Check out my latest video: Best Calibration Settings for BenQ Palette Master Element 1.3.8 here ruclips.net/video/bz9y3db9vRI/видео.html And please like and subscribe, it helps me!
Hey ArtIsRight, thank you for the video! I have just purchased a Philips 276E8VJSB 4k monitor and am trying to connect it to my Macbook Pro Early-2015. Text and windows remain very small on the external monitor and I am only able to choose between default and scaled (3840*2160 - 1600*900 - 1280*720 and 1080p). Do you know of a way to fix this?
@Time Jacobsen, you can try and go to System Preferences - Display and where the word scaled is hold down the option key and click on it. It should give you a list, see if other in-between resolutions are in the list. If not then this forum might contain the tweek for you egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
But what you have to remember is that the OS uses the GPU to do that scaling. So while you have scaling turned on, any other program that uses the GPU will run more slowly. There are videos out there from people who have tested this.
Also Safari with complex websites like youtube of facebook does not run 100% reliable in a scaled external 4K on iMac 27” & kaby lake intel chip. If I knew this issue before I would buy 1440 monitor instead of 4K. I guess windows is way flexible than macos in this regard.
@@ArtIsRight Sorry, but this video wasn’t useful for me because of the performance issues. I’ll look through your other videos about the issue. Since there’s still no viable workaround, I’d like to see a video on recommended monitors without scaling issues for Macs.
I understand these options that you've explained here. Since it's a "user preference", why cant we change screen "resolution" or scale factor and font/text size independently from each other, ie I want 1920x1080px res but I want smaller text too... Or is there a way to do this that I'm not aware of...? Or do we just accept that this is Apple's middle finger to actual user preference?
For what you are describing you have Windows 10 that do exactly that, which does introduces itself to a slew of issues. Personally, macOS solution, though, limited to some is much more elegant and implemented much better. So you do have options, it may not be the one that you want in this duopolistic world that we live in.
@Alexey Samokhin, I understand that it does not send out more or less pixel. I said that it is the equivalent resolution. Either way thank you for the feedback.
So I don not need to set the resolution , or in this case scaling, to the largest in order to have larger color gamut to work with? Please would you elaborate on that a little more. Because the reason I bought the SW271 was to have a better resolution to work with my high res images. Much appreciated.
ArtIsRight So from a photographer’s point of view for editing high resolution images,Which setting is best? Would I be compromising to edit my images with a lower resolution, with SW271 or it will look the same. Much appreciated, Kamran.
How is that monitor working for you and what are you using to connect it from your Mac (HDMI, mini dp to HDMI adaptor, etc)?? Are you having scaling issues? It says in the manual that "Due to the nature of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, the picture resolution is always fixed. For the best display performance, please set the display to its maximum resolution that is the same with the monitor aspect ratio. This is called “Native Resolution”. I just ordered that monitor too. Actually mine has a "U" at the end. I'm assuming thats the one you have. BENQ EW3270U.
@playroomcreative, this is an older posts and @Rigtee might not get back to you. If anything please see my comments from the video on scaling. I use another BenQ with the same resolution and scale in mac all the time
Hey Art. The decision between 2K or 4K still hasn't been made. So again this video helps a lot. It seems like it will be a choice between better system performance of a 2K 27 inch monitor or maybe a 32 inch 4K screen that needs scaling. The main candidates now are the SW270C 2K and PD3220U 4K, where the design of the fresh PD line looks much better than the old school SW design. The new monitor will be a BENQ that's for sure. Thanks for all the effort you have put into making these videos, informing people about the choices that they have. Greetings, Maurits.
You are looking 2 Display Lines by BenQ. I would check this out ruclips.net/video/9hVfwW9LK8E/видео.html and this ruclips.net/video/nKajHQh4eFE/видео.html
Another question Art: When looking into the power consumption of the PD3220U it says 220 W Max (or typical/on mode) and 37 W (energy star/eco mode). So what is the deal here with power consumption? Thanks, Maurits.
Yeah, not sure there, I hear you but to me I just plug it in and use it, nothing much more to it. If you ask me it is mostly attributed to Thunderbolt 3 with 85 watts PD, that takes a lot of power. I don't think that it will take 220 W all the time, especially if you are not using PD.
@@davorinskvaridlo3567 is this advice valid only if you are planning to use 2K monitor at native resolution ? I mean 2k monitor with 2k native resolution is still a little tiny for me, so I had to use scalling, this basic option is not fully available by using 2K monitor with Mac OS, therefore I had to install a soft call betterDisplay to access all resolution (including HiDpi) and choose the best scalling for me. If you need scalling in any case, should I go to 2k or 4k monitors ? (I do not run intensive task so impact of 4K scalling on performance is not an issue).
@@matthieu175 mac is always using the monitor at native resolution. (Unless you are using some third party tool.) The difference is only size of displayed items. Natively this is available for approx. 1440p or 2880p @27". Everything else has to be scaled. The performance issue is not only "performance" but usability as well. I sometimes noticed youtube or FB menus not working properly on external 4K, just by moving the window to imac screen it worked. if you are on macbook it is definitely also a consumption issue.
@@davorinskvaridlo3567 thanks for your answer ! Yes I'm a Macbook user and I need an external screen for some tasks, 27 inch 5K which is the best option for MacOs is over budget.
Damn. I figured this out in 10 min and was hoping there was a better way. I feel kinda shafted I paid so much for a 4k display so I can only use it at 2k resolution since that's the highest resolution where I can still read the font. But it is what it is!
Hello and thanks for this video. I just purchased the SW271 and the text/font size in photoshop was killing my eyes. I need to adjust the scale as you suggest however, I'm confused as to what this does from a resolution standpoint. If I scale up to help my eyes, will the resolution or quality of my photographs be impacted as I work them in Photoshop? thx!
It will be impacted. macOS scales the entire OS not just the apps. In short photos will be effected but depending on what you do, it may not be noticeable. This is a big quipped in he Mac community but I don't see apple changing this anytime soon.
Scale option is absent when accessing Display option in a DELL U2515H (2k). I get in on Macbook Pro screen at it works nicely, but when i switch to the LCD it's gone. I just get a list of possible downsized resolutions. Any one knows why the showcased Scale panels and slider are missing? Using Catalina here also.
@António Rodrigues, you can try and go to System Preferences - Display and where the word scaled is hold down the option key and click on it. It should give you a list, see if other in-between resolutions are in the list. If not then this forum might contain the tweek for you egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the option click tip, I was able to do the 1080 option with 4K actual pixels. It wouldn’t do 1440 tho, but it could be because my iMac is so old (2010). It’s only able to do full 4K at 30hz tho. I have the new M1 Mac mini on its way arriving tomorrow, hopefully it’ll be able to do the 1440 style at 60hz.
Did you find any solution ? I have the same issue. I am using a MacBook Pro M1 and a External monitor LG 34uc97-s. When I hook it up the text on the external monitor is too small. I don't have the option to scale the text on the external monitor ? :(
@mattd313, it probably is, but is not really do any more work than processing native 4K resolution. From my testing because the video card is binning pixel, some of the GUI and fluidness improved quite a bit when I run it on scaled resolution. Either way, 4K is tough on many video cards.
Dont do that... You'll be affected on performance.. I'm using 4K scaling to 1440 and mac creates a "virtual canvas" and scaled it down to 1440... affecting performance. I strongly recomend you to buy a QHD monitor instead.
@@Supirole That’s what I thought. For that reason I’ve decided against getting a 4k monitor, until I can run one at native 4k with no scaling. Which means at least a 32” but I feel like 36” would be better, if only such a thing existed.
So you can either see 4k at smaller texts which is bad for you or 1080p in larger texts which is better for your eyes but you can't experience the full 4k?....
in short yes, but bad for you is relative on the person, I know some who prefers 4K native, all my respect to them. 1080 equivalent is at the extreme low resolution end so that is a personal preference. Personally I would choose something in between like 3008 or 3360 resolution in Mac, but that is my personal preference. You will have to find your.
Hello, great video. If you use scaled resolution how does it impact viewing 4k videos/movies. Will they be played in true native 4k or will the software player or monitor upscale ? upscaling compromises performance.
@@ArtIsRight thank you. Apologies i asked the question incorrectly. My basic question is. If i used 1080 scaled fir larger text when i play 4k videos will these play in 4k?
@@thesoundizerav4956 *push i have got the same question! Because i have a FullHD Benq Monitor at the moment & wanna switch to a 32 Benq 4k.. but keep the 1080p scaling (because of my bad eyesight) but if the Videos in RUclips wouldnt run in 4k - it doesnt make sense to buy a 4k
@@BombDaBass2000 you’d have to change the resolution to 4K by scaling back to the native 4K option 3840x2160 if you want to watch 4K videos on RUclips or anything else. If you don’t scale to that, then the videos will play at whatever resolution you have scaled to. Basically, the “Looks Like” section in preferences is telling you that it’ll scale to that resolution on your 4K monitor and will also playback or present everything at that scaled resolution even if your monitor is 4K. So whatever you want your output to be for everything presented, set the scale to that
If you are using a 5k display, the default "virtual" resolution on macOS will be 1440p. This is as macOS turns on HiDPI mode by default which renders the GUI not 1:1 but 1:2. The reason is that the render process then has 4 pixels instead of one to make things looking smooth and sharp. Turning a 4k display on a Mac to "virtual" 1440p will cause macOS to do this: render a 5k frame with 1:2 (which it does even on the Studio display in default settings) and then scale it down to 4k. It is an internet myth (or urban legend) that this scaling down of a 5k to a 4k frame costs performance. It doesn't as it is all done by the GPU and GPUs are fast at this (I mean, really fast - there are 16 ms to render a new frame on a 60Hz display and this scaling down will happen within microseconds). Scale-Down-Artefacts may be there, but aren't noticeable in text, which I deem the most important part on screen. On macOS 1440p is the optimal size for most people on a 27 inch display, that's why Apple chose it as the default for its 27 inch 5k display. If you want more real estate (like having the full 4k resolution rendered 1:1) you need a bigger display. Then you may look at 32 inch displays or something. Note that macOS will never switch your monitor away from its native resolution and refresh rate (unlike Windows or Linux) - it will always scale. And 2k 27 inch displays suck on macOS. macOS doesn't have ClearType like Windows does, making text really pixelated. 4k is the minimal physical resolution you want on your Mac.
Hi Art, I’m confused by the endorsement of this comment. Has something changed in MacOS recently as old comments seem to recommend other options. I thought 27” 1440p gave the same text size as 27” 5k, both native, so not issues and both text and photos should look good, obviously we still don’t get as high of a resolution for photos on the 2K monitor. I’m also seeing a lot of comments that there are other issue like website compatibility and funky stuff happening with 4K on mac still. It’s crazy to have all this power nowadays and not have nice 5k options aside from a very few, that are old at this point….or extremely expensive….the new Samsung seems a disappointment. What to do? I can’t believe there’s not a better solution, but that seems to be the case. Crazy My eyes are getting old so I need the text larger and sharp, but want my photos at or close to retina quality and for everything to work properly. Is this not madness we still have this issue on these awesome machines? So archaic. This has been since the first 27” 5k iMac, how long ago now?
@artisright and anyone else, if they can comment on my previous comment it would be much appreciated. I’ve done my due diligence researching this, but see conflicting info and some is apparently above my head. I’d like to pick something up with the holiday sales and getting the right info to make an informed decision seems impossible. There’s I think on 27” 5k option that is affordable. The LG. There’s the new Samsung too, but reviews aren’t great. Paying a premium for the LG considering how outdated it is in some ways seems a shame. I thought 27” 2K was a properly scaled native option and this says otherwise. Also, a shame to go 2K with all the advances. Really odd choices Apple has put us in. I’m left not knowing if the 4K options will do what I want….and even if they do there are reports here of some stuff not working right concerning the way some pages display and such.
Response was for part of the comment, not everything. 27" 2k runs native no scale, anything otherwise is wrong. 4K will work just fine, you would have to scale but it depends if you are ok with that look. 27" 2K text would be similar to 27" 5k default scale but because pixels are further apart, you'll see the pixel on the 2K version. Any further comment just start a new fresh one so I'll see it
@James R, it really is not reducing resolution. The resolution for these displays are fixed. What we are doing in this case is binning the pixels together to produce text that is larger and easier to read. This is a user preference.
@@ArtIsRight If I understand correctly, even putting the monitor at "looks like 1920x1080" on a 4k HRD400 display (U2720Q) meaning your still getting 4K but where the pixels are "combined"? Thanks for taking the time.
@Joseph Najjar in a sense yet, it is like pixel binning on the mirrorless or DSLR for video. So you are using the 4K pixel, but rather than showing 1:1 pixel, it is more like every one pixel is represented by 4 pixels, depending on the scaling.
@Ricky Bermúdez Tobón this is the way how Mac implemented this for so many OS versions already, there's always Windows 10, but that has it own sets of issues. Not everyone will be happy.
Thanks for the video. I have the SW271 connected to my Mac mini M1 using HDMI because I'm connecting another monitor using usb c. the display preferences gives me the 4k option on the right and only 1440 as the second native resolution. I don't get the 33601890 or the 3008x1692 which I prefer. I can get them as low resolution resolution modes. any suggestions on how to get them as retina options as you do please?
Not much that can be done here, it is all up to Apple, what you are seeing is either intentional or a big bug from Apple with a combination of Big Sur, M1 and HDMI output. This video outlines it ruclips.net/video/i0QpCHlwOGY/видео.html
HI! I have these options just for my Macs screen... When I want to adjust the resolution on my Dell monitor I cant use these options, I just have 2540x1440, 2058x1152.. but not the option of more space and that. So my problem is that if I want to use the highest resolution of my monitor the text looks super little... Can you help me with that?
@Rodrigo Marco, what dell model do you have? I would test this out with another display hook up to this Mac, or hook up this Mac to another display and see if the behavior is the same. All of this depends on the displays and what resolution it can take. macOS does all of the work in the backend to calculate these options. So tell me your Dell display Model, your Mac Model, the cable that you are using to link the display to your Mac and we'll go from there.
@Achilles, there's really no point scaling in QHD. Most of the time at max resolution that is where your display should run at. This is more of a solution for 4k displays. You can force your QHD to show 4K equivalent but that is pushing the video card to much and does not make sense to do so.
As you change the resolution, say to 1080p, are you losing the clarity and sharpness of the text? In other words will setting the resolution to 1080p on a 4k monitor really give you any clarity advantage over a regular 1080p monitor?
This is a difficult question to answer because it is based on perception. Personally for me, I like it better on a 4K because the pixel binned so you get more pixel that represents the original pixel. Some have issues with this and consider the text blurry, so it all depends, it may or may not give you clarity advantage. This is something that is difficult to produced on video and it is something that you have to see yourself. I know this does not help much but it is the best answer that I can give you.
No, you won't lose any sharpness at "Looks like 1080p". If you have a 4K display like here, macOS will alway use the native 4K resolution on the display. The way scaling works in macOS is that when you set the resolution in Pref. Displays to "Looks like 1080p", macOS will render everything at 4x (2x in each direction) the resolution internally, and then scale it back to the native resolution of the display, which is 4K. In the case with "Looks like 1080p" the system won't have to scale the internal rendering to 4K since it already is rendered in 4K. This way everything will look exactly as sharp as if you use the resolution "Looks like 3840 times 2160", but everything will look twice as big in each direction. It will be the size of 1080p but have the sharpness of 4K. If you chose looks like "3008 times 1692" then macOS will internally render everything in 6016 x 3384 and then scale it back to 4K before displaying it on the screen. So, macOS does a great job of scaling as sharply as possible, but on a 4K display the "Looks like 1080p" or "Looks like 3840x2160" will be the most performant alternatives since integer scaling can be used. Other alternatives will have to rely on fractional scaling which is slower. Fractional scaling will also be a tiny bit less sharp, but it will be hard to tell.
For myself, 2k seems the “right” resolution. With this information, should I go and get a 2k or 4K (because in theory it has more colors or do I lose this when it scales?)
2K vs 4K does not have more color or can show more gamut, that would depend on the display and panel, but if you are looking at the top of the line model then that is no so much of an issue. What you get with 4K is more resolution but if you are going to spend the extra money to run the display at scaled resolution all the time then I would recommend you go with a 2K, save money and less taxing on the video card / GPU.
Hi, I have a standard 1080p monitor. I wish to see 6 or 8 eight pages of the same Word doc on one monitor for editing purposes. I am strongly considering the BenQ PD2720U. Yes it will show multiple pages of the same document but if I have to scale the resolution in order to read them I wonder instead if I should just get the new BenQ PD3420Q ultra wide (2K?) monitor instead? I also wish to edit photos and videos in high resolution. I’d be extremely grateful for your thoughts on the best monitor for me. I think the PD3220U would be too big on my desk. So either an ultra wide or 27 inch seems suitable, and then I can always put another 27 inch next to it someday via daisy chaining. Thanks 🙂
I bought two BenQ SW321C monitors and run them both at 4K. All I did to allow my 57 year old eyes to read the text is buy some 1.5x reading glasses. In apps like Excel I also increase the text size. Ain't no way am I going to scale to a lower resolution.
I've ordered the new M1 mac mini & am looking for a 4K monitor.... my main concern is having blurry text, as I had that issue with a 1440p monitor when pairing with my 2019 macbook pro. Do 4K monitors get rid of the blurry text issue?
I think you are referring to the pixelization, where the DPI is not high enough and you can see pixel. If that is the issue you are face then 4k should solve it but it all about perception so it is a bit harder to answer.
Yes, 4K solves blurred text. Had same issue with 2k 1440p. Hated the pixelated text so I bought 4K monitor. What I did then was set resolution on my Mac mini to 1440p to make it look bigger with the 4K monitor but without the blurred text because of higher pixel density with the 4K monitor.
No. It's not the same for any other 4K monitors. The scaling option shown at 2:14 is only available at some 4K monitors with a specific resolution profile. If you do some research, there're many people who're struggling to get that option with their 4K monitors.
Yes on the newer OS that are some that does not show up. But this is not a rule video, this is a guide, if one is not available then flexibility must ensure and choose the next closest one. If issue that you are talking about here is not so much to do with the specific resolution profile but rather macOS and the display connection type. Different macOS version will vary these results.
Hello, i'm using the benq sw321c with a macbook pro 16 of 2021 with a resolution of 3360 x 1890. it is the one that i have found most comfortable with respect to workspace and reading text and web browsing. what i was wondering is if i have loss of quality when viewing and editing photos in photoshop and similar or when doing 4k video editing with premiere pro. I thought I understood that if you do not use the native resolution you can not appreciate all the detail in the monitor.
Thank you for the great video, @ArtIsRight! I’ve watched many 4K reviews and they never talk about this in-depth. I have an iMac Retina 5K 2014. I love the screen and the Retina resolution. Even though I have some burn-in, I’d be happy to continue using the monitor part of the iMac but the computer is getting too slow. Want to upgrade to Mac Studio, but it feels weird to set aside this great monitor. Replacing it with the Apple Studio Display 5K feels expensive for going back to square one. Trying to decide if 4K on macOS with scaling is an option and this video helps. Ultimately, I’ll have to see if I can experience it in person to make a final choice.
Yes this is one where you have to see it in person. Sadly you won't be able to experience this at an Apple Store because they will only show case their displays. You may be better off going to Best Buy but then Apple computer won't be linked up to a non Apple Display. Local Apple reseller or friend would be your best bet. I know this is hard.
@@ArtIsRight Thank you so much for your reply. I live in Switzerland, so I’ll have to figure out a spot where this could be possible. Maybe ‘Media Markt’, but I doubt they’ll non-Apple monitors hooked up to Apple computers :|
Hey Art - I am having a challenge with my BENQ display - the only way the display will work is when I have the large-scale viewing mode - I cannot get it to work in any other mode - this does not afford me the extra work space the I purchased the monitor for - can you help me?
I have a question I have a MacBook Air M1 (2020) and I just bought a monitor for it (Philips 276E8VJSB 27") It's a 4K 27" monitor, but, I have to connect it with my MacBook Air with HDMI cable. When I turn on the display setting (3840 x 2160 pixels 4K UHD) after connecting via , everything looks very small and is not scalable at all. This thing is troubling me a lot, please tell me any solution to this, I will be very grateful to you.
@@ArtIsRight True, but it seems like a massive flaw in the operating system that I have to change the scaling to 4K every time I want to view a 4K video on my 4K monitor. And then I’ll have to switch back to 1080p scaling once I’m done viewing the content. It’s astonishing to me Apple hasn’t figured out how to only scale the UI while leaving the native resolution (ie videos, wallpapers, pictures, and games) at the native resolution of the monitor. But oh well… Thanks for getting back to me btw. I hope Apple figures something out
It will probably not change or will not change at this point. It would take a significant re-architect of macOS for something like this to change. Also, the other way around, and you'll have the conundrum that Windows is in. It is not better either; many unforced errors exist on the OS and Developer sides. At least Mac is consistent across the OS.
Am using mac PRO 2012 Tower, Recently i bought Benq Monitor PD3200U But in 4K Resolution, in the Display scale i don't have the option for font sizes different sizes, am not able to read the text its ver tiny, please help me
That's great and all, but the question here is this...if I have it scaled to have larger text and I go to watch a 4k video on youtube or whatever, am I not really watching in 4k anymore? In other words, is it essentially just acting exactly the same as a 2k monitor would?
@Torrey so yes if you have it scaled to 2k it would act like a 2K Retina display. The nice part about Mac is that you can dynamically change the scaling as needed. So if you want to view 4k native, you would just choose more space toward the right of the scaling and if you want larger text then just pick sometime more toward the left of the scaling. Personally, I dynamically change my desktop through out the day based on the tasks that I am doing. Hope this help!
Might as well just buy a 2k display then. The 4k resolution is completely wasted. Personally i always go with the 200% scaling, because then text is actually sharp and in 4k. But UI elements are too big. Scaling works really bad on mac imo.
@kptnix, these things are based on needs and some might find that dynamic scaling works best for them so a 4K might be perfect for this. About Mac scaling being bad, I hear both side of the arguments and complaints, I think what this comes down to is a personal preference on how you like scaling to be implanted.
@@ArtIsRight omg this is so annoying by apple, I have found only negative points after switching from windows.... I would really love to understand, from a pratical perspective, what apple gives you more. Because to me, when i read macbook's users claiming their avdantages, I just read (and heard) a bunch of people who are justifying their huge disbursement of money and defending their choice....not to mention the awful and un-ergonomic apple magic keyboard... Oh, writing from a wonderful 2k monitor on windows that looks simply awful on macbook (and already spent 6+ hours to the get hidpi hack, stupid apple)
You did not reply to this very basic question: how do I set the resolution to 4K but make all the text bigger so I can read the damn text! Windows has it in the setting and one can do it very easily. I just bought a BenQ 4K display and just realized this shortcoming of Mac for non-Apple displays. It seems you guys at the BenQ also have not found a solution. Which means I should return the monitor and buy my old HD monitor.
First I don't work for BenQ, and the resolution scaling is a Mac and Apple thing, it is not if BenQ can figure it out, it is that they can't do it. Knowing this HD might be a better fit for you
@ArtIsRight firstly, thanks for responding. Secondly, whether or not you officially work for BenQ or are a consultant, you are part of their PR team. So, for me, you are BenQ. Thirdly, your solution for the small text while at 4K on Mac OS is in effect to use a 4K monitor as a 2K monitor. Do I get this right? If so, what would I lose if I switch to a 2K monitor? This is a genuine technical question, not a rhetorical one. I bought the 4K cause I wanted to edit photos at 4K and be able to work on details better. But if I cannot read any of the menus on 4K, it won't help me much.
Hi Art. Disregard comment on another video I posted. This is the video I was looking for. It explains scaling, exactly what I need it. One thing is does scaling effect color ? And on this model benq do I choose dp3 or MacBook ?
I have tried and cannot get the "Larger Text More Space" menu on my Mac Mini running Catalina, even after selecting Scaled and using the function key. I have a Dell S2817Q 4K monitor. I can pick 3840 and get super clear, super tiny text. And I can pick 3008 and get nice sized, but fuzzy display. Using SwitchResX doesn't help.
Without being able to test your Mac with another screen or vice versa it would be hard to pin point the issue. Sounds like an OS issues more than the screen issue in this case.
You need to add the desired resolution of your monitor into the plist of your macOS. egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
If you are running in other resolution non 4k… then if I see a video in 4K … it is showing at native resolution? I so how I do with Savin I resolve etc?
I just ordered a BenQ EW3270U 4K 31.5" LCD display. It hasn't arrived yet but I download the screen resolution guide and it says, "Due to the nature of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, the picture resolution is always fixed. For the best display performance, please set the display to its maximum resolution that is the same with the monitor aspect ratio. This is called “Native Resolution” or maximal resolution - that is, the clearest picture. Lower resolutions are displayed on a full screen through an interpolation circuit. Image blurring across pixel boundaries can occur with the interpolated resolution depending upon the image type and its initial resolution". Does this mean I can't scale it up? Won't the text be too tiny in native resolution??
@playroomcreative, so the resolution is always fixed. But what you can do is scaled the resolution as I have shown in this video. Some people are ok with this, some are not. The text can be a bit blurry but it is readable. So it is a balancing it. Personally, I'm never really bothered by the what some described as "blurred text." The way how I see it is that the text are smoother because of the scaling and it act similar to a Retina display despite not having 2x resolution to do a proper 2 times scaling. Try it out and let me know what you think. That warning in the manual is really for Windows only, where the OS can scale the interface and change the resolution at the same time. On a Mac you can't do that, at least not easily. Hope this helps.
I got a New PD2700u 4k display, connect to my iMac with a Hdmi cable to a Hdmi to thunderbolt 2 adapter, it seems set to 1920x1080p by default and won't let me go to 4K, only lower resolutions. Can anyone advise me? Thanks
Nice video. However it only addresses UI size, which I understand. However what I'm interested in is actual resolution when viewing my photos in Lightroom. It feels like the various size options only affect the UI in a meaningful way, but when viewing my photos in lightroom classic at 100% pixel size, only massive resolution (with more screen estate but tiny fonts) makes sense... In smaller modes, it looks like LR dynamically scales photo viewing to "act as" 4k, but the way the photos is framed makes no sense whatsoever... Any run into this?
You are using a Mac so everything get scaled by the OS and not the programs. Programs don't independently scale any part of the UI or view portal. If you want to use 4K native you can. I never have any issues doing commercial work using the scale resolution, but all this is a very personal preference.
Can this procedure also be carried out with OS Ventura 13.0.1? The scale function is apparently no longer available. For my book yes, but not for the PD3420Q. There I am even offered 3840 x 2160. But then the picture is distorted... Thanks !
GUI changes but the principal is still the same. This video does not talk about this directly but you can get an idea from it ruclips.net/video/qVXjhsraAlw/видео.html
wacom tablet lag issues happens if you choose one of these resolutions - using a scaled resolution may affect performance-. and what is accaptable for me is 2560x1440 which is one of them. i have mac mini m1. LG 27UL550-W any solution? would be great! thanks.
Faster video card or a new Mac. The intro to this video will lay the foundation why scaling is causing these issues ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html
Hi. I've just recently sold my 2014 Macbook pro and I'm planning to buy the mac mini m1. I will be using it for photo/video editing as a main priority, and watching netflix, surfing the web. This is the first time I'm buying a monitor so after watching your video, I'm still clueless to what resolution should i be getting. Qhd or Uhd?I'm planning to buy a 27 inch though. Will Qhd be blurry on 27 inch monitor?
A few thoughts, if you can hold on buying a Mac, wait for the more pro machine to come. M1 is still limited for pro work. About the QHD vs UHD, I would look at the various SW displays comparisons on my channel. But this will take you to the 4k vs 2k argument and shows you some sample ruclips.net/video/SdRLwes_tC4/видео.html the question about blurry or not that is subjective and it is hard to say, it depends on the person.
@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the reply Art. Since my Mac mini M1 is on the way i might stick to it. Like my previous macbook pro, i will be using this mac mini m1 for atleast 5 to 7 years before i upgrade. Do you think the gpu on the mmm1 can handle sw271 for a long time or should i just stick to sw270 to be safe? Is the blurry font on the 2k really noticeable when i sit about 2 feet away from the screen?
GPU is fine. I would say that if you sit 2 to 3 feet away you should be ok, but I would test this out. this is such a personal preference and everyones perception is different.
Im trying to get a decent resolution for my LG 27"4k display. It's either "looks like 1080" where everything is huge, or "looks like 1440p" where everything is super tiny and blurry.
if you have a 4K then 2160 will be tiny, blurry at 1440 is part of pixel binning, some are ok with it some are not. There's not much that can be done about this. Only 5K displays and higher will provide you true HD-DPI or Retina on scaling but those resolutions also come with their own set of issues.
@@ArtIsRight I use the same monitor with a Windows PC running at native 4k but with 150% scaling and it looks great. I guess it's 1080p with Mac, no other choice. thanks!
That is because Win 10 Scale the UI and not the OS. MacOS scales the entire OS independent of UI. Different implementation, some prefer one over another, but are not without their issues but change is not on the horizon either and as get higher and higher resolution display this is going to a persistence issue going forward for some.
@@ArtIsRight I am using 21.5" 4K iMac retina display. Text looks perfectly fine to me at default scale. I don't understand why running default scale on an even bigger 27" 4K external third party display would result in very small text?
i do not understand it is so confusing 🧐. I would like to understand one thing, for example if it is a default configuration it says 1920-1080 it means my 4k monitor becomes 1080P monitor and my photos shows on a screen not full resolution? it means i have to choose normal size texts and buttons and bar but low resolution photos for my editing and professional work or i have to to scale to see full potential resolution and very small eyes hurting buttons? is that what you’re saying? it means what is the point to pay crazy money for 4k monitor you you pushed to use default resolution and losing all the high resolution advantage of your screen, it means it will better to buy full hd screen en and that’s it. this means mac os system not optimized for having 4k monitor. if i understand correctly you have to have full 4k resolution and all your buttons and everything has to be very visible and big like a look of default option. Am i correct or no am i understanding right or no. help me please to understand all the logic about this. and what about PC ? I heard that this is a mac problem they don’t optimized for this but PC doesn’t have this problem you can have native 4k resolution and the same time your desktop interface buttons everything will be very normal visible size
It means that your display is binning pixel and is outputting the equivalent resolution of what you choose and because of pixel binning you are seeing smoother text. Your image scales in any apps anyway, so it does not effect much the way how your image is showing. Because of the individual program scaling you are not seeing more or less of your images you just get less screen real estate. In a sense if you scale 4K what you get is what some perceived as smoother text because of the binning, other sees it as blurry, every one perception is different. If you have 4K you have various scaling options. You are not locked in, so just choose what is the best balance for you. If you have PC this is totally different, each apps scales according to the OS setting although it is not without its issues. So in a sense you what you heard, the basic premise is correct, but the technical explanation is wrong. Mac Scales the entire os where as PC scales the interface of the app, again with it own sets of issues.
Hi there, great video! I my self running m32u (4k 32" screen), which is quite beautiful. But with the macbook (13" m1) the text and ui is a bit too small for me to handle. After I used the settings to change to a scale version(1440) everything is much better. I am quite sad that I'm losing the 4k quality though. Isn't there another way? Or should I just stick with the 2k resolution? Thanks again!
i asked same question and this is stupid. if you have to lose or sacrifice 4k resolution just because you do not have other choice because text and everything becomes very small that you can not see what is the point to buy 4k monitor. it means it will be better to buy 2k monitor or 1080P. this is very very stupid.
yes and no, if that is all you need sure, but if you dynamically scale the interface based on tasks then getting a 1080 is not the best idea. Also when you scale a 4K to 1080 vs native 1080 the pixel pitch is different, so you would have a Retina display like quality rather than seeing pixels that are further apart.
Hey @ArtIsRight, I have a MacBook Air 2017 which is connected to my LG Ipsled monitor. When I connect my MacBook to the monitor and set it to scaled display the entire screen of the monitor isn’t fitted only a portion of the screen is fitted but when I set it to default for display the screen expands and the entire monitor screen is fitted but the problem is the quality is very bad when I do that, kindly help me with this... thank you.
did you connect your monitor using DP or HDMI? The 5 scaled options under the monitor name are not there for my, only a bunch of resolutions to choose from (i am using hdmi nonetheless)
@basiliszag, I use DP, but even when I use HDMI they are available for me too. What computer do you have? Video card model, spec and the display that you are hooking it up to? This may be a situation where certain software, computer and external display combination would disable these settings.
I'm thinking of buying a 32" 4k BenQ to run with the Apple Studio but from I understand, OS cant run 4k without scaling and to scale uses disproportionate GPU and slows the system down (as it scales to 5k then scales it down to 4k). IE non retina is approx 110 ppi and retina is 220 ppi but 4k is close to 140ppi. The Apple Studio monitor also doesn't run 4k for this reason and instead runs 5k which is closer to 220 ppi so doesn't require the process of rescaling?
Ok, misconceptions there from those who things they know something and just perpetuate that misconception. MacOS can run any resolution native, the question is do you want to. 4K native on 27" or 32" even makes text really small. And 4K is never really meant for majority normal human consumption, so this is what macOS came up with scaling. Mac does this by scaling the entire OS where as windows scales the apps, a variation on a theme, each with it own sets of pros and cons. A user may prefer one more than another but it does not necessary mean overall better, just better for the individual. This series of 4 videos goes into depth to answer the why, start with this one ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html and No 5K does not get scale down to 4k, again misconception and can't be further from the truth. Yes pixel density is one thing and to be consider retina it needs to be at great than 200 PPI. And yes that is the reason why apple choose 5k but that does not means MacOS can't do 4K native. And yes scaling might not look as good on non 5K but that is why this video exist and other series on my channel. Also if you look at apple 5K display, it does not run at 5K native, it scales by default. And no it still does requirer processing for scaling. Watch this as well. ruclips.net/video/8qHYsJDSKWM/видео.html
What i don t understand is this.:Is it better to buy a 4k 27 inch and then scale the fonts larger or buy a 2k and run it natively and second 2k for 32 inch is enough or better go 4k and then see what is best by scaling ?Is there a sweetspot guide for every different dimension display(there are also many different wide and ultrawide options..exept - 40 inch - .. i don t know why this is happening..)
If you are going to get 4K for scaling then I would go with 2K easier on the graphic card. And even though the pixel are further apart and less dense on a 2K you are not really setting, 6 - 12 inches from it anyways so you are ok. For my 32" displays 4K I am sitting about 3 feet form the display and at that point your eyes can't really resolved those small pixels. So you can certainly do what you suggest, however, it would be somewhat difficult to find a high quality 32" 2K resolution panel in the world of 4k. And with regards to the sweet spot, it is relative for each person and workflow, it is one that is difficult to pin point. Again it all comes down to workflow and what you do with the display. Are you a photographer, pro creative or casual user?
@@ArtIsRight i mostl compose music in logic also i see a lot youtube videos (lessons,etc)some of my friends that also compose say that big monitors tire the eyes but others crave about them..what a mess !.
Yeah you would have to find the happy medium for you. For me what's important is the size 27" and up, as far as resolution I'm happy with 2K but 4K is a plus for me, for pixel real estate on the screen when I need it, i.e. you can see more.
@@ArtIsRight i m thinking for 32 4k..finally.I would like a 38 but they cost very much for some reason..Also i ve noticed after reading MANY reviews that you can find more easy good 27inch panels than 32..I guess we have to waita little bit..Thanks a lot !I wish you the best for your channel..i hope i start mine too in this century and not the next one..😄
That explains a lot. Thank you so much. But, I would love to have one of the good 4K@2160 monitors from Benq. With 32" I can not be happy because of the scaling :-( I know ... kobayashi maru ;-)
@@ArtIsRight Yes, unfortunately. Let's hope that something happens in 2021. I've already gotten used to the specs of the good Benq monitors... I hope something will come in 20121. The PD3420Q would be the only alternative, but no dealer has it here at the moment. So for now I stay with my defective LG 34UM95
PD3420Q should slowly come out this month and more widely available next year in the US. As far as EU and world wide you are still looking a few more months.
@@ArtIsRight Sounds good. What would also be very cool: the holder of the LG Ergo series is so incredibly flexible. Does it also fit the BenQ? Or maybe Benq designs something similar?
At the end, it is not about a solution similar to a Windows OSs but a single phrase recorded in 10': "In MacOS you just can change the display resolution based on the app you use"... So, noth9ng new...
Summay : find display settings , change the scale option , find the resolution that suits you . (I was expecting something more technical from a yt video ...
@jo land, this is most likely due to the OS and hardware combination. In this case specifically that would refer to the video card that's in your Mac mini 2014. Certain software and hardware combination do not enable display scaling. There are ways to manually trigger the display scaling in the display preference dialogue you can try that option or you can also use a third-party program such as SwitchResX.
ArtIsRight , thanks for your reply. I’ve been reading up on this on Reditt. And what you just said is right. They where mentioning a 24” from LG from 2015 that seems to work just fine. Maybe I will go with that.
@@ArtIsRight Hi! I just bought a Philips 276E8VJSB running it over displayport with HD4600 (iGPU). I'm getting 4K 60Hz but the only resolutions I can choose from is 4K and 1080p with HiDPI. No resolutions in between are shown. Not by alt + click on the scale option neither. So I tried downloading SwitchResX and it allows scaling for some resolutions in between 4K and 1080p (but not 1440p for some reason). I can choose 1440p but not scaled. However... The worst part is that non of the resolutions is offering HiDPI?! Does it have to do with the intel HD4600 not offering HiDPI with other resolutions than 1080p? Or is it that the drivers from apple isn't offering this with this particular display? I found this video explaining how to force HiDPI mode for non supported resolutions. Haven't tried that yet. But I think it's a bit weird you have to go to these lengths to get something like this to work? Would it work out of box with a dedicated graphics card? I have spare HD 7950 laying around here somewhere.
If you set it to 1920, you are seeing things at 1920, so the benefit in this situation would be pixel binning aka Retina display like smooth need. But when you want 4K you would just have to change the resolution back to 4K for the benefit of it.
not necessary. If you dynamically change the resolution based on the application use then no. I do this all of the time depending no what I am working on. I found that 2K resolution equivalent is good for image editing but for my daily use I scale the display to 3360 x 1890 which is found works great for me.
@@ArtIsRight Honestly speaking i have never changed resolution. Some displays look good only at native resolution. Will try this workflow on new Apple panel.
Yes anything 2K below yes. Otherwise if you are on a Mac, laptop with Retina Display or anything with 4 - 5 or 6 K from apple the default is never native, it is some form of scaling. And on higher resolution display 4K or above running native will hurt your eyes, not to mentioned it is unusable for any practical purposes.
Hi!, I just purchased BenQ; PD2700U but macOS doesn't give me icon to choose resolution from, instead it shows a list to choose resolution, and nothing works good (stays blurred) between native 4K and FHD (1080), so what's different in our setup ?. FYI - I am running this monitor on 4K 30Hz with MacBook Pro Retina 13", so, 30Hz is the actual issue ?. Please help me understand, I really want; 2560x1440 native on this display.
That display is 4k native, you can scale to a 2K equivalent but you mentioned that scaling is blurry to you, this depends on the user personal preference. If you want to run 2K native you have to get the PD2700Q and not the U. 30Hz does not cause this issue just more jitter movement for graphic. Most Mac should support 4K60 but without knowing your specific model, I can help much.
@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the note and your time replying my query. I am running PD2700U in native 4K but macOS is either give me scaled resolution (for text/GUI) in full 4K (where text/UI is so tiny) OR in Full HD (1080), anything between is so blurry and monitor alerts me for resolution if I explicitly selects that. I want to run GUI in multiple of 0.75 of this display, somewhere near 1440p. In this video you have 27" 4K display, a macOS, and you have 4 different options to choose from to scale GUI, why I don't ? ... is the question actually. My MacBook Pro is pretty old one, it's Retina 13" Late 2012. Display is hooked up in DisplayPort. I really wanted to have 4K monitor, I ain't a designer, an IT Infrastructure person, however liked this one over any other inexpensive gaming 4K etc to switch between work/personal devices easily and to see real colours near my MacBook Pro. Was this purchase a mistake OR should I also move to any of latest M1 Mac.
@Thomas Windfeld, this should work in that OS, I am running, Catalina, Mojave and El Capitan. This may be more dependent on your computer rather than the OS. What Mac are you running, laptop, desktop, model ID, year and size info are needed to answer these question.
@@ArtIsRight , first of all, thank you for you video! I'm having the same issue as Thomas. I have just bought a 4K monitor (LG 27UL550) and I don't see larger text options when choosing the resolution for my monitor. I only see those options for the built in retina display. I'm running Mojave (10.14.2) on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) and connecting my monitor through HDMI. Based on what I read so far, it looks like I need to buy a DisplayPort to Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort adapter later, in order to run 4K at 60 Hertz. Again, when I click on "scaled" option, I can only choose the resolution and if I pick 4k, everything looks really small and hard to read. It only works properly when running in FHD, but I wanted to use 4K. Please let me know if you can think of a solution for my case. Thank you once again!
@Filipe Vieira, the behavior that you are describing, based on my understanding of explication, is that macOS is functioning properly. If you want to scale in Mac OS you can't do that in 4k, you would just be scaling the resolution done. What you are describing is how windows implement scaling.
Can you help me, everything is small on my mac air and I don’t know how to make the icons bigger such as the top tab where finder, file, edit are, before it was fine now after a while I didn’t use my laptop and it’s small
@@ArtIsRight so the icons at the bottom are very small and when I go on safari it’s asif it’s zoomed in, when I’m in my online class the chat room is so small I can barely see messages.
Icons at the bottom of the screen is on the dock and you can change the size of that in system preference - dock. As far as safari, there's probably some magnification going on. When you go to a page just press cmd & 0 to return the magnification to the default 100%. You can also use cmd & = or cmd & - to magnify in or out on a webpage. This should solve your issue.
Is there a way to scale to 4k for space but keep the menus and text large as if default is selected (even via 3rd party apps)? I know on windows you can do that super easy by selecting zoomed scaling to 150% and resolution at 4k.
@ArtisRight Need your help I am in a Confusion. For me it is desirable to have 4K but the Price is steep. I would have loved to have the 4K Monitor the 2700U which has a little thin Bezels compared to the 2700Q. Would you agree that 2K is like the middle ground between having a readable Text and a Slightly higher resolution than 1080P ! Would Movies be enjoyable at 2K ? Plus you need to have 4K content to be able to correctly use the 4K right ? Would you say for 27" 2K would be Ok ? is that enough ?
@@ArtIsRight So I am looking at the BENQ 2700Q but it has thick bezels. Do you think it is a good choice ? Sure I could go with the BENQ 2700U which has slightly thin bezels but the price difference between them is like $150 to $200 !
4K primary displays are POINTLESS on a Mac. It has to jump through scaling hoops and DESTROYS your GPU performance. As a secondary preview monitor for editing video, it's great! For a primary monitor? GPU scaling performance hit makes it pointless.
Blanket statement like this does not help anyone, for you yes but for others may be not. Also M1 a so good that this is becoming less of an issue even in the most demanding app such as LRC. This series of 4 video explains it all ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html
This video misses the point completely. And the point is don’t buy an 4K monitor for mac unless it is 21,5” or 40”. Otherwise the GPU has to scale and is consuming a lot of power.
Not quite, you may think so and thought you have merits it is limited in scope and new apple silicon are much better at this. Size of the display does not matter as much as the pixel dimension and density. restricting the display size as an either - or limits the options of most users - workflow, is irrelevant and is a way of looking at this that in your word "misses the point completely." So no this is relevant information for other out there that will buy the displays that suits their needs i.e. not you.
That is a rather board question that largely depends on the computer hardware that you have. Hard to give you that answer with out knowing the exact spec of the computer.
@@ArtIsRight I have a MacBook Air 2018 connected to a lg 27-ul850. When I play a 1080p video on this matter, the resolution doesn’t seem to match up with my MacBook and it’s not as crisp.
If you say match up, then there are a few things you are looking at one is the pixel pitch, that is the pixels per inch. It more dense on the MBP, over 200 PPI, which falls into retina territory. On your LG 4K 27" It is in the territory of 160 -163, close to retina but not quite. This not quite part is what you are seeing as blurry especially if scale the resolution on a Mac. This is mostly based on perception and what you are used to. Some are ok with this, others are not. This said what you can do is try to run your LG at native 4K and try viewing a 4K content on the display and see how it looks. Even if you set the display to 4K and watch 1080p source, it may still come out not as sharp because you are scaling up the content to 4K.
@@ArtIsRight that what I ment. My English isn't as good as my Swedish 😅🇸🇪 i ment you shoukd be able to 😁 in macOS. I'm a Mac user and disappointed in this scaling sh*t.
Got it, sadly you are not the first and there are many others who feels the same way, but Apple has been using this solution since 2015 with the Retina MBP, I don't see them changing. Objectively speaking, there are advantages to this and yes there are downsides as well. Windows option has the opposite sets of pros and cons. It is just the implementation really.
I don't understand how scaling can take 163 ppi closer to a Retina display 200+ ppi. The physical pixels don't increase, so that didn't make sense to me.
@Del Segno, I said in the video that it looks and act like a Retina display and the premise of what is going on at the OS level is the same as retina scaling. I understand that the pitch does not reach 200+ psi. To me if you sit back it looks close enough to a Retina display, or the effect of it rather. Something to keep in mind too is that with 32" 4K, you would not really be pixel peeping at the screen. Some people don't like this scaling effect and that is ok too, every one has their own preference. This guide is useful for people who has these 4K or higher display and can't really use them at native resolution because the text is too small.
@@ArtIsRight I see. I have a 4k Asus 28" display and am using the 1440p scaling option in macOS to make the UI a comfortable size. However, with that setting, a 3840 x 2160 image in Photoshop is no longer the correct size when viewed at 100% zoom; it should fill the entire screen but instead is much smaller. While quality isn't affected, it's annoying to have 100% zoom not equal 100% size. Do you know of anyway to fix that issue?
@Del Segno, I am aware of the zooming issue in Photoshop but I am not aware of a fix. I'm sure someone has come up with either a temporary or permanent solution to this issue. The other thing to note too is that I am 98-99% Lightroom Classic at this point in my image editing. And I use photoshop very little. If I find a solution, I'll probably do a video about this. I think that it would be really helpful.
I tried via HDMI or Displayport and i'm always gettin blurry fonts, the problem is that the monitor is non-Retina, is a normal BenQ QHD 2K. Tried Overraide Driver but does not work. The blurry issue is because i downgrade the resolution to 1920x1080 since i need a new pair of glasses if i would work on 2560 x 1440😂 This can be fixed by enabling HiDPI for external monitors which enables to use top resolution but gives a feel of low resolution, say 1920x1080 (text size, etc) Unfortunately Apple enables HiDPI only when external monitor is an Apple Monitor. The solution is here: github.com/xzhih/one-key-hidpi but for me does not work
So if it does not work universally then I guess I would not call it a "solution" then. Also scaling is really meant for 4K and up, lower resolution does not benefit for this at all.
It is too bad that there is not a way to make the text size bigger while still maintaining the full native 4K resolution - does the Mac 'play' better with their own (very overpriced!) displays? If the Mac works better with their own panels this might be a case of trying to steer people to purchase more Apple products (cynic that I am!)
Different scaling philosophy between Mac and PC, each with their own sets of pros and cons. Mac play well with any display, no magic unicorn here. So you don't need an apple display, and to anyone that said so, they are mistaken :D
This depend on the user, if you feel that the text is blurry, then you can run it at native resolution. Personally for me I run scaled resolution all the time and at the normal distance that I am sitting from the screen the text look fine. This is one of those USS Kobayashi Maru scenario.
ideally... we wouldnt have to use macs scaling which renders the screen at a high res and then downscales and you get a tiny bit of blur around edges. Ideally they would implement proper UI scaling... so you shrink the button and text sizes in teh OS and software and not mess with the actual display resolution.
@Half Alligator, that is Windows 10 implementation which carries it own set of issues. However, based on the implementation of macOS this is what we have, even though, it may not be ideal.
Precisely! Apple needs to implement it like folks did in Windows: scaling at OS level and not touching resolution at all. No matter what personal preferences one can have, to me this is the most efficient implementation. You get things the size its more comfortable and usable to you, in native resolution - not some always jagged scaled down one :/ Reason I've gone with a DELL 25" in 2K, not 4K.
@@iu2bi haha we geek out over the same issues. You made a good choice. I ALMOST got that very same Dell 2nd hand cheap but settled for the Dell 24" 4k. 1080p is properly crisp this way. I used to own a 27" 4k but 1080p UI just seems wrong that large. I miss the extra real-estate of QHD but at least I can scale up/down the text in Visual Studio which is the sort of thing i'd like to achieve across the entire OS. it would just take a lot of scaling work on the app level. I don't know much about OSX dev but maybe they could be coding apps with real-world sizes rather than pixels. or make some standards around scaling up/down the UI areas. Websites are all about responsive design so no reason why desktop apps can't be. It baffles me that people don't care about these issues - they spend so much on hardware then screw up their settings. On the new 16" macbooks I can't seem to convince people they're better off gaming at 960p instead of 1080p. It'll not only look crisper but it'll run slightly better too... nope "BUT I WANT 1080P!" The real problem is there are not enough 5k monitors! Where the hell are they? the couple that exist are way overpriced. Ideally i'd like the 16:10 equivalent of that. An aspect ratio I wish would return - that vertical space is important as we're not all watching films on our monitors! /end rant
I hear you... but until that happens this is what we have. And if you are concern about blurring, I understand, then you can run the apps at native resolution. Personally for me on a day to day basis, the tiny text is too hard on the eyes.
hey how's the text quality in not proportional scaling? if you go from 4k to 1440p -> 2160/1440 -> 1.5 it's not an integer number so scaling could be not great as going from 4k to 1080 -> 2
It won’t be but to me text looks good. I said it is “like” retina not retina equivalent. Some don’t like the text rendering, so this is a personal choice you have to test it out yourself to see if it is acceptable for you or not.
@Hon Guo, scaling can be a a personal choice and it seems that you have yours. All Apple computer for the past 10 years especially the ones with the build in display has been pushing GPU hard for quite sometime now with various scaling in macOS.
@@ArtIsRight You are correct. It actually already became a default option on post 2017 MacBook Pros. However, once connected to a 4k external monitor, even MacBook Pro 16 inch runs very hot without any heavy task if applying scaling. To my own experience, it is not usable. As long as the resolution rendered hits 5k, better either go for desktop or use a external GPU...
I totally agree. I just bought a LG 5K2K display. With it, except 2x resolution, all downscaling option means poorer performance (GPU gets under heavy load, more input lag is noticeable) and text is less sharp that it should be. I think I'm gonna change this monitor for a WQHD+. At least, the native resolution will already have the correct font size for me. Having a 4K+ display and downscaling (other than 2x) is pure waste IMO.
@@darkbluewalther Til today, all my past experience tell me laptops still can't handle large amount of pixel. My solution is to get a eGPU or to get a more reasonable size monitor (LG ultra fine 21 inch or 24 inch) so that 2x revolution won't make huge text (but still, not too much resolution to work on.). I went for the 1st one -- got a egpu. Quiet and fast. Probably want to pick up a discontinued dell up2715k or lg ultrafine later.
i have the dell u3421we on my m2 macbook air an its 3440x1440 natively and the text is so damn small, if i change the resolution, it completely ruins the entire look of the screen, i guess ill get a refund
"it completely ruins the entire look of the screen, i guess ill get a refund" This could mean a lot of things. It is the same story with 5 and 6K as well, you always run scale.
@@ArtIsRight If i change the resolution of the screen, everything gets blurry, i have black bars on either side of the screen and i can't work like that
I see, you are not supposed to get black bars if you the correct aspect ratio is chosen. As far as blurry, 4K scaling works but that can be a perception side effect for some. It is difficult to communicate "blurry" because it can easily be misconstrued with "pixelation" when the OS is set to super low resolution and like I said before the perception plays a big role here as well. The red flag here is the black bars, that tells me that the aspect ratio is not correct and possibly even when the correct one is set, it is forcing the incorrect aspect ratio to show as 16:9 further exacerbating the issue.
For this display you may have to choose custom resolution. If you are on Monterey you can option click on the resolution and get a list. On Ventura I have not been able to successfully do this yet.
to be honest i was wondering between deskop pc or mac mini ... but mac mini cost more and now it looks like i can buy 4k monitor and it will be able to run on 1440 p only... i will go for windows .. it is cheaper and can run 4k without any problems
I cannot get get an option between 4k and 1080. Any advice on how to get the perf middle ground? The "Larger Text" option only makes the screen on my Mac lose all real estate. Thanks! Juan
What Mac are you using and what screen are you connecting it to? If you could please provide the make and model of the screen too. From my experience Mac will allow you 4-5 different resolution scaling settings.
Well this is certainly a non-Apple-like implementation from Apple. I thought MacOS implemented a vectored-scaled UI a long time ago, and that the "Scaled" option in Display Preferences was simply a system-wide way to change the relative size of text and icons while the resolution remained FIXED. But seriously, Apple's solution is to just change the actual resolution output to the screen, resulting in a fuzzy/interpolated (GPU intensive) output?!!! There is literally no good solution - it's either native 4K where the OS text/icons are WAY too small, or the pixel-doubled 2K where it looks like a large-print edition for my grandmother. Goodness...this is ridiculous, which I'm now discovering on my new 32" 4K display.
ArtIsRight understood. I’ll admit, after playing with the settings on my new LG 32UL950 that I received this morning, the setting one stop down from full, native 4K looks pretty nice. It’s just aggravating that it’s a tax on the system, and that technically I’m not getting full 4K playback (without changing modes), nor am I really using/experiencing 3800x2160. I’m shocked Apple is handling it this way.
@Wesley Walls, I hear you. You are correct. For me I dynamically change between the resolution depending on what tasks I do. If you look at Windows 10, Scaling is not done any better, though a different method of implementation.
@@ArtIsRight but why?! It's 2020!!!! Why can't there be a system-wide preference for menu/app and logo/icon text size that is independent of resolution output?! It makes zero sense. This isn't hard.
@Wesley Walls, I'm sure that Apple has their reasoning. Especially with their 5K and 6K display, this method from what I can gathered works fairly well since the resolution is truly doubled. However, this is not only an issue on 4K for some, but it is an issue on their MacBook Pro 15" and 16" as well, where the resolution is not really in the 2x pixels category.
Hi there, I use macbook pro (mid 2014) retina display , which have 8gb ram and 2.6ghz processor. I mainly use it for fl studio and davinci resolve. What monitor would be ideal for I.e 24" full hd or 27" (2k or 4k) or 32" (2k or 4k) ? Thank you.
I would probably go with 27" 2K, it is an older laptop. You can choose 4k as well but you are going to be pushing the GPU hard especially if you use scaling.
I have a benq 4k display 32inch, PD3200U, BUT I was tempted by the 27 inch studio display, I miss the bigger screen but spent far too much on the apple display to switch them over!!!! Maybe I’ll set up a seperate workstation????
Check out my latest video: Best Calibration Settings for BenQ Palette Master Element 1.3.8 here ruclips.net/video/bz9y3db9vRI/видео.html
And please like and subscribe, it helps me!
:)
Hey ArtIsRight, thank you for the video! I have just purchased a Philips 276E8VJSB 4k monitor and am trying to connect it to my Macbook Pro Early-2015. Text and windows remain very small on the external monitor and I am only able to choose between default and scaled (3840*2160 - 1600*900 - 1280*720 and 1080p). Do you know of a way to fix this?
@Time Jacobsen, you can try and go to System Preferences - Display and where the word scaled is hold down the option key and click on it. It should give you a list, see if other in-between resolutions are in the list. If not then this forum might contain the tweek for you egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
But what you have to remember is that the OS uses the GPU to do that scaling. So while you have scaling turned on, any other program that uses the GPU will run more slowly. There are videos out there from people who have tested this.
Acutely aware of this I also have videos that goes through these GPU usages.
Also Safari with complex websites like youtube of facebook does not run 100% reliable in a scaled external 4K on iMac 27” & kaby lake intel chip.
If I knew this issue before I would buy 1440 monitor instead of 4K.
I guess windows is way flexible than macos in this regard.
@@ArtIsRight which videos are these. Would love to see how much of a differencd it makes.
@@ArtIsRight Sorry, but this video wasn’t useful for me because of the performance issues. I’ll look through your other videos about the issue. Since there’s still no viable workaround, I’d like to see a video on recommended monitors without scaling issues for Macs.
@@MarcosElMalo2 My exact issue. So hard to find this being properly addressed. Why don't major manufacturers make 5K monitors for the Mac market?
I was struggling with what was normal and not a little bit after just setting up a 4K screen with my Macbook. This video helped a lot! Thank you!
Awesome!
I understand these options that you've explained here. Since it's a "user preference", why cant we change screen "resolution" or scale factor and font/text size independently from each other, ie I want 1920x1080px res but I want smaller text too... Or is there a way to do this that I'm not aware of...? Or do we just accept that this is Apple's middle finger to actual user preference?
For what you are describing you have Windows 10 that do exactly that, which does introduces itself to a slew of issues. Personally, macOS solution, though, limited to some is much more elegant and implemented much better. So you do have options, it may not be the one that you want in this duopolistic world that we live in.
You're not changing the "resolution", you're changing scale factor. Regardless of the scale factor your Mac always sends 3840x2160 pixels per frame.
@Alexey Samokhin, I understand that it does not send out more or less pixel. I said that it is the equivalent resolution. Either way thank you for the feedback.
So I don not need to set the resolution , or in this case scaling, to the largest in order to have larger color gamut to work with? Please would you elaborate on that a little more. Because the reason I bought the SW271 was to have a better resolution to work with my high res images. Much appreciated.
Resolution has nothing to do with color gamut. If you eye sight is good and you can work in native 4K then it is your choice.
ArtIsRight So from a photographer’s
point of view for editing high resolution images,Which setting is best? Would I be compromising to edit my images with a lower resolution, with SW271 or it will look the same. Much appreciated, Kamran.
@@ArtIsRight so then why is my screen heavily pixelated ever since upgrading to Big Sur? I've lost all 4k capabilities on my BenQ.
That was the video I was looking for, have just bought a 4K monitor (BENQ EW3270) and did not know how to properly set the resolution. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
How is that monitor working for you and what are you using to connect it from your Mac (HDMI, mini dp to HDMI adaptor, etc)?? Are you having scaling issues? It says in the manual that "Due to the nature of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, the picture resolution is always
fixed. For the best display performance, please set the display to its maximum resolution that is
the same with the monitor aspect ratio. This is called “Native Resolution”. I just ordered that monitor too. Actually mine has a "U" at the end. I'm assuming thats the one you have. BENQ EW3270U.
@playroomcreative, this is an older posts and @Rigtee might not get back to you. If anything please see my comments from the video on scaling. I use another BenQ with the same resolution and scale in mac all the time
Hey Art.
The decision between 2K or 4K still hasn't been made. So again this video helps a lot. It seems like it will be a choice between better system performance of a 2K 27 inch monitor or maybe a 32 inch 4K screen that needs scaling. The main candidates now are the SW270C 2K and PD3220U 4K, where the design of the fresh PD line looks much better than the old school SW design. The new monitor will be a BENQ that's for sure. Thanks for all the effort you have put into making these videos, informing people about the choices that they have.
Greetings, Maurits.
You are looking 2 Display Lines by BenQ. I would check this out ruclips.net/video/9hVfwW9LK8E/видео.html and this ruclips.net/video/nKajHQh4eFE/видео.html
Another question Art: When looking into the power consumption of the PD3220U it says 220 W Max (or typical/on mode) and 37 W (energy star/eco mode). So what is the deal here with power consumption?
Thanks, Maurits.
Yeah, not sure there, I hear you but to me I just plug it in and use it, nothing much more to it. If you ask me it is mostly attributed to Thunderbolt 3 with 85 watts PD, that takes a lot of power. I don't think that it will take 220 W all the time, especially if you are not using PD.
I was looking for this since 2 months thanks
You're welcome!
This was a great video and answered a lot of questions... been researching about 27 inch 4K monitors for the last 2 days
Thanks!
Buy 1440 monitor instead of 4K
@@davorinskvaridlo3567 is this advice valid only if you are planning to use 2K monitor at native resolution ? I mean 2k monitor with 2k native resolution is still a little tiny for me, so I had to use scalling, this basic option is not fully available by using 2K monitor with Mac OS, therefore I had to install a soft call betterDisplay to access all resolution (including HiDpi) and choose the best scalling for me. If you need scalling in any case, should I go to 2k or 4k monitors ? (I do not run intensive task so impact of 4K scalling on performance is not an issue).
@@matthieu175 mac is always using the monitor at native resolution. (Unless you are using some third party tool.) The difference is only size of displayed items. Natively this is available for approx. 1440p or 2880p @27".
Everything else has to be scaled.
The performance issue is not only "performance" but usability as well. I sometimes noticed youtube or FB menus not working properly on external 4K, just by moving the window to imac screen it worked.
if you are on macbook it is definitely also a consumption issue.
@@davorinskvaridlo3567 thanks for your answer ! Yes I'm a Macbook user and I need an external screen for some tasks, 27 inch 5K which is the best option for MacOs is over budget.
Straight forward and efficient. Thank you sir.
Thanks
Damn. I figured this out in 10 min and was hoping there was a better way. I feel kinda shafted I paid so much for a 4k display so I can only use it at 2k resolution since that's the highest resolution where I can still read the font. But it is what it is!
Well there are some advantages here and there. If you are still in the return windows bring it back
Hello and thanks for this video. I just purchased the SW271 and the text/font size in photoshop was killing my eyes. I need to adjust the scale as you suggest however, I'm confused as to what this does from a resolution standpoint. If I scale up to help my eyes, will the resolution or quality of my photographs be impacted as I work them in Photoshop? thx!
It will be impacted. macOS scales the entire OS not just the apps. In short photos will be effected but depending on what you do, it may not be noticeable. This is a big quipped in he Mac community but I don't see apple changing this anytime soon.
Thank you, the text on my apple studio display look much better now 😄
Awesome!
Scale option is absent when accessing Display option in a DELL U2515H (2k).
I get in on Macbook Pro screen at it works nicely, but when i switch to the LCD it's gone. I just get a list of possible downsized resolutions.
Any one knows why the showcased Scale panels and slider are missing? Using Catalina here also.
@António Rodrigues, you can try and go to System Preferences - Display and where the word scaled is hold down the option key and click on it. It should give you a list, see if other in-between resolutions are in the list. If not then this forum might contain the tweek for you egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
@@ArtIsRight
Thanks for the option click tip, I was able to do the 1080 option with 4K actual pixels. It wouldn’t do 1440 tho, but it could be because my iMac is so old (2010). It’s only able to do full 4K at 30hz tho. I have the new M1 Mac mini on its way arriving tomorrow, hopefully it’ll be able to do the 1440 style at 60hz.
Awesome!
Did you find any solution ? I have the same issue. I am using a MacBook Pro M1 and a External monitor LG 34uc97-s. When I hook it up the text on the external monitor is too small. I don't have the option to scale the text on the external monitor ? :(
Does scaling down from 4k to another resolution cause more work for the GPU since it's compressing everything on the screen?
@mattd313, it probably is, but is not really do any more work than processing native 4K resolution. From my testing because the video card is binning pixel, some of the GUI and fluidness improved quite a bit when I run it on scaled resolution. Either way, 4K is tough on many video cards.
Dont do that... You'll be affected on performance.. I'm using 4K scaling to 1440 and mac creates a "virtual canvas" and scaled it down to 1440... affecting performance. I strongly recomend you to buy a QHD monitor instead.
@@Supirole That’s what I thought. For that reason I’ve decided against getting a 4k monitor, until I can run one at native 4k with no scaling. Which means at least a 32” but I feel like 36” would be better, if only such a thing existed.
So you can either see 4k at smaller texts which is bad for you or 1080p in larger texts which is better for your eyes but you can't experience the full 4k?....
in short yes, but bad for you is relative on the person, I know some who prefers 4K native, all my respect to them. 1080 equivalent is at the extreme low resolution end so that is a personal preference. Personally I would choose something in between like 3008 or 3360 resolution in Mac, but that is my personal preference. You will have to find your.
Hello, great video. If you use scaled resolution how does it impact viewing 4k videos/movies. Will they be played in true native 4k or will the software player or monitor upscale ? upscaling compromises performance.
They will scale if you want to play native then just change the resolution back to 4K and then there won't be any scaling.
@@ArtIsRight thank you. Apologies i asked the question incorrectly. My basic question is. If i used 1080 scaled fir larger text when i play 4k videos will these play in 4k?
@@thesoundizerav4956 *push i have got the same question! Because i have a FullHD Benq Monitor at the moment & wanna switch to a 32 Benq 4k.. but keep the 1080p scaling (because of my bad eyesight) but if the Videos in RUclips wouldnt run in 4k - it doesnt make sense to buy a 4k
@@BombDaBass2000 you’d have to change the resolution to 4K by scaling back to the native 4K option 3840x2160 if you want to watch 4K videos on RUclips or anything else. If you don’t scale to that, then the videos will play at whatever resolution you have scaled to.
Basically, the “Looks Like” section in preferences is telling you that it’ll scale to that resolution on your 4K monitor and will also playback or present everything at that scaled resolution even if your monitor is 4K.
So whatever you want your output to be for everything presented, set the scale to that
Retina display is at 220 dpi
ok... it really is classified as any display with pixel density greater than 200 ppi.
If you are using a 5k display, the default "virtual" resolution on macOS will be 1440p. This is as macOS turns on HiDPI mode by default which renders the GUI not 1:1 but 1:2. The reason is that the render process then has 4 pixels instead of one to make things looking smooth and sharp. Turning a 4k display on a Mac to "virtual" 1440p will cause macOS to do this: render a 5k frame with 1:2 (which it does even on the Studio display in default settings) and then scale it down to 4k. It is an internet myth (or urban legend) that this scaling down of a 5k to a 4k frame costs performance. It doesn't as it is all done by the GPU and GPUs are fast at this (I mean, really fast - there are 16 ms to render a new frame on a 60Hz display and this scaling down will happen within microseconds). Scale-Down-Artefacts may be there, but aren't noticeable in text, which I deem the most important part on screen. On macOS 1440p is the optimal size for most people on a 27 inch display, that's why Apple chose it as the default for its 27 inch 5k display. If you want more real estate (like having the full 4k resolution rendered 1:1) you need a bigger display. Then you may look at 32 inch displays or something.
Note that macOS will never switch your monitor away from its native resolution and refresh rate (unlike Windows or Linux) - it will always scale.
And 2k 27 inch displays suck on macOS. macOS doesn't have ClearType like Windows does, making text really pixelated. 4k is the minimal physical resolution you want on your Mac.
acutely aware
Hi Art, I’m confused by the endorsement of this comment. Has something changed in MacOS recently as old comments seem to recommend other options.
I thought 27” 1440p gave the same text size as 27” 5k, both native, so not issues and both text and photos should look good, obviously we still don’t get as high of a resolution for photos on the 2K monitor.
I’m also seeing a lot of comments that there are other issue like website compatibility and funky stuff happening with 4K on mac still.
It’s crazy to have all this power nowadays and not have nice 5k options aside from a very few, that are old at this point….or extremely expensive….the new Samsung seems a disappointment.
What to do? I can’t believe there’s not a better solution, but that seems to be the case. Crazy
My eyes are getting old so I need the text larger and sharp, but want my photos at or close to retina quality and for everything to work properly.
Is this not madness we still have this issue on these awesome machines? So archaic. This has been since the first 27” 5k iMac, how long ago now?
@artisright and anyone else, if they can comment on my previous comment it would be much appreciated. I’ve done my due diligence researching this, but see conflicting info and some is apparently above my head. I’d like to pick something up with the holiday sales and getting the right info to make an informed decision seems impossible. There’s I think on 27” 5k option that is affordable. The LG. There’s the new Samsung too, but reviews aren’t great. Paying a premium for the LG considering how outdated it is in some ways seems a shame. I thought 27” 2K was a properly scaled native option and this says otherwise. Also, a shame to go 2K with all the advances. Really odd choices Apple has put us in. I’m left not knowing if the 4K options will do what I want….and even if they do there are reports here of some stuff not working right concerning the way some pages display and such.
Response was for part of the comment, not everything. 27" 2k runs native no scale, anything otherwise is wrong. 4K will work just fine, you would have to scale but it depends if you are ok with that look. 27" 2K text would be similar to 27" 5k default scale but because pixels are further apart, you'll see the pixel on the 2K version. Any further comment just start a new fresh one so I'll see it
Thank you! Very insightful
You're so welcome!
Scaling down for reduced resolution is the "secret"?
@James R, it really is not reducing resolution. The resolution for these displays are fixed. What we are doing in this case is binning the pixels together to produce text that is larger and easier to read. This is a user preference.
@@ArtIsRight If I understand correctly, even putting the monitor at "looks like 1920x1080" on a 4k HRD400 display (U2720Q) meaning your still getting 4K but where the pixels are "combined"? Thanks for taking the time.
@Joseph Najjar in a sense yet, it is like pixel binning on the mirrorless or DSLR for video. So you are using the 4K pixel, but rather than showing 1:1 pixel, it is more like every one pixel is represented by 4 pixels, depending on the scaling.
@Ricky Bermúdez Tobón this is the way how Mac implemented this for so many OS versions already, there's always Windows 10, but that has it own sets of issues. Not everyone will be happy.
It's still "4k" because you still have the same dpi. Larger 4k monitors (like 32 inches) will have less dpi than 28 for example.
Thanks for the video. I have the SW271 connected to my Mac mini M1 using HDMI because I'm connecting another monitor using usb c. the display preferences gives me the 4k option on the right and only 1440 as the second native resolution. I don't get the 33601890 or the 3008x1692 which I prefer. I can get them as low resolution resolution modes. any suggestions on how to get them as retina options as you do please?
Not much that can be done here, it is all up to Apple, what you are seeing is either intentional or a big bug from Apple with a combination of Big Sur, M1 and HDMI output. This video outlines it ruclips.net/video/i0QpCHlwOGY/видео.html
HI! I have these options just for my Macs screen... When I want to adjust the resolution on my Dell monitor I cant use these options, I just have 2540x1440, 2058x1152.. but not the option of more space and that. So my problem is that if I want to use the highest resolution of my monitor the text looks super little... Can you help me with that?
@Rodrigo Marco, what dell model do you have? I would test this out with another display hook up to this Mac, or hook up this Mac to another display and see if the behavior is the same. All of this depends on the displays and what resolution it can take. macOS does all of the work in the backend to calculate these options. So tell me your Dell display Model, your Mac Model, the cable that you are using to link the display to your Mac and we'll go from there.
ArtIsRight I have the same issue, qhd 24inch dell
Monitor (P2418 model i think). The only difference i see is eveything got smaller haha
@Achilles, there's really no point scaling in QHD. Most of the time at max resolution that is where your display should run at. This is more of a solution for 4k displays. You can force your QHD to show 4K equivalent but that is pushing the video card to much and does not make sense to do so.
I don' t have these scaling problems on linux with 4k, everything looks great at 3840x2140. BTW - I'm using Wayland.
ok
As you change the resolution, say to 1080p, are you losing the clarity and sharpness of the text? In other words will setting the resolution to 1080p on a 4k monitor really give you any clarity advantage over a regular 1080p monitor?
This is a difficult question to answer because it is based on perception. Personally for me, I like it better on a 4K because the pixel binned so you get more pixel that represents the original pixel. Some have issues with this and consider the text blurry, so it all depends, it may or may not give you clarity advantage. This is something that is difficult to produced on video and it is something that you have to see yourself. I know this does not help much but it is the best answer that I can give you.
No, you won't lose any sharpness at "Looks like 1080p". If you have a 4K display like here, macOS will alway use the native 4K resolution on the display. The way scaling works in macOS is that when you set the resolution in Pref. Displays to "Looks like 1080p", macOS will render everything at 4x (2x in each direction) the resolution internally, and then scale it back to the native resolution of the display, which is 4K. In the case with "Looks like 1080p" the system won't have to scale the internal rendering to 4K since it already is rendered in 4K. This way everything will look exactly as sharp as if you use the resolution "Looks like 3840 times 2160", but everything will look twice as big in each direction. It will be the size of 1080p but have the sharpness of 4K.
If you chose looks like "3008 times 1692" then macOS will internally render everything in 6016 x 3384 and then scale it back to 4K before displaying it on the screen.
So, macOS does a great job of scaling as sharply as possible, but on a 4K display the "Looks like 1080p" or "Looks like 3840x2160" will be the most performant alternatives since integer scaling can be used. Other alternatives will have to rely on fractional scaling which is slower. Fractional scaling will also be a tiny bit less sharp, but it will be hard to tell.
@@fr3238 best explanation I have read on this so far, thank you
Too bad the scaled display modes are not sharp like the 1080p hidpi or the 4k native modes.
It is one of those give and take.
@ArtsRight. Hey. My Sw272q connected MacBook Pro with M3pro, the default resolution is recognizant as 1920x1080. Is it correct?
That model should show up as 2560 x1440 but macOS is known to scale so I would not worry about it much, just set it native 2560x1440
@@ArtIsRight thanks a lot!
:)
For myself, 2k seems the “right” resolution. With this information, should I go and get a 2k or 4K (because in theory it has more colors or do I lose this when it scales?)
2K vs 4K does not have more color or can show more gamut, that would depend on the display and panel, but if you are looking at the top of the line model then that is no so much of an issue. What you get with 4K is more resolution but if you are going to spend the extra money to run the display at scaled resolution all the time then I would recommend you go with a 2K, save money and less taxing on the video card / GPU.
Hi, I have a standard 1080p monitor. I wish to see 6 or 8 eight pages of the same Word doc on one monitor for editing purposes. I am strongly considering the BenQ PD2720U. Yes it will show multiple pages of the same document but if I have to scale the resolution in order to read them I wonder instead if I should just get the new BenQ PD3420Q ultra wide (2K?) monitor instead? I also wish to edit photos and videos in high resolution. I’d be extremely grateful for your thoughts on the best monitor for me. I think the PD3220U would be too big on my desk. So either an ultra wide or 27 inch seems suitable, and then I can always put another 27 inch next to it someday via daisy chaining. Thanks 🙂
I bought two BenQ SW321C monitors and run them both at 4K. All I did to allow my 57 year old eyes to read the text is buy some 1.5x reading glasses.
In apps like Excel I also increase the text size. Ain't no way am I going to scale to a lower resolution.
Good for you.
I've ordered the new M1 mac mini & am looking for a 4K monitor.... my main concern is having blurry text, as I had that issue with a 1440p monitor when pairing with my 2019 macbook pro.
Do 4K monitors get rid of the blurry text issue?
I think you are referring to the pixelization, where the DPI is not high enough and you can see pixel. If that is the issue you are face then 4k should solve it but it all about perception so it is a bit harder to answer.
Yes, 4K solves blurred text. Had same issue with 2k 1440p. Hated the pixelated text so I bought 4K monitor. What I did then was set resolution on my Mac mini to 1440p to make it look bigger with the 4K monitor but without the blurred text because of higher pixel density with the 4K monitor.
No. It's not the same for any other 4K monitors. The scaling option shown at 2:14 is only available at some 4K monitors with a specific resolution profile. If you do some research, there're many people who're struggling to get that option with their 4K monitors.
Yes on the newer OS that are some that does not show up. But this is not a rule video, this is a guide, if one is not available then flexibility must ensure and choose the next closest one. If issue that you are talking about here is not so much to do with the specific resolution profile but rather macOS and the display connection type. Different macOS version will vary these results.
Hello, i'm using the benq sw321c with a macbook pro 16 of 2021 with a resolution of 3360 x 1890. it is the one that i have found most comfortable with respect to workspace and reading text and web browsing. what i was wondering is if i have loss of quality when viewing and editing photos in photoshop and similar or when doing 4k video editing with premiere pro. I thought I understood that if you do not use the native resolution you can not appreciate all the detail in the monitor.
Because Mac OS scales the entire interface, the should not matter much. Native or scale does not necessary mean that details show more or less.
Thank you for the great video, @ArtIsRight! I’ve watched many 4K reviews and they never talk about this in-depth.
I have an iMac Retina 5K 2014. I love the screen and the Retina resolution. Even though I have some burn-in, I’d be happy to continue using the monitor part of the iMac but the computer is getting too slow. Want to upgrade to Mac Studio, but it feels weird to set aside this great monitor. Replacing it with the Apple Studio Display 5K feels expensive for going back to square one.
Trying to decide if 4K on macOS with scaling is an option and this video helps. Ultimately, I’ll have to see if I can experience it in person to make a final choice.
Yes this is one where you have to see it in person. Sadly you won't be able to experience this at an Apple Store because they will only show case their displays. You may be better off going to Best Buy but then Apple computer won't be linked up to a non Apple Display. Local Apple reseller or friend would be your best bet. I know this is hard.
@@ArtIsRight Thank you so much for your reply. I live in Switzerland, so I’ll have to figure out a spot where this could be possible. Maybe ‘Media Markt’, but I doubt they’ll non-Apple monitors hooked up to Apple computers :|
True. You might want to find a BenQ retailer in Switzerland. if you need help finding one dm me.
Hey Art - I am having a challenge with my BENQ display - the only way the display will work is when I have the large-scale viewing mode - I cannot get it to work in any other mode - this does not afford me the extra work space the I purchased the monitor for - can you help me?
What model of the display, what computer model, desktop / laptop, os version etc.
I have a question I have a MacBook Air M1 (2020) and I just bought a monitor for it (Philips 276E8VJSB 27") It's a 4K 27" monitor, but, I have to connect it with my MacBook Air with HDMI cable. When I turn on the display setting (3840 x 2160 pixels 4K UHD) after connecting via , everything looks very small and is not scalable at all. This thing is troubling me a lot, please tell me any solution to this, I will be very grateful to you.
scale the resolution according to this guide so that you can see.
What if I want to watch 4k videos? Will I have to reset the resolution scaling back to 4k every time I want to watch it?
If you want to see all of the pixel at 100% without scaling, yes. Is that necessary, probably not for most.
@@ArtIsRightI may as well not use scaling then.
You can but everything would be tiny, USS Kobayashi Maru scenario :)
@@ArtIsRight True, but it seems like a massive flaw in the operating system that I have to change the scaling to 4K every time I want to view a 4K video on my 4K monitor. And then I’ll have to switch back to 1080p scaling once I’m done viewing the content.
It’s astonishing to me Apple hasn’t figured out how to only scale the UI while leaving the native resolution (ie videos, wallpapers, pictures, and games) at the native resolution of the monitor. But oh well…
Thanks for getting back to me btw. I hope Apple figures something out
It will probably not change or will not change at this point. It would take a significant re-architect of macOS for something like this to change. Also, the other way around, and you'll have the conundrum that Windows is in. It is not better either; many unforced errors exist on the OS and Developer sides. At least Mac is consistent across the OS.
Am using mac PRO 2012 Tower, Recently i bought Benq Monitor PD3200U But in 4K Resolution, in the Display scale i don't have the option for font sizes different sizes, am not able to read the text its ver tiny, please help me
What OS version? You can also try SwitchResX that can help
That's great and all, but the question here is this...if I have it scaled to have larger text and I go to watch a 4k video on youtube or whatever, am I not really watching in 4k anymore? In other words, is it essentially just acting exactly the same as a 2k monitor would?
@Torrey so yes if you have it scaled to 2k it would act like a 2K Retina display. The nice part about Mac is that you can dynamically change the scaling as needed. So if you want to view 4k native, you would just choose more space toward the right of the scaling and if you want larger text then just pick sometime more toward the left of the scaling. Personally, I dynamically change my desktop through out the day based on the tasks that I am doing. Hope this help!
Might as well just buy a 2k display then. The 4k resolution is completely wasted. Personally i always go with the 200% scaling, because then text is actually sharp and in 4k. But UI elements are too big. Scaling works really bad on mac imo.
@kptnix, these things are based on needs and some might find that dynamic scaling works best for them so a 4K might be perfect for this. About Mac scaling being bad, I hear both side of the arguments and complaints, I think what this comes down to is a personal preference on how you like scaling to be implanted.
kptnix 4K is a pain. Is it interesting to hear that MacOS is not doing any better than Windows 10 in scaling 4K
@@ArtIsRight omg this is so annoying by apple, I have found only negative points after switching from windows.... I would really love to understand, from a pratical perspective, what apple gives you more. Because to me, when i read macbook's users claiming their avdantages, I just read (and heard) a bunch of people who are justifying their huge disbursement of money and defending their choice....not to mention the awful and un-ergonomic apple magic keyboard...
Oh, writing from a wonderful 2k monitor on windows that looks simply awful on macbook (and already spent 6+ hours to the get hidpi hack, stupid apple)
hello, what are the best options from benq that does not require scaling. I have a mac book 16inch retina, is my best option PD2506Q?
Yes or PD2705Q would be another one
This could have been explained in about 2 mins. All waffle!
Thanks!
And you paid how much for this info?
Hi
So am I always getting 4k no matter what scale I choose? But the computer is making it ''look like'' 1080 or whatever I have picked?
Great video!
That is correct! Pixel binning is the game here!
You did not reply to this very basic question: how do I set the resolution to 4K but make all the text bigger so I can read the damn text! Windows has it in the setting and one can do it very easily. I just bought a BenQ 4K display and just realized this shortcoming of Mac for non-Apple displays. It seems you guys at the BenQ also have not found a solution. Which means I should return the monitor and buy my old HD monitor.
First I don't work for BenQ, and the resolution scaling is a Mac and Apple thing, it is not if BenQ can figure it out, it is that they can't do it. Knowing this HD might be a better fit for you
@ArtIsRight firstly, thanks for responding. Secondly, whether or not you officially work for BenQ or are a consultant, you are part of their PR team. So, for me, you are BenQ. Thirdly, your solution for the small text while at 4K on Mac OS is in effect to use a 4K monitor as a 2K monitor. Do I get this right? If so, what would I lose if I switch to a 2K monitor? This is a genuine technical question, not a rhetorical one. I bought the 4K cause I wanted to edit photos at 4K and be able to work on details better. But if I cannot read any of the menus on 4K, it won't help me much.
Going from 4K to 2K you'll just loose pixel density about 163 down to 109
Nice job. I do think it would be clearer if instead of saying "More/Greater screen real estate" you said "More/Greater screen content."
Thank you!
Hi Art. Disregard comment on another video I posted. This is the video I was looking for. It explains scaling, exactly what I need it. One thing is does scaling effect color ? And on this model benq do I choose dp3 or MacBook ?
Scaling only effects the size and not output color. As far as color mode, that will depend on what you want to achieve
I have tried and cannot get the "Larger Text More Space" menu on my Mac Mini running Catalina, even after selecting Scaled and using the function key. I have a Dell S2817Q 4K monitor. I can pick 3840 and get super clear, super tiny text. And I can pick 3008 and get nice sized, but fuzzy display. Using SwitchResX doesn't help.
Have you tried this screen on another Mac to see if you can scale?
@@ArtIsRight No, I can't
Without being able to test your Mac with another screen or vice versa it would be hard to pin point the issue. Sounds like an OS issues more than the screen issue in this case.
You need to add the desired resolution of your monitor into the plist of your macOS. egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/missing-scaled-resolution-w-vega-64-tb3-lg-34wk95u-w/
@A B, thank you for the link!
Thank you!!!
Welcome!
If you are running in other resolution non 4k… then if I see a video in 4K … it is showing at native resolution?
I so how I do with Savin I resolve etc?
No you have to change it back to native 4K on Mac to see 100% 4K otherwise it would scale since Mac scales the entire OS.
I just ordered a BenQ EW3270U 4K 31.5" LCD display. It hasn't arrived yet but I download the screen resolution guide and it says, "Due to the nature of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, the picture resolution is always
fixed. For the best display performance, please set the display to its maximum resolution that is
the same with the monitor aspect ratio. This is called “Native Resolution” or maximal resolution
- that is, the clearest picture. Lower resolutions are displayed on a full screen through an
interpolation circuit. Image blurring across pixel boundaries can occur with the interpolated
resolution depending upon the image type and its initial resolution". Does this mean I can't scale it up? Won't the text be too tiny in native resolution??
@playroomcreative, so the resolution is always fixed. But what you can do is scaled the resolution as I have shown in this video. Some people are ok with this, some are not. The text can be a bit blurry but it is readable. So it is a balancing it. Personally, I'm never really bothered by the what some described as "blurred text." The way how I see it is that the text are smoother because of the scaling and it act similar to a Retina display despite not having 2x resolution to do a proper 2 times scaling. Try it out and let me know what you think. That warning in the manual is really for Windows only, where the OS can scale the interface and change the resolution at the same time. On a Mac you can't do that, at least not easily. Hope this helps.
I got a New PD2700u 4k display, connect to my iMac with a Hdmi cable to a Hdmi to thunderbolt 2 adapter, it seems set to 1920x1080p by default and won't let me go to 4K, only lower resolutions. Can anyone advise me? Thanks
Which iMac do you have? Does it have native HDMI out? Also which adapter are you using? Some adapters are not capable of 4K or 4K60Hz for that matter
There is no option for this kind of scaling on Monterey, can you help?
Yes there is, the principal has not changed, the GUI may differ a little.
Nice video. However it only addresses UI size, which I understand. However what I'm interested in is actual resolution when viewing my photos in Lightroom. It feels like the various size options only affect the UI in a meaningful way, but when viewing my photos in lightroom classic at 100% pixel size, only massive resolution (with more screen estate but tiny fonts) makes sense... In smaller modes, it looks like LR dynamically scales photo viewing to "act as" 4k, but the way the photos is framed makes no sense whatsoever... Any run into this?
You are using a Mac so everything get scaled by the OS and not the programs. Programs don't independently scale any part of the UI or view portal. If you want to use 4K native you can. I never have any issues doing commercial work using the scale resolution, but all this is a very personal preference.
@@ArtIsRight That checks out what I suspected. Thanks!
:D
Can this procedure also be carried out with OS Ventura 13.0.1? The scale function is apparently no longer available. For my book yes, but not for the PD3420Q. There I am even offered 3840 x 2160. But then the picture is distorted... Thanks !
GUI changes but the principal is still the same. This video does not talk about this directly but you can get an idea from it ruclips.net/video/qVXjhsraAlw/видео.html
@@ArtIsRight Thanks a lot!!!
Quick question, if I set the resolution lower, but play a 4k video, will it play the video in 4k?
Yes it will just scale down, but not a big deal.
wacom tablet lag issues happens if you choose one of these resolutions - using a scaled resolution may affect performance-. and what is accaptable for me is 2560x1440 which is one of them.
i have mac mini m1. LG 27UL550-W
any solution? would be great! thanks.
Faster video card or a new Mac. The intro to this video will lay the foundation why scaling is causing these issues ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html
Hi. I've just recently sold my 2014 Macbook pro and I'm planning to buy the mac mini m1. I will be using it for photo/video editing as a main priority, and watching netflix, surfing the web. This is the first time I'm buying a monitor so after watching your video, I'm still clueless to what resolution should i be getting. Qhd or Uhd?I'm planning to buy a 27 inch though. Will Qhd be blurry on 27 inch monitor?
A few thoughts, if you can hold on buying a Mac, wait for the more pro machine to come. M1 is still limited for pro work. About the QHD vs UHD, I would look at the various SW displays comparisons on my channel. But this will take you to the 4k vs 2k argument and shows you some sample ruclips.net/video/SdRLwes_tC4/видео.html the question about blurry or not that is subjective and it is hard to say, it depends on the person.
@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the reply Art. Since my Mac mini M1 is on the way i might stick to it. Like my previous macbook pro, i will be using this mac mini m1 for atleast 5 to 7 years before i upgrade. Do you think the gpu on the mmm1 can handle sw271 for a long time or should i just stick to sw270 to be safe? Is the blurry font on the 2k really noticeable when i sit about 2 feet away from the screen?
GPU is fine. I would say that if you sit 2 to 3 feet away you should be ok, but I would test this out. this is such a personal preference and everyones perception is different.
I don’t get those scale icons to choose from is there a way of activating this?
Activating by clicking on it.
Im trying to get a decent resolution for my LG 27"4k display. It's either "looks like 1080" where everything is huge, or "looks like 1440p" where everything is super tiny and blurry.
if you have a 4K then 2160 will be tiny, blurry at 1440 is part of pixel binning, some are ok with it some are not. There's not much that can be done about this. Only 5K displays and higher will provide you true HD-DPI or Retina on scaling but those resolutions also come with their own set of issues.
@@ArtIsRight I use the same monitor with a Windows PC running at native 4k but with 150% scaling and it looks great. I guess it's 1080p with Mac, no other choice. thanks!
That is because Win 10 Scale the UI and not the OS. MacOS scales the entire OS independent of UI. Different implementation, some prefer one over another, but are not without their issues but change is not on the horizon either and as get higher and higher resolution display this is going to a persistence issue going forward for some.
@@ArtIsRight I am using 21.5" 4K iMac retina display. Text looks perfectly fine to me at default scale. I don't understand why running default scale on an even bigger 27" 4K external third party display would result in very small text?
i do not understand it is so confusing 🧐. I would like to understand one thing, for example if it is a default configuration it says 1920-1080 it means my 4k monitor becomes 1080P monitor and my photos shows on a screen not full resolution? it means i have to choose normal size texts and buttons and bar but low resolution photos for my editing and professional work or i have to to scale to see full potential resolution and very small eyes hurting buttons? is that what you’re saying? it means what is the point to pay crazy money for 4k monitor you you pushed to use default resolution and losing all the high resolution advantage of your screen, it means it will better to buy full hd screen en and that’s it. this means mac os system not optimized for having 4k monitor. if i understand correctly you have to have full 4k resolution and all your buttons and everything has to be very visible and big like a look of default option. Am i correct or no am i understanding right or no. help me please to understand all the logic about this. and what about PC ? I heard that this is a mac problem they don’t optimized for this but PC doesn’t have this problem you can have native 4k resolution and the same time your desktop interface buttons everything will be very normal visible size
It means that your display is binning pixel and is outputting the equivalent resolution of what you choose and because of pixel binning you are seeing smoother text. Your image scales in any apps anyway, so it does not effect much the way how your image is showing. Because of the individual program scaling you are not seeing more or less of your images you just get less screen real estate. In a sense if you scale 4K what you get is what some perceived as smoother text because of the binning, other sees it as blurry, every one perception is different. If you have 4K you have various scaling options. You are not locked in, so just choose what is the best balance for you. If you have PC this is totally different, each apps scales according to the OS setting although it is not without its issues. So in a sense you what you heard, the basic premise is correct, but the technical explanation is wrong. Mac Scales the entire os where as PC scales the interface of the app, again with it own sets of issues.
@@ArtIsRight
Hi there, great video!
I my self running m32u (4k 32" screen), which is quite beautiful. But with the macbook (13" m1) the text and ui is a bit too small for me to handle.
After I used the settings to change to a scale version(1440) everything is much better.
I am quite sad that I'm losing the 4k quality though.
Isn't there another way? Or should I just stick with the 2k resolution?
Thanks again!
Just go with 2K, it is pixel binning. But 4K or anything higher right now is a compromise.
i asked same question and this is stupid. if you have to lose or sacrifice 4k resolution just because you do not have other choice because text and everything becomes very small that you can not see what is the point to buy 4k monitor. it means it will be better to buy 2k monitor or 1080P. this is very very stupid.
@@ArtIsRight this because Apple or on windows also like this?
@Yervand Papazyan windows allow users to change text and ui size without sacrifice resolution
so if you reduce the resolution and play a 4k video, what resolution does it actually play at? /guy
It would play back and scaled down to the set display resolution.
what is the point of getting a 4k display if I scale it so it looks like 1920x1080? Wouldn’t it be just easier to get a 1080p panel instead of 4k?
yes and no, if that is all you need sure, but if you dynamically scale the interface based on tasks then getting a 1080 is not the best idea. Also when you scale a 4K to 1080 vs native 1080 the pixel pitch is different, so you would have a Retina display like quality rather than seeing pixels that are further apart.
@@ArtIsRight so if I scale a 4k panel to 1080p, the size of the windows/text will be like on a 1080 panel, but it will be sharp like on a 4k panel?
Mostly yes but if you have not used it in this way before sharpness is relative and can differ from one person perception to another.
Hey @ArtIsRight, I have a MacBook Air 2017 which is connected to my LG Ipsled monitor. When I connect my MacBook to the monitor and set it to scaled display the entire screen of the monitor isn’t fitted only a portion of the screen is fitted but when I set it to default for display the screen expands and the entire monitor screen is fitted but the problem is the quality is very bad when I do that, kindly help me with this...
thank you.
My guess is to look at the setting on your LG display, there may be a zoom function or something along that line going on.
@@ArtIsRight nope, there’s nothing of that sort there!
Contact LG for help, is a setting in their display. You can try to reach out to apple as well but they will sent you to LG for support.
did you connect your monitor using DP or HDMI? The 5 scaled options under the monitor name are not there for my, only a bunch of resolutions to choose from (i am using hdmi nonetheless)
@basiliszag, I use DP, but even when I use HDMI they are available for me too. What computer do you have? Video card model, spec and the display that you are hooking it up to? This may be a situation where certain software, computer and external display combination would disable these settings.
@@ArtIsRight I have exactly same problem - cant see it on my macbook pro 2020 and iiyama PL2792Q monitor
I'm thinking of buying a 32" 4k BenQ to run with the Apple Studio but from I understand, OS cant run 4k without scaling and to scale uses disproportionate GPU and slows the system down (as it scales to 5k then scales it down to 4k). IE non retina is approx 110 ppi and retina is 220 ppi but 4k is close to 140ppi. The Apple Studio monitor also doesn't run 4k for this reason and instead runs 5k which is closer to 220 ppi so doesn't require the process of rescaling?
Ok, misconceptions there from those who things they know something and just perpetuate that misconception. MacOS can run any resolution native, the question is do you want to. 4K native on 27" or 32" even makes text really small. And 4K is never really meant for majority normal human consumption, so this is what macOS came up with scaling. Mac does this by scaling the entire OS where as windows scales the apps, a variation on a theme, each with it own sets of pros and cons. A user may prefer one more than another but it does not necessary mean overall better, just better for the individual. This series of 4 videos goes into depth to answer the why, start with this one ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html and No 5K does not get scale down to 4k, again misconception and can't be further from the truth. Yes pixel density is one thing and to be consider retina it needs to be at great than 200 PPI. And yes that is the reason why apple choose 5k but that does not means MacOS can't do 4K native. And yes scaling might not look as good on non 5K but that is why this video exist and other series on my channel. Also if you look at apple 5K display, it does not run at 5K native, it scales by default. And no it still does requirer processing for scaling. Watch this as well. ruclips.net/video/8qHYsJDSKWM/видео.html
@@ArtIsRight Great. Thank you. I will take a look now
👍🏼
What i don t understand is this.:Is it better to buy a 4k 27 inch and then scale the fonts larger or buy a 2k and run it natively and second 2k for 32 inch is enough or better go 4k and then see what is best by scaling ?Is there a sweetspot guide for every different dimension display(there are also many different wide and ultrawide options..exept - 40 inch - .. i don t know why this is happening..)
If you are going to get 4K for scaling then I would go with 2K easier on the graphic card. And even though the pixel are further apart and less dense on a 2K you are not really setting, 6 - 12 inches from it anyways so you are ok. For my 32" displays 4K I am sitting about 3 feet form the display and at that point your eyes can't really resolved those small pixels. So you can certainly do what you suggest, however, it would be somewhat difficult to find a high quality 32" 2K resolution panel in the world of 4k. And with regards to the sweet spot, it is relative for each person and workflow, it is one that is difficult to pin point. Again it all comes down to workflow and what you do with the display. Are you a photographer, pro creative or casual user?
@@ArtIsRight i mostl compose music in logic also i see a lot youtube videos (lessons,etc)some of my friends that also compose say that big monitors tire the eyes but others crave about them..what a mess !.
Yeah you would have to find the happy medium for you. For me what's important is the size 27" and up, as far as resolution I'm happy with 2K but 4K is a plus for me, for pixel real estate on the screen when I need it, i.e. you can see more.
@@ArtIsRight i m thinking for 32 4k..finally.I would like a 38 but they cost very much for some reason..Also i ve noticed after reading MANY reviews that you can find more easy good 27inch panels than 32..I guess we have to waita little bit..Thanks a lot !I wish you the best for your channel..i hope i start mine too in this century and not the next one..😄
You're welcome, cheers :)
That explains a lot. Thank you so much. But, I would love to have one of the good 4K@2160 monitors from Benq. With 32" I can not be happy because of the scaling :-( I know ... kobayashi maru ;-)
To really get retina resolution we are looking 5K, and most of the displays out there beside Apple iMac is not really there yet.
@@ArtIsRight Yes, unfortunately. Let's hope that something happens in 2021. I've already gotten used to the specs of the good Benq monitors... I hope something will come in 20121. The PD3420Q would be the only alternative, but no dealer has it here at the moment. So for now I stay with my defective LG 34UM95
PD3420Q should slowly come out this month and more widely available next year in the US. As far as EU and world wide you are still looking a few more months.
@@ArtIsRight Thanks a lot
@@ArtIsRight Sounds good. What would also be very cool: the holder of the LG Ergo series is so incredibly flexible. Does it also fit the BenQ? Or maybe Benq designs something similar?
At the end, it is not about a solution similar to a Windows OSs but a single phrase recorded in 10': "In MacOS you just can change the display resolution based on the app you use"... So, noth9ng new...
right and though this might not help you, it did explain it to other people... so I would be considerate of that as well. New information is relative.
@@ArtIsRight It is also true!
Summay : find display settings , change the scale option , find the resolution that suits you . (I was expecting something more technical from a yt video ...
Ok
I got a Philips 4k 328E and it does not show the scaling option at all. Looked everywhere...
You got a solution? I am on a mac mini 2014 btw..
@jo land, this is most likely due to the OS and hardware combination. In this case specifically that would refer to the video card that's in your Mac mini 2014. Certain software and hardware combination do not enable display scaling. There are ways to manually trigger the display scaling in the display preference dialogue you can try that option or you can also use a third-party program such as SwitchResX.
ArtIsRight , thanks for your reply. I’ve been reading up on this on Reditt. And what you just said is right. They where mentioning a 24” from LG from 2015 that seems to work just fine. Maybe I will go with that.
@jo land, you're welcome
@@ArtIsRight Hi! I just bought a Philips 276E8VJSB running it over displayport with HD4600 (iGPU). I'm getting 4K 60Hz but the only resolutions I can choose from is 4K and 1080p with HiDPI. No resolutions in between are shown. Not by alt + click on the scale option neither. So I tried downloading SwitchResX and it allows scaling for some resolutions in between 4K and 1080p (but not 1440p for some reason). I can choose 1440p but not scaled. However... The worst part is that non of the resolutions is offering HiDPI?! Does it have to do with the intel HD4600 not offering HiDPI with other resolutions than 1080p? Or is it that the drivers from apple isn't offering this with this particular display? I found this video explaining how to force HiDPI mode for non supported resolutions. Haven't tried that yet. But I think it's a bit weird you have to go to these lengths to get something like this to work? Would it work out of box with a dedicated graphics card? I have spare HD 7950 laying around here somewhere.
I have a 4k Monitor, and I set the resolution to 1920, do I still benefit as having a "4k" monitor? considering that I am using 1080p resolution.
If you set it to 1920, you are seeing things at 1920, so the benefit in this situation would be pixel binning aka Retina display like smooth need. But when you want 4K you would just have to change the resolution back to 4K for the benefit of it.
Thank you. I notice that at 1920, the computer is way faster than other option.
Lower resolution tend to run faster because the GPU bin, aka group, pixel together for processing. I.e. virtually less pixels to process.
@@ArtIsRight thanks. Do I still benefit from 4k?
I say if you don't have a need for 4K then no. It would just cost more and use more GPU resources.
Does it mean if i always use a lower resolution than native i throw money from the window if buying high-resolution display?
not necessary. If you dynamically change the resolution based on the application use then no. I do this all of the time depending no what I am working on. I found that 2K resolution equivalent is good for image editing but for my daily use I scale the display to 3360 x 1890 which is found works great for me.
@@ArtIsRight Honestly speaking i have never changed resolution. Some displays look good only at native resolution. Will try this workflow on new Apple panel.
Yes anything 2K below yes. Otherwise if you are on a Mac, laptop with Retina Display or anything with 4 - 5 or 6 K from apple the default is never native, it is some form of scaling. And on higher resolution display 4K or above running native will hurt your eyes, not to mentioned it is unusable for any practical purposes.
Hi!,
I just purchased BenQ; PD2700U but macOS doesn't give me icon to choose resolution from, instead it shows a list to choose resolution, and nothing works good (stays blurred) between native 4K and FHD (1080), so what's different in our setup ?.
FYI - I am running this monitor on 4K 30Hz with MacBook Pro Retina 13", so, 30Hz is the actual issue ?. Please help me understand, I really want; 2560x1440 native on this display.
That display is 4k native, you can scale to a 2K equivalent but you mentioned that scaling is blurry to you, this depends on the user personal preference. If you want to run 2K native you have to get the PD2700Q and not the U. 30Hz does not cause this issue just more jitter movement for graphic. Most Mac should support 4K60 but without knowing your specific model, I can help much.
@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the note and your time replying my query. I am running PD2700U in native 4K but macOS is either give me scaled resolution (for text/GUI) in full 4K (where text/UI is so tiny) OR in Full HD (1080), anything between is so blurry and monitor alerts me for resolution if I explicitly selects that. I want to run GUI in multiple of 0.75 of this display, somewhere near 1440p.
In this video you have 27" 4K display, a macOS, and you have 4 different options to choose from to scale GUI, why I don't ? ... is the question actually.
My MacBook Pro is pretty old one, it's Retina 13" Late 2012. Display is hooked up in DisplayPort. I really wanted to have 4K monitor, I ain't a designer, an IT Infrastructure person, however liked this one over any other inexpensive gaming 4K etc to switch between work/personal devices easily and to see real colours near my MacBook Pro. Was this purchase a mistake OR should I also move to any of latest M1 Mac.
I think the issues that you are seeing is with older Mac and limited capabilities of the GPU
@@ArtIsRight Thank You!, appreciate your time on this. I will sure now think of getting new Mac.
😃
I have the PD3200U and Sierra. Cant see the larger text option. What OS are you using here?. Thanx :-)
@Thomas Windfeld, this should work in that OS, I am running, Catalina, Mojave and El Capitan. This may be more dependent on your computer rather than the OS. What Mac are you running, laptop, desktop, model ID, year and size info are needed to answer these question.
@@ArtIsRight , first of all, thank you for you video! I'm having the same issue as Thomas. I have just bought a 4K monitor (LG 27UL550) and I don't see larger text options when choosing the resolution for my monitor. I only see those options for the built in retina display. I'm running Mojave (10.14.2) on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) and connecting my monitor through HDMI. Based on what I read so far, it looks like I need to buy a DisplayPort to Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort adapter later, in order to run 4K at 60 Hertz. Again, when I click on "scaled" option, I can only choose the resolution and if I pick 4k, everything looks really small and hard to read. It only works properly when running in FHD, but I wanted to use 4K. Please let me know if you can think of a solution for my case. Thank you once again!
@Filipe Vieira, the behavior that you are describing, based on my understanding of explication, is that macOS is functioning properly. If you want to scale in Mac OS you can't do that in 4k, you would just be scaling the resolution done. What you are describing is how windows implement scaling.
Can you help me, everything is small on my mac air and I don’t know how to make the icons bigger such as the top tab where finder, file, edit are, before it was fine now after a while I didn’t use my laptop and it’s small
Did you already gone in and change the scaling like I showed in the video?
@@ArtIsRight yes but it’s still weird
Ok... "weird", if you like please elaborate more. What are you seeing and what do you want to see that is not happening?
@@ArtIsRight so the icons at the bottom are very small and when I go on safari it’s asif it’s zoomed in, when I’m in my online class the chat room is so small I can barely see messages.
Icons at the bottom of the screen is on the dock and you can change the size of that in system preference - dock. As far as safari, there's probably some magnification going on. When you go to a page just press cmd & 0 to return the magnification to the default 100%. You can also use cmd & = or cmd & - to magnify in or out on a webpage. This should solve your issue.
Thank you....
You're welcome!
Is there a way to scale to 4k for space but keep the menus and text large as if default is selected (even via 3rd party apps)? I know on windows you can do that super easy by selecting zoomed scaling to 150% and resolution at 4k.
For Mac no, it scales the entire OS. On windows there are downside as well, so it is no necessary a winning solution.
@ArtisRight Need your help I am in a Confusion. For me it is desirable to have 4K but the Price is steep. I would have loved to have the 4K Monitor the 2700U which has a little thin Bezels compared to the 2700Q. Would you agree that 2K is like the middle ground between having a readable Text and a Slightly higher resolution than 1080P ! Would Movies be enjoyable at 2K ? Plus you need to have 4K content to be able to correctly use the 4K right ? Would you say for 27" 2K would be Ok ? is that enough ?
Yes 2K is good and less taxing on the video as well. Great balance between text size and screen real estate.
@@ArtIsRight How would a 4K Video look on a 2K monitor ? :-)
scaled down but looks ok.
@@ArtIsRight So I am looking at the BENQ 2700Q but it has thick bezels. Do you think it is a good choice ? Sure I could go with the BENQ 2700U which has slightly thin bezels but the price difference between them is like $150 to $200 !
2 vs 4K, that is your call. Everything comes with compromises, but on the bright side either one would be good.
4K primary displays are POINTLESS on a Mac. It has to jump through scaling hoops and DESTROYS your GPU performance. As a secondary preview monitor for editing video, it's great! For a primary monitor? GPU scaling performance hit makes it pointless.
Blanket statement like this does not help anyone, for you yes but for others may be not. Also M1 a so good that this is becoming less of an issue even in the most demanding app such as LRC. This series of 4 video explains it all ruclips.net/video/OmY89orgzuQ/видео.html
Play games and watch movies = 4k resolution.
Any else = 2k resolution.
That is one way of looking at it! As long as it suite your needs you are good.
This video misses the point completely. And the point is don’t buy an 4K monitor for mac unless it is 21,5” or 40”.
Otherwise the GPU has to scale and is consuming a lot of power.
Not quite, you may think so and thought you have merits it is limited in scope and new apple silicon are much better at this. Size of the display does not matter as much as the pixel dimension and density. restricting the display size as an either - or limits the options of most users - workflow, is irrelevant and is a way of looking at this that in your word "misses the point completely." So no this is relevant information for other out there that will buy the displays that suits their needs i.e. not you.
Seems only work for displayport, HDMI doesn't have those options
I have done this with Display Port. Is your HDMI cable the newer gen capable of handing 4K?
@@ArtIsRight the Intel graphic only supports 4k @30fps over HDMI. But that's shouldn't be the issue for scaling.
It shouldn't. I would try another cable and if you can get Display Port to work, I would stick with that, better signal than HDMI.
Why is it that when I play a 1080p video on my display, it's sort of laggy?
That is a rather board question that largely depends on the computer hardware that you have. Hard to give you that answer with out knowing the exact spec of the computer.
@@ArtIsRight I have a MacBook Air 2018 connected to a lg 27-ul850. When I play a 1080p video on this matter, the resolution doesn’t seem to match up with my MacBook and it’s not as crisp.
@@ArtIsRight It looks kinda blurry too.
If you say match up, then there are a few things you are looking at one is the pixel pitch, that is the pixels per inch. It more dense on the MBP, over 200 PPI, which falls into retina territory. On your LG 4K 27" It is in the territory of 160 -163, close to retina but not quite. This not quite part is what you are seeing as blurry especially if scale the resolution on a Mac. This is mostly based on perception and what you are used to. Some are ok with this, others are not. This said what you can do is try to run your LG at native 4K and try viewing a 4K content on the display and see how it looks. Even if you set the display to 4K and watch 1080p source, it may still come out not as sharp because you are scaling up the content to 4K.
@@ArtIsRight Ok, but when I run it at native 4K, my laptop becomes laggy.
Yeah I don't get any of this since upgrading to Big Sur. It legit has removed my 4k capabilities.
What display are you using it with, what computer model, and what specific Big Sur version, the latest release fixes many of the 4K issues.
hold option then click scale
Scaling is affecting your GPU and lower the resolution to crap. You should could only change size on text and icon and so on.
Right, but you can't do that in Mac because macOS scales the entire os.
@@ArtIsRight that what I ment. My English isn't as good as my Swedish 😅🇸🇪 i ment you shoukd be able to 😁 in macOS. I'm a Mac user and disappointed in this scaling sh*t.
Got it, sadly you are not the first and there are many others who feels the same way, but Apple has been using this solution since 2015 with the Retina MBP, I don't see them changing. Objectively speaking, there are advantages to this and yes there are downsides as well. Windows option has the opposite sets of pros and cons. It is just the implementation really.
I don't understand how scaling can take 163 ppi closer to a Retina display 200+ ppi. The physical pixels don't increase, so that didn't make sense to me.
@Del Segno, I said in the video that it looks and act like a Retina display and the premise of what is going on at the OS level is the same as retina scaling. I understand that the pitch does not reach 200+ psi. To me if you sit back it looks close enough to a Retina display, or the effect of it rather. Something to keep in mind too is that with 32" 4K, you would not really be pixel peeping at the screen. Some people don't like this scaling effect and that is ok too, every one has their own preference. This guide is useful for people who has these 4K or higher display and can't really use them at native resolution because the text is too small.
@@ArtIsRight I see. I have a 4k Asus 28" display and am using the 1440p scaling option in macOS to make the UI a comfortable size. However, with that setting, a 3840 x 2160 image in Photoshop is no longer the correct size when viewed at 100% zoom; it should fill the entire screen but instead is much smaller. While quality isn't affected, it's annoying to have 100% zoom not equal 100% size. Do you know of anyway to fix that issue?
@Del Segno, I am aware of the zooming issue in Photoshop but I am not aware of a fix. I'm sure someone has come up with either a temporary or permanent solution to this issue. The other thing to note too is that I am 98-99% Lightroom Classic at this point in my image editing. And I use photoshop very little. If I find a solution, I'll probably do a video about this. I think that it would be really helpful.
@@ArtIsRight thanks for the reply.
@Dal Segno, anytime. If you have any more questions in the future please feel free to share them with me.
I tried via HDMI or Displayport and i'm always gettin blurry fonts, the problem is that the monitor is non-Retina, is a normal BenQ QHD 2K.
Tried Overraide Driver but does not work.
The blurry issue is because i downgrade the resolution to 1920x1080 since i need a new pair of glasses if i would work on 2560 x 1440😂
This can be fixed by enabling HiDPI for external monitors which enables to use top resolution but gives a feel of low resolution, say 1920x1080 (text size, etc)
Unfortunately Apple enables HiDPI only when external monitor is an Apple Monitor.
The solution is here: github.com/xzhih/one-key-hidpi
but for me does not work
So if it does not work universally then I guess I would not call it a "solution" then. Also scaling is really meant for 4K and up, lower resolution does not benefit for this at all.
It is too bad that there is not a way to make the text size bigger while still maintaining the full native 4K resolution - does the Mac 'play' better with their own (very overpriced!) displays? If the Mac works better with their own panels this might be a case of trying to steer people to purchase more Apple products (cynic that I am!)
Different scaling philosophy between Mac and PC, each with their own sets of pros and cons. Mac play well with any display, no magic unicorn here. So you don't need an apple display, and to anyone that said so, they are mistaken :D
What about blurry text?
This depend on the user, if you feel that the text is blurry, then you can run it at native resolution. Personally for me I run scaled resolution all the time and at the normal distance that I am sitting from the screen the text look fine. This is one of those USS Kobayashi Maru scenario.
ArtIsRight yeah for me choice between native 110ppi 27 inches 2k 144hz and 160ppi scaled 4k with blurry text 😒
I hear you. We are not given lots of options here.
ideally... we wouldnt have to use macs scaling which renders the screen at a high res and then downscales and you get a tiny bit of blur around edges. Ideally they would implement proper UI scaling... so you shrink the button and text sizes in teh OS and software and not mess with the actual display resolution.
@Half Alligator, that is Windows 10 implementation which carries it own set of issues. However, based on the implementation of macOS this is what we have, even though, it may not be ideal.
Precisely! Apple needs to implement it like folks did in Windows: scaling at OS level and not touching resolution at all.
No matter what personal preferences one can have, to me this is the most efficient implementation. You get things the size its more comfortable and usable to you, in native resolution - not some always jagged scaled down one :/ Reason I've gone with a DELL 25" in 2K, not 4K.
@@iu2bi haha we geek out over the same issues. You made a good choice. I ALMOST got that very same Dell 2nd hand cheap but settled for the Dell 24" 4k. 1080p is properly crisp this way. I used to own a 27" 4k but 1080p UI just seems wrong that large. I miss the extra real-estate of QHD but at least I can scale up/down the text in Visual Studio which is the sort of thing i'd like to achieve across the entire OS. it would just take a lot of scaling work on the app level.
I don't know much about OSX dev but maybe they could be coding apps with real-world sizes rather than pixels. or make some standards around scaling up/down the UI areas. Websites are all about responsive design so no reason why desktop apps can't be.
It baffles me that people don't care about these issues - they spend so much on hardware then screw up their settings. On the new 16" macbooks I can't seem to convince people they're better off gaming at 960p instead of 1080p. It'll not only look crisper but it'll run slightly better too... nope "BUT I WANT 1080P!"
The real problem is there are not enough 5k monitors! Where the hell are they? the couple that exist are way overpriced. Ideally i'd like the 16:10 equivalent of that. An aspect ratio I wish would return - that vertical space is important as we're not all watching films on our monitors! /end rant
I hear you... but until that happens this is what we have. And if you are concern about blurring, I understand, then you can run the apps at native resolution. Personally for me on a day to day basis, the tiny text is too hard on the eyes.
Long story short, just use two monitors.
... ok....
hey how's the text quality in not proportional scaling? if you go from 4k to 1440p -> 2160/1440 -> 1.5 it's not an integer number so scaling could be not great as going from 4k to 1080 -> 2
It won’t be but to me text looks good. I said it is “like” retina not retina equivalent. Some don’t like the text rendering, so this is a personal choice you have to test it out yourself to see if it is acceptable for you or not.
But except for the native or 2x resolution, all other options look blurry and GPU consuming.
@Hon Guo, scaling can be a a personal choice and it seems that you have yours. All Apple computer for the past 10 years especially the ones with the build in display has been pushing GPU hard for quite sometime now with various scaling in macOS.
@@ArtIsRight You are correct. It actually already became a default option on post 2017 MacBook Pros. However, once connected to a 4k external monitor, even MacBook Pro 16 inch runs very hot without any heavy task if applying scaling. To my own experience, it is not usable. As long as the resolution rendered hits 5k, better either go for desktop or use a external GPU...
@Hon Guo, I have yet to test the new 16 inch MBP on a 4k display. This is good information to know. Thank you!
I totally agree. I just bought a LG 5K2K display. With it, except 2x resolution, all downscaling option means poorer performance (GPU gets under heavy load, more input lag is noticeable) and text is less sharp that it should be. I think I'm gonna change this monitor for a WQHD+. At least, the native resolution will already have the correct font size for me. Having a 4K+ display and downscaling (other than 2x) is pure waste IMO.
@@darkbluewalther Til today, all my past experience tell me laptops still can't handle large amount of pixel. My solution is to get a eGPU or to get a more reasonable size monitor (LG ultra fine 21 inch or 24 inch) so that 2x revolution won't make huge text (but still, not too much resolution to work on.). I went for the 1st one -- got a egpu. Quiet and fast. Probably want to pick up a discontinued dell up2715k or lg ultrafine later.
i have the dell u3421we on my m2 macbook air an its 3440x1440 natively and the text is so damn small, if i change the resolution, it completely ruins the entire look of the screen, i guess ill get a refund
"it completely ruins the entire look of the screen, i guess ill get a refund" This could mean a lot of things. It is the same story with 5 and 6K as well, you always run scale.
@@ArtIsRight If i change the resolution of the screen, everything gets blurry, i have black bars on either side of the screen and i can't work like that
I see, you are not supposed to get black bars if you the correct aspect ratio is chosen. As far as blurry, 4K scaling works but that can be a perception side effect for some. It is difficult to communicate "blurry" because it can easily be misconstrued with "pixelation" when the OS is set to super low resolution and like I said before the perception plays a big role here as well. The red flag here is the black bars, that tells me that the aspect ratio is not correct and possibly even when the correct one is set, it is forcing the incorrect aspect ratio to show as 16:9 further exacerbating the issue.
@@ArtIsRight I may just go for a 32” 16:9 display 4k
For this display you may have to choose custom resolution. If you are on Monterey you can option click on the resolution and get a list. On Ventura I have not been able to successfully do this yet.
to be honest i was wondering between deskop pc or mac mini ... but mac mini cost more and now it looks like i can buy 4k monitor and it will be able to run on 1440 p only... i will go for windows .. it is cheaper and can run 4k without any problems
ok. You can run a mac at 4K native just that everything is small. Scaling on mac is different than that of PC
8 mins wasted!
Being rich is so hard :(
hmmm. thanks for the wasted view anyways. as far as being rich, good for you.
I cannot get get an option between 4k and 1080. Any advice on how to get the perf middle ground? The "Larger Text" option only makes the screen on my Mac lose all real estate.
Thanks!
Juan
What Mac are you using and what screen are you connecting it to? If you could please provide the make and model of the screen too. From my experience Mac will allow you 4-5 different resolution scaling settings.
Well this is certainly a non-Apple-like implementation from Apple. I thought MacOS implemented a vectored-scaled UI a long time ago, and that the "Scaled" option in Display Preferences was simply a system-wide way to change the relative size of text and icons while the resolution remained FIXED. But seriously, Apple's solution is to just change the actual resolution output to the screen, resulting in a fuzzy/interpolated (GPU intensive) output?!!! There is literally no good solution - it's either native 4K where the OS text/icons are WAY too small, or the pixel-doubled 2K where it looks like a large-print edition for my grandmother. Goodness...this is ridiculous, which I'm now discovering on my new 32" 4K display.
@Wesley Walls, this is the card that we are dealt. And the state that we are in.
ArtIsRight understood. I’ll admit, after playing with the settings on my new LG 32UL950 that I received this morning, the setting one stop down from full, native 4K looks pretty nice. It’s just aggravating that it’s a tax on the system, and that technically I’m not getting full 4K playback (without changing modes), nor am I really using/experiencing 3800x2160. I’m shocked Apple is handling it this way.
@Wesley Walls, I hear you. You are correct. For me I dynamically change between the resolution depending on what tasks I do. If you look at Windows 10, Scaling is not done any better, though a different method of implementation.
@@ArtIsRight but why?! It's 2020!!!! Why can't there be a system-wide preference for menu/app and logo/icon text size that is independent of resolution output?! It makes zero sense. This isn't hard.
@Wesley Walls, I'm sure that Apple has their reasoning. Especially with their 5K and 6K display, this method from what I can gathered works fairly well since the resolution is truly doubled. However, this is not only an issue on 4K for some, but it is an issue on their MacBook Pro 15" and 16" as well, where the resolution is not really in the 2x pixels category.
Hi there, I use macbook pro (mid 2014) retina display , which have 8gb ram and 2.6ghz processor. I mainly use it for fl studio and davinci resolve. What monitor would be ideal for I.e 24" full hd or 27" (2k or 4k) or 32" (2k or 4k) ? Thank you.
I would probably go with 27" 2K, it is an older laptop. You can choose 4k as well but you are going to be pushing the GPU hard especially if you use scaling.
I have a benq 4k display 32inch, PD3200U, BUT I was tempted by the 27 inch studio display, I miss the bigger screen but spent far too much on the apple display to switch them over!!!! Maybe I’ll set up a seperate workstation????
👍🏼
Are all the scaled sizes still displaying 4k if you watch a video but just with different 'UI' sizes?
MacOS scales the entire OS.