

I'm glad that this solution helped you.

0906742,

This solution just improves QHD monitor for macOS. Of course, it's not a true replacement for 4K.

For me QHD monitor 24" is very good for macOS. I have myopia and my glasses not fully correct eye sight. Even with iMac 21.5" Retina I used scaled resolution to make fonts bigger. When you enable scaled resolution even on Apple screen with Retina, picture becomes a bit blurry, unlike Windows where font scaling (DPI) doesn't affect to screen clarity. So with scaled resolution even 4K Retina screen will not looks as good as native resolution 4K.

 

[0906742]

0906742,

This solution just improves QHD monitor for macOS. Of course, it's not a true replacement for 4K.

For me QHD monitor 24" is very good for macOS. I have myopia and my glasses not fully correct eye sight. Even with iMac 21.5" Retina I used scaled resolution to make fonts bigger. When you enable scaled resolution even on Apple screen with Retina, picture becomes a bit blurry, unlike Windows where font scaling (DPI) doesn't affect to screen clarity. So with scaled resolution even 4K Retina screen will not looks as good as native resolution 4K.

Yes I know but difference is still so huge between 4k and QHD monitor with this trick. You still can't get QHD looking decent as it does in Windows using the same resolution, that was my point. It helps a bit but I did some extended test last night and in some cases it was even a little worse looking with this mod. Obviously problem is more or less in OS how it handles fonts, and it is nowadays clearly optimized for 4k or higher resolution monitors.

 

[Aleksid1]

Font smoothing in macOS is more stronger (more blurry) than in Windows 10.

I found 2 solutions to improve it on QHD monitor:

1. Adjust font smoothing in Big Sur. Read more:

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

2. My Dell QHD monitor allows to add slight sharpness for screen picture. It a bit improved clarity of a picture and fonts.

 

[0906742]

Font smoothing in macOS is more stronger (more blurry) than in Windows 10.

1. Adjust font smoothing in Big Sur. Read more:

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

I think besides that MacOS lack some font antialiasing or similar what Windows uses still. I think I read here or some other forums mentioned that older MacOS use to have better looking font for non HiDPI monitors but I understood they dropped that feature later probably due to that they almost only use HiDPI monitors in their machines nowdays.

I used that trick mentioned in your link to modify (turn off) font smoothing for my QHD monitor but I later found that it made fonts worse in some cases and resulted needle thin fonts especially in color text boxes and such. It is worth to try and see how you like but in the end I came to conclusion default is really the best overall even it makes some fonts quite fat looking.

So far only trick that has made fonts looking good to me was to get 4K monitor. Even other than 2x (1920x1080 UI looks like) like 2560x1440 and 3008x1692 looks great on 27" monitor. Difference to my old QHD monitor is visible at first glance even when QHD monitor is getting HiDPI fonts when using mirror function to trick MacOS allow HiDPI for it.

2. My Dell QHD monitor allows to add slight sharpness for screen picture. It a bit improved clarity of a picture and fonts.

I tested also that but in the end no other than neutral setting produced acceptable look. Sharpness setting whether increase or decrease from neutral causes a lot of damage to image.

 

[Fomalhaut]

QuadHD (2560x1440) monitor in macOS looks awful. Original resolution (2560 x 1440) non-Retina looks sharp, but fonts are very small.

1280 x 720 with HiDPI (it means 1280 x 2 = 2560 and 720 x 2 = 1440) looks sharp with large fonts. Yes, probably fonts are too large. But it's a native the best resolution for this QuadHD monitor on Mac.

If you prefer smaller font, 1504 x 846 HiDPI (3008 x 1692 pixels down scaled to 2560 x 1440 of real screen pixels) could be a good compromise.

On my opinion, these resolutions looks very good on QuadHD monitor. And honestly I don't see too much difference with my old iMac 21.5" Retina from an usual viewing distance.

Anyway, with QuadHD monitor looks much better with this trick described in this thread.

I have a Dell Ultrasharp QuadHD connected to my M1 Mini and haven't notice any issues with font size or blurriness when set the "default for display". The fonts appear to be proportionally scaled to my second display (FHD). I have bad eyesight and wear glasses, but they appear to be scaled correctly for the screen resolution.

What monitor are you using?

Here's a screen shot of this message so you can see the relative sizes of windows and text:

 

[Fomalhaut]

My wife does not want a display bigger than 24" so I got a 24" QHD display for her mini (24" 4K displays are a niche market, they are rare or way too overpriced). She feels that the default QHD resolution results in too small font sizes for her taste, but 1920x1080 (or a bit higher) results in perfect size for her. Simply setting the resolution to 1920x1080 would result in a very blurry desktop on QHD. But creating a scaled 4K resolution, enabling HiDPI mode (which creates a logical 1920x1080 desktop) and then scale back the result to QHD will result in a very crisp, almost retina-like desktop.

Even if somebody actually wants use QHD desktop resolution, there is much benefit to create a scaled 5K resolution and enable HiDPI and then let the system scale it back to the native QHD resolution. The result will almost be the same as by simply having a 1x native QHD resolution, but all screenshots will be high resolution and if you use the zoom accessibility feature, since you can zoom in to a 2x sized desktop, you'll have much better clarity.

So this mod makes a lot of sense for QHD users, especially in the 24" size range.

Good point. I imagine a 24" QHD would result is uncomfortably small fonts. My 27" QHD is as small as I would want to go without eyestrain.

 

[0906742]

I have a Dell Ultrasharp QuadHD connected to my M1 Mini and haven't notice any issues with font size or blurriness when set the "default for display". The fonts appear to be proportionally scaled to my second display (FHD). I have bad eyesight and wear glasses, but they appear to be scaled correctly for the screen resolution.

What monitor are you using?

Here's a screen shot of this message so you can see the relative sizes of windows and text:

It does not matter the brand if it is QHD or any below 4K practically. Some sites like this one obviously uses some coding to use more clever font smoothing but check site like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and you see how bad fonts look without such coding. Also in your photo above small text below look like they look in low res monitors with this problem. You need to see 4K or higher resolution monitor and I'm sure you see what I mean. The difference is like night and day between 4K vs QHD monitor both running 2560x1440 UI looks like.

 

[Aleksid1]

I have a Dell Ultrasharp QuadHD connected to my M1 Mini and haven't notice any issues with font size or blurriness when set the "default for display". The fonts appear to be proportionally scaled to my second display (FHD). I have bad eyesight and wear glasses, but they appear to be scaled correctly for the screen resolution.

What monitor are you using?

I have QHD monitor Dell P2421H.

Looking at your screenshots, I guess that you set 2560 x 1440 non-Retina resolution. Picture is sharp, but fonts are very small.

My solution allows to set more large fonts in HiDPI modes, keeping relatively sharp picture.

If you're happy with your font sizes, don't change anything.

 

[azpirito]

I have a Samung 34" ultrawide monitor. I have the dummy and displayport adapter, but I can´t configure it for view entire screen... Someone knows how I could?

 

[Aleksid1]

1. Choose dummy adapter as primary monitor.
2. Enable "Mirror Displays" mode
See screenshots above.

 

[azpirito]

I did. But only can select normal resolutions, no ultrawide

 

[Aleksid1]

What native screen resolution of your Samsung 34" display? Probably this trick doesn't work for ultrawide displays.