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Text too small

A

akm3

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 15, 2007
2,252
279
My wife just bought an 11.6" Air to replace her Rev. A.

She doesn't have the best eyes and is now complaining that the text is too small. I realize it's higher dpi and this would be expected. Sometimes you can pinch to zoom the text, but is there some global setting that she could change to increase the text size more globally ?

If not well likely return this one and get a 13 incher. Thanks!
 
A

Aranince

macrumors 65816
Apr 18, 2007
1,104
0
California
If you are reading text in a browser (I don't know if this will work in Mail) if you press cmd-+ it will increase the size of the page. You can also hold control while scrolling to zoom the whole screen.
 
D

drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2009
936
2
Don't change it for a week. I'm certain you'll get used to it. If you came from a lower PPI display, it will seem too small at first, but once you adjust to it, you'll never go back.

If, after a week, you still think it's too small, then change it. I can read the text clearly from 4-5 feet away and my eyesight is average.
 
falconeight

falconeight

Guest
Apr 6, 2010
1,866
2
drjsway said:
Don't change it for a week. I'm certain you'll get used to it. If you came from a lower PPI display, it will seem too small at first, but once you adjust to it, you'll never go back.

If, after a week, you still think it's too small, then change it. I can read the text clearly from 4-5 feet away and my eyesight is average.
Click to expand...

that is true
 
John566

John566

macrumors member
Mar 6, 2008
38
8
I'm pretty sure the pixel density on the 13" is even higher and would compound your problem. As I've gotten older I've found reading glasses make a big difference with these newer screens with more pixels per inch. Might be worth a try.
 
E

epictempo

macrumors regular
Sep 4, 2008
149
5
Change in Browser

Had the same problem, this has solved the issue for me.

Go to Preferences, then Advanced settings in Safari and choose min. font to be at least 14.
 
D

drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2009
936
2
John566 said:
I'm pretty sure the pixel density on the 13" is even higher and would compound your problem. As I've gotten older I've found reading glasses make a big difference with these newer screens with more pixels per inch. Might be worth a try.
Click to expand...

pixel density on the 13" is lower. The 11.6" has the highest pixel density of any product Apple has shipped (aside from iPhones and iPods).
 
L

lamadude

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2006
432
0
Brussels, BE
I often have the same problem with small high resolution displays. Even after years of talking about "resolution independance" I find that there is still no system-wide sollution for this problem. There is of course always the screen zoom functionality of OSX, but nobody wants to use that unless in very exeptional cases.

Therefor my sollution is based on the programs I use.

  • In MS Office and most other office suits you can very easily adjust the zoom level of the page with a slider
  • In iTunes there is a setting to show the list in a (slightly) larger font
  • Browsers: In Firefox I use the NoSquint extension, which allows you to set a default zoom level for all sites (say: 120%) and then remembers for every website you visit weather you used Cmd-plus or minus to adjust the zoom level, so after a while you have the perfect zoom levels for every site.
    In most browsers you can also cmd-plus to get bigger text, or change the default font from let's say 12 to 14 points for example

I currently have a 1440x900 resolution in my 15 inch early 2008 macbook pro, and I don't think I want to go to a higher DPI screen unless apple really starts making work of resolution independence. I think it's handled beautifully on the iOS devices btw, the retina display works because it's very easy to pinch, zoom and basically see everything the way you want to.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
The smaller screen almost necessitates a visit to apple to see if the resolution is satisfactory. As great as the smaller MBA is, and clearly the 11" model is a better option then the 13" (as that will be more expensive in the end then a 13 MBP), you better verify that you can easily read the screen.

If you're wife is having difficulties reading it, maybe you want to consider exchanging it. While there some work arounds, those may impact user experience and in the end just frustrate your wife
 
T

tiselday

macrumors member
May 25, 2003
50
0
Norway
drjsway said:
pixel density on the 13" is lower. The 11.6" has the highest pixel density of any product Apple has shipped (aside from iPhones and iPods).
Click to expand...


You can simply compute the pixels per inch (aka density) by:

dpi = vertical points * sqrt(1 + factor^2) / diagonal

where factor is 16/9 for the 11.6" Macbook air and 16/10 for the 13.3".

So:

dpi_11.6" = 768 * sqrt(1 + (16/9)^2)/ 11.6" = 135 dpi
dpi_13.3" = 900 * sqrt(1 + (16/10)^2)/ 13.3" = 127 dpi

Conclusion: things in the 11.6 will appear smaller.

For comparisons:

15.4" (1440x900) Macbook pro
dpi_15.4" = 900 * sqrt(1 + (16/10)^2)/ 15.4" = 110 dpi

Dell 2405 (1920x1200, 24")
dpi_24" = 1200 * sqrt(1 + (16/10)^2)/ 24" = 94 dpi
 
P

PhoneI

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2008
1,629
619
I know it's odd, but the Blackberry is still the only device that I can think of (computer or handheld) that allows such an impressive level of font custimization.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
sparkie7 said:
you want to quantify?
Click to expand...

Sure
13" MBP with 4GB of ram $1,199
13" 2.13GHz MBA with 4GB, 256GB flash $1,800 dollars.

With the MBP, you can install 8GB of ram, upgrade the HD to a SSD, you have a FW port, faster CPU, optical drive.

With the MBA you can only have 4GB or ram and then you can only choose this at time of purchase. You can opt for the base model of the 13" MBA with 4GB of ram for $1,399 but you have a slower cpu and a much smaller SSD, even with this configuration its more expensive then the MBP

I think this quantifies the fact that, you get less computer for a lot more money with the 13" MBA.

Edit: There's other features the MBP has that the MBA doesn't, such as a backlit keyboard, but I beleive I made my point
 
P

plathunter

macrumors member
Oct 25, 2010
45
0
maflynn said:
Sure
13" MBP with 4GB of ram $1,199
13" 2.13GHz MBA with 4GB, 256GB flash $1,800 dollars.

With the MBP, you can install 8GB of ram, upgrade the HD to a SSD, you have a FW port, faster CPU, optical drive.

With the MBA you can only have 4GB or ram and then you can only choose this at time of purchase. You can opt for the base model of the 13" MBA with 4GB of ram for $1,399 but you have a slower cpu and a much smaller SSD, even with this configuration its more expensive then the MBP

I think this quantifies the fact that, you get less computer for a lot more money with the 13" MBA.

Edit: There's other features the MBP has that the MBA doesn't, such as a backlit keyboard, but I beleive I made my point
Click to expand...

Dont know if I agree with you. Your example above has two very different speced computers for example you chose the low end mbp to the high end mba.

I think a closer comparison would be:

13" MBP 2.4 GHZ with 4MB Ram, 256 SSD $1,999
13" MBA 2.13 GHZ with 4MB Ram, 256 Flash $1,799

Sure the MBP has a faster processor but it its $200.00 more. You lose some the features you notice above but you also get benefits that are more appealing for some such as the lightweight and profile.
Since I value a more portable system I think the MBA is a better value than the MBP at a cheaper price
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
I was trying to find a good balance, not skew the statistics to my favor. I opted for the low end MBP mostly because that generally is a better deal then the high end 13" MBP. I also opted for the high end MBA because of the larger SSD, but I see your point.

I also tried to keep the configuration at stock. I don't too many people who would be willing to pay for an SSD from apple, when faster/cheaper ones abound.

So basically, if I walked into an apple store and asked for a model how much money out of pocket would that be. In most cases the MBP is cheaper and gives you more expandability.
 
M

mttcee

macrumors newbie
May 13, 2010
19
0
biggest failure of OSX => GUI isn't resolution independent

bought half a yr ago MBP i7 with hires display (similiar dpi as new MBAs) brought it back. even if you can resize browser content and some elements here and there, it sucks. you get eyestrain pretty fast.

i hate windows but regarding resolution independency it's far beyond OSX => just check an Vaio Z13 with full hd display and how well os elements and third party apps scale entirely

IMHO also the reason not to buy an MBA

---

mbp i7 normal rez
 
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