Text is much sharper on M1 MacBook Pro than external monitor

[iyiyi]

I have a pretty high end external monitor for work. I need accurate color accuracy. It's a 100% RGB IPS (2560x1440) monitor.

Text looks nowhere near as sharp as it does on my 2020 M1 MacBook Pro screen, especially up close. If I put my eyes right on front of the screens, my MacBook is perfectly sharp, the external monitor is blurry.

Is this normal just because the Retina display is so sharp and the external display is no 4k, UHD, or any of that?

This is my first non-Apple external display and I guess I never realized just how good Apple display are compared to third party displays.

Appreciate any input

 

[Amethyst1]

Is this normal just because the Retina display is so sharp and the external display is no 4k, UHD, or any of that?

Yes. You pretty much need a “4K” (commonly also referred to as "UHD") or higher-resolution external display to get any form of sharp text rendering on macOS. Text rendering is awful on 2560×1440 display in macOS unfortunately. That isn't a fault of the display per se, just a consequence of macOS' font rendering being optimised for high-PPI/high-resolution ("Retina") displays.

 

[throAU]

To echo the above, yes this is normal.

2560x1440p is not very high resolution for a 24" or larger monitor these days, and the pixel density at that screen size will be way less than your macbook's internal display which is likely something near 2560x1600 or thereabouts in a screen that is MUCH smaller (so the dots per inch - which is what you need for crispy legible text up close - are more).

To get the same ballpark clarity on an external display you need 4k up to 27 inch or so, and 5k or 6k for monitors larger than that.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

See this post I put up in another thread a little while ago:

Upgrade Fusion Drive?

"Something strange, on the fresh install all the icons in the dock were nice and crisp (non-retina display). But since migrating they are kind of blurry or soft, same issue I had before so I assume its some setting that has done it but no idea which." I suggest you visit this page and read ALL...

forums.macrumors.com

I'm wondering if the "font smoothing issue" on the external display might be your problem.