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bladerunner2000

Suspended
Original poster
Jun 12, 2015
2,511
10,478
I recently had to return a 25" Dell U2518D monitor with a native resolution of 2560x1440 after having a hard time trying to work on it (text was too small). But WHY is it that high res screens have no way of adjusting the UI without changing the resolution?

Windows does this perfectly fine on EVERY monitor:

iX0V43L.jpg


Apple's only known implementation of anything like this seems to be for 'retina' MacBooks and a few select 4K monitors, like so:

Zv68Mru.jpg

Why isn't this functionality in EVERY display? I've been looking at some other 1440p (and maybe 4k) monitors in the 23-25" monitor size range and I can only see only ONE monitor that should give me a suitable solution to this, this:

Dell P2415Q:
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260237

Only issue is, I do game sometimes and 4k gaming is pretty taxing on a computer (forget about on any Mac, lol, I'm on a Hackintosh).

Does anyone have a solution or is Apple even thinking about adding this feature into the OS?
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
But WHY is it that high res screens have no way of adjusting the UI without changing the resolution?
Why? Because apple didn't implement it.

Windows does this perfectly fine on EVERY monitor:
I wouldn't say Windows does it perfectly, While scaling in windows has improved, I still have to deal with a tiny mouse or tiny UI in some apps. Windows allows a higher level of customization and macOS doesn't - it never did. Its one of those things you need to accept if you choose to work on a Mac.

is Apple even thinking about adding this feature into the OS?
Probably not, since it seems a non-issue for most people at the moment.
 

StellarVixen

macrumors 68040
Mar 1, 2018
3,255
5,779
Somewhere between 0 and 1
For me, Mac does the UI scaling in native resolution very good, probably the best of any OS.

Some user choice can never hurt (but this is Apple as the person above said), but even this way, the UI elements are scaled very good.
 
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Zxxv

macrumors 68040
Nov 13, 2011
3,558
1,104
UK
You can change the size of most everything in the apps and programs you use, instead of it being a system wide effect
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
For me, Mac does the UI calling in native resolution very good, probably the best of any OS.
I will say that the UI controls and management of it, is more consistent. I've stopped reading/watching Paul Thurrott but he has on numerous occasions bemoaned the inconsistency of window's UI and begrudgingly given Apple props for theirs.
 

bladerunner2000

Suspended
Original poster
Jun 12, 2015
2,511
10,478
Why? Because apple didn't implement it.

What? LOL, yes they did, it's RIGHT HERE:

Zv68Mru.jpg


I wouldn't say Windows does it perfectly, While scaling in windows has improved, I still have to deal with a tiny mouse or tiny UI in some apps. Windows allows a higher level of customization and macOS doesn't - it never did. Its one of those things you need to accept if you choose to work on a Mac.

I don't know what your talking about, it only scales the UI upwards, if anything your mouse would be BIGGER, not smaller.

Probably not, since it seems a non-issue for most people at the moment.

It's an issue for high res monitors. Just because you don't use a 4k external monitor doesn't mean it's a non-issue. It's still an issue.
 

Crash0veride

macrumors regular
Oct 10, 2016
221
143
Cincinnati
Have you tried option clicking "scaled" and choosing a hi-dpi option? Low-res options there too. Been there the whole time. I don't know about the in-between picture options shown, but my guess is they're just a res between the two extremes and not an actual ui scale.

Edit: Also I just happened to be testing ports on my hackintosh today, and the interface shows up on my 4k Samsung, so it may be hardware and/or your hackintosh related. I know the OS attempts to detect display capabilities.
 
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