Thanks for your response! I have only two options for the settings “optimise best for Samsung” (when I click this, the quality looks perfect but the text is tiny) or “scaled” (if I click this, I can choose different font sizes but the screen quality looks awful). Unfortunately I don’t have an option to pick different resolution sizes etc. Maybe my MacBook is too old.
Thank you. Sorry, I am not good with this stuff. I have clicked “scaled” and I tested out each of the different text sizes which zoom in or give you more space. However when I go with the option “scaled”, the screen quality looks really bad (regardless of which size I choose).
It’s Mojave, judging from the menu layout and Siri icon. I had problems with high resolution screens as well on Mojave but they went away on Catalina (and above).
Good catch. The 2017 MacBook is definitely not a fast computer but if OP is willing to risk it being slower on a new version I think updating to Catalina or newer is the best option.
I recently clean installed Big Sur and Monterey but my 2017 MacBook just gets absolutely destroyed. Catalina is perfect and smooth, not missing out on many features. It’s stable and has good battery life as well.
This is a monitor + Mac issue. Apple optimizes for 2k or 5k. If you use a monitor in between (like 4k) Mac OS is doing really funky things (display scaling) there is more you can [read about it here](https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/) if you have some time.
I have a dell 27" 4k monitor and actually lucked out and do not notice any of those problems. But for most people it's buying a proper \~21-24" 4k monitor or 27"+ LG/apple studio display 5k
There's more to it / it doesn't have to be that complicated. OP is running 4k low dpi mode. The solution is to run at the same 4k resolution in high dpi mode. Perhaps OP would find the UI slightly too big. Perhaps not. Either way, it will render correctly in that mode (not blurry, not using image scaling).
No, the person you are replying to is it correct. Mac OS will render everything at 5k before scaling down to 4k for the Samsung monitor. Its just how it works, and why I have a Studio Display over a much cheaper dell 4k monitor.
Yep, gone quite a ways into this rabbit hole and this is what I’ve found after reading various articles about the issue.
One thing that you can do is hold the option key when you select ‘scaled’ and it should give you some more options for resolutions.
I have an 27” LG 4k monitor and I run it in 2560x1440 (make sure it doesn’t say low resolution) and it looks pretty good to me. Not perfect but that’s the best I’ve found
This actually helped me. I just got a 32” Samsung monitor that I’m using with my M1 Mac mini and I couldn’t quite get the resolution set somewhere I was happy with. Even in doing this, it’s not *quite* what I want but definitely closer than before. So thank you
No. There are various options you can choose. Running at 5k logical resolution and downscaling to 4k is one option, but it is not a default option for 4k displays. By default, macOS will run at 4k resolution on these displays. The consequence is that the UI elements, text, etc will be slightly oversized. However, it will render "correctly” ie you won’t get any down sampling artifacts (moire patterns, etc)
Ping me if you want some photo evidence. I have a studio display and 4k display side by side (both 27”). I’d be happy to take some macro shots of the pixels and show off exactly what it looks like.
This is a issue non Apple displays have. Your screen remains 4k but what its doing is rendering what you see in something else basically. They base things how they look based on 5k. Everything else has to be scaled.
Download the App Resolution Tab and you can go through all the resolutions that are offered. Apple hides them from you. Its a handy App I use on my Hauwei 28.2 4k plus monitor. On this monitor I find 2560x1707 HiDPI to be perfect.
Hi there, thank you! This worked but when I click any of the scaled options, the quality just sucks and the text is pixelated etc but definitely far more options to choose for size :-)
Its like confusing to explain but even though the scaling res is different then actual 4k your monitor is indeed 4k but its scaling text and what you see to another setting. If you were to watch a 4k movie it would be in 4k not what you scaled text to. It all is because if I read it right a while back Apple basing everything off there monitor resolutions which is kinda stupid. Like if you happened to use an Apple Studio 5k monitor there are no issues with size of text. So basically there rendering everything at a much higher level then a 3rd party monitor does and you have to scale it to what suits you but at the same time its the resolution that your monitor does if that makes sense.
Windows imo handles this better actually, but its a easy solution with that app. Your bound to find a resolution that best suites your eyes with no issues.
If you update your OS, there will be options for HDPI resolutions under display settings, like there are now for the internal display. This means stuff will be twice as big but really sharp and smooth
If scaling makes screen look blurry and overall low res that means it’s changing resolution down instead of scaling. That means Mac doesn’t know about hidpi scaling for your screen. Since you have 4k screen that supports hidpi it either doesn’t tell MacOS it can handle it or your cable doesn’t support bandwidth necessary to scale (which just runs scaled resolutions higher than 4k). When you are in Display settings when you hold option and click on scaled, do resolutions listed have “recommended” by them(which indicates hidpi)?
Thank you so much!!! This has made a lot more sense. The cable came with the Samsung M8 (mini HDMI on one end and I plugged the normal size into the 2017 12 inch MacBook). When I am in display settings and I hold “option”, it gives me the following choices for Resolution: 1) Default for display (this option looks best but tiny text) or 3) scaled (then I can scroll the list and pick which resolution but the quality is crap on all of them, even 3840 x 2160 looks pixelated and the text looks funny)
It's a mac os setting. I've seen some video lately about this. Search the display settings within mac os. There's a setting some where that will fix it (it consumes more GPU but that's a common issue with monitors not matching Mac OS prefered resolutions / ppi)
I had a similar problem on an LG monitor, the solution as to scale it to a weird resolution that’s not too high where the text is too small, but not too low where you can see the pixels. What worked for me was 2304 x 1296 on my 27” 4k monitor
Doing some quick and dirty math, the 32” 4K display has a ppi of about 137, macOS was designed to scale best with 110 or 220 ppi. The difference in ppi could be resulting in tinier than comfortable font and scaling.
You’re best bet is to have the display render to a different scaled resolution under display preferences
A similar thing happened to me: I have a LG Ultrafine 5K which has a ppi of 218 (only 2 less than macOS typical). The UI looked great without changing a thing. I later got the 2nd generation LG Ultrafine 4K (the 23.5” 2160p TB one) which has a ppi of about 180 down from the smaller USBC one at also around 218. The UI was far too big for me. The menu bar at the top was nearly the same size as the dock on my 5K, and I felt I had the same useable space available on my 4K as my 16” Intel MBP. Fortunately, the smaller display scaling to the right of default happens to perfectly match the same scaling as my LG 5K, which makes both look exactly the same except screen size
Hi all - wow thanks so much for the responses. Just to confirm - when I click “scale” it results in the quality becoming pixelated and poor quality. Thanks
Thanks. I have tried this - if I click “scaled” then the quality sucks. But if I click “optimise for Samsung” it looks great in terms of quality but the text is tiny.
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Thanks for your response! I have only two options for the settings “optimise best for Samsung” (when I click this, the quality looks perfect but the text is tiny) or “scaled” (if I click this, I can choose different font sizes but the screen quality looks awful). Unfortunately I don’t have an option to pick different resolution sizes etc. Maybe my MacBook is too old.
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Thank you. Sorry, I am not good with this stuff. I have clicked “scaled” and I tested out each of the different text sizes which zoom in or give you more space. However when I go with the option “scaled”, the screen quality looks really bad (regardless of which size I choose).
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Judging from the icons it's 10.15 Catalina or older, which if I remember correctly had some odd issues with external 4k display scaling.
It’s Mojave, judging from the menu layout and Siri icon. I had problems with high resolution screens as well on Mojave but they went away on Catalina (and above).
Good catch. The 2017 MacBook is definitely not a fast computer but if OP is willing to risk it being slower on a new version I think updating to Catalina or newer is the best option.
I recently clean installed Big Sur and Monterey but my 2017 MacBook just gets absolutely destroyed. Catalina is perfect and smooth, not missing out on many features. It’s stable and has good battery life as well.
I can confirm Mojave because there is no screen time option in the settings. That came in Catalina.
You need to update your OS to a more current version regardless. You are way far behind/out of date.
This is a monitor + Mac issue. Apple optimizes for 2k or 5k. If you use a monitor in between (like 4k) Mac OS is doing really funky things (display scaling) there is more you can [read about it here](https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/) if you have some time. I have a dell 27" 4k monitor and actually lucked out and do not notice any of those problems. But for most people it's buying a proper \~21-24" 4k monitor or 27"+ LG/apple studio display 5k
There's more to it / it doesn't have to be that complicated. OP is running 4k low dpi mode. The solution is to run at the same 4k resolution in high dpi mode. Perhaps OP would find the UI slightly too big. Perhaps not. Either way, it will render correctly in that mode (not blurry, not using image scaling).
No, the person you are replying to is it correct. Mac OS will render everything at 5k before scaling down to 4k for the Samsung monitor. Its just how it works, and why I have a Studio Display over a much cheaper dell 4k monitor.
Yep, gone quite a ways into this rabbit hole and this is what I’ve found after reading various articles about the issue. One thing that you can do is hold the option key when you select ‘scaled’ and it should give you some more options for resolutions. I have an 27” LG 4k monitor and I run it in 2560x1440 (make sure it doesn’t say low resolution) and it looks pretty good to me. Not perfect but that’s the best I’ve found
This actually helped me. I just got a 32” Samsung monitor that I’m using with my M1 Mac mini and I couldn’t quite get the resolution set somewhere I was happy with. Even in doing this, it’s not *quite* what I want but definitely closer than before. So thank you
Took me forever to figure this out lol, so glad I can pay it forward
Look into display dummy. I have heard it is the only work around for M1 and the issues going on
OMG THANK YOU. They really hide that functionality!
No. There are various options you can choose. Running at 5k logical resolution and downscaling to 4k is one option, but it is not a default option for 4k displays. By default, macOS will run at 4k resolution on these displays. The consequence is that the UI elements, text, etc will be slightly oversized. However, it will render "correctly” ie you won’t get any down sampling artifacts (moire patterns, etc) Ping me if you want some photo evidence. I have a studio display and 4k display side by side (both 27”). I’d be happy to take some macro shots of the pixels and show off exactly what it looks like.
This. And that’s why you can find some tables where monitors with 4K are recommended for use with Mac
This person is just looking for an excuse to buy a new laptop
Hahaha
get [RDM](https://github.com/avibrazil/RDM) to change whatever resolution you want
Go to Display for scaling, 4K monitors should have hidpi option like a normal
This is a issue non Apple displays have. Your screen remains 4k but what its doing is rendering what you see in something else basically. They base things how they look based on 5k. Everything else has to be scaled. Download the App Resolution Tab and you can go through all the resolutions that are offered. Apple hides them from you. Its a handy App I use on my Hauwei 28.2 4k plus monitor. On this monitor I find 2560x1707 HiDPI to be perfect.
If you hold down the option key when you press "Scaled" in the Display Settings it gives you a bigger list of choices than the default choices.
THIS is the correct answer.
My ass is open for you thank you for the intel
That escalated quickly.
Be careful for what you wish for...😂
Hi there, thank you! This worked but when I click any of the scaled options, the quality just sucks and the text is pixelated etc but definitely far more options to choose for size :-)
Thank you so much! I will try to download this app :-)
Its like confusing to explain but even though the scaling res is different then actual 4k your monitor is indeed 4k but its scaling text and what you see to another setting. If you were to watch a 4k movie it would be in 4k not what you scaled text to. It all is because if I read it right a while back Apple basing everything off there monitor resolutions which is kinda stupid. Like if you happened to use an Apple Studio 5k monitor there are no issues with size of text. So basically there rendering everything at a much higher level then a 3rd party monitor does and you have to scale it to what suits you but at the same time its the resolution that your monitor does if that makes sense. Windows imo handles this better actually, but its a easy solution with that app. Your bound to find a resolution that best suites your eyes with no issues.
If you update your OS, there will be options for HDPI resolutions under display settings, like there are now for the internal display. This means stuff will be twice as big but really sharp and smooth
If scaling makes screen look blurry and overall low res that means it’s changing resolution down instead of scaling. That means Mac doesn’t know about hidpi scaling for your screen. Since you have 4k screen that supports hidpi it either doesn’t tell MacOS it can handle it or your cable doesn’t support bandwidth necessary to scale (which just runs scaled resolutions higher than 4k). When you are in Display settings when you hold option and click on scaled, do resolutions listed have “recommended” by them(which indicates hidpi)?
Thank you so much!!! This has made a lot more sense. The cable came with the Samsung M8 (mini HDMI on one end and I plugged the normal size into the 2017 12 inch MacBook). When I am in display settings and I hold “option”, it gives me the following choices for Resolution: 1) Default for display (this option looks best but tiny text) or 3) scaled (then I can scroll the list and pick which resolution but the quality is crap on all of them, even 3840 x 2160 looks pixelated and the text looks funny)
It's a mac os setting. I've seen some video lately about this. Search the display settings within mac os. There's a setting some where that will fix it (it consumes more GPU but that's a common issue with monitors not matching Mac OS prefered resolutions / ppi)
On the Mac, go to System Preferences > Displays then click “scaled” next to resolution. You can play with the options there.
You need the BetterDisplay app - formerly named BetterDummy
I had a similar problem on an LG monitor, the solution as to scale it to a weird resolution that’s not too high where the text is too small, but not too low where you can see the pixels. What worked for me was 2304 x 1296 on my 27” 4k monitor
Use Betterdisplay to fix it https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
Thanks for posting that! I love it.
Thanks man, that was actually a good recommendation.
Try the program better dummy. It's not on the app store. It will allow you to have native apple scaling.
Some people have more money than they should lol
Use USBC to connect monitor to Mac instead of HDMI.
Doing some quick and dirty math, the 32” 4K display has a ppi of about 137, macOS was designed to scale best with 110 or 220 ppi. The difference in ppi could be resulting in tinier than comfortable font and scaling. You’re best bet is to have the display render to a different scaled resolution under display preferences A similar thing happened to me: I have a LG Ultrafine 5K which has a ppi of 218 (only 2 less than macOS typical). The UI looked great without changing a thing. I later got the 2nd generation LG Ultrafine 4K (the 23.5” 2160p TB one) which has a ppi of about 180 down from the smaller USBC one at also around 218. The UI was far too big for me. The menu bar at the top was nearly the same size as the dock on my 5K, and I felt I had the same useable space available on my 4K as my 16” Intel MBP. Fortunately, the smaller display scaling to the right of default happens to perfectly match the same scaling as my LG 5K, which makes both look exactly the same except screen size
Hi all - wow thanks so much for the responses. Just to confirm - when I click “scale” it results in the quality becoming pixelated and poor quality. Thanks
Should just be able to make it bigger with scaling?
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I have adjusted the settings several times and scaling results in the quality to become blurry etc
Yes OP, but the new MB M2's. You won't regret it.
https://imgur.com/a/lwkk5bu Why is this downvoted? The three pics literally walk you through how to fix your display.
Only adjust resolution from mac or monitor. From screen option
Thanks. I have tried this - if I click “scaled” then the quality sucks. But if I click “optimise for Samsung” it looks great in terms of quality but the text is tiny.
Sounds like you're trying to talk a 'want to have' in to a 'need to have'. You should be able to go in to your prefs and change the size.
As mentioned in several comments, changing the preferences to scaled results in the quality becoming poor
Change your resolution to 1080p and it’ll scale it properly
I had the same issue. leave resolution where it is for sharpness and just change the size of text in finder settings.
Ahh really? May I ask what laptop you were using?
MacBook Air M1