* Remember to log out and log back in after you set font smoothing to 0. For me, this tweak helped a lot with clarity but I initially didn't think it was working because I didn't know you had to log out.
* In general I've found Macs just suck at DPI scaling. If I'm not mistaken, your monitor is around 109 PPI, which isn't really that high compared to the internal screen (~250ppi), and firmly in the "non-Retina" UI elements zone. Check out these blog posts (https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/, part 2: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/) for more info on how this stuff works.
Imagine my surprise when I found out my 27" 4K screens that look incredibly sharp on Windows at 163ppi are actually in the "bad zone" for Macs, and look bad at native resolution. As a workaround I run them scaled @ 3360 x 1890 and then set my browser to permanent 90% zoom level. Kind of embarrassing that Windows has completely lapped Apple in terms of good sharp UI at flexible scaling levels. I mean you can set Windows DPI scaling down the single % point, it's great.
Those posts were helpful, thanks. From their table that lists the various displays[0], it seems like two smaller displays are more likely to work well vs a larger display — 25 - 29 inch rather than the 38" I have.
Are there truly no displays in the 30"+ category that are good for retina?
EDIT: I'm seriously wondering whether I ought to just get the Studio Display. It's $1,599 (or $1,899) which is not that much more than I spent on the LG (~$1,160)
You could also check out the ultrawides from Dell/LG that have 2160 vertical res. They're $1500-$2000 from what I recall and will help with sharper text The PPI will be closer to what a standard 16:9 4k offers, and though won't be as good as the studio display @ 5k, debatable whether that matters at desktop viewing distance.
Personally I won't be upgrading from my 2x 27" 4k displays until
* I can get 2x 27" 4k with 144hz+ at a reasonable price
* I can get an ultrawide that matches the PPI and is just effectively 2x screen space
Thanks. So I went out and picked up a Studio Display. It's a big downgrade in terms of size obviously, but text is extremely sharp and colors are great. Beyond that, it's more tidy on my desk with the great stand and I can get rid of my external speakers because the built-in speakers are pretty dang good. We'll see how this feels.
Thanks a lot. This makes sense. It's really too bad because ultrawide screen was kind of a game changer to me in terms of productivity. I'm not even sure why it's served me so much better than using dual monitors. It does seem I will need to consider going to back to dual screens.
As someone who is dealing with this problem (27" 1440p monitor), I read that macOS renders the whole screen as a whole, instead of having a separate path for text. And there is a threshold PPI before it uses 2x assets. I had to use either a blurred rendering for bigger UI elements or the sharp, but small, representation at the native resolution. BetterDisplay[0] helped by tricking the OS to use the 2x assets at a smaller resolution. Still not as clear as my MBA's screen.
I am not sure...? How can I find out? Thanks for that gist, I'll look into it after checking whether BetterDisplay resolves my issues as another commenter pointed me to.
> Remember to log out and log back in after you set font smoothing to 0
Hehe yeah. I have actually been operating under the assumption that I needed a full restart, which I have done several times :P (though this isn't so bad since the machine starts pretty dang quick).
> In general I've found Macs just suck at DPI scaling
I'm learning this :( It's very frustrating and disappointing.
* Remember to log out and log back in after you set font smoothing to 0. For me, this tweak helped a lot with clarity but I initially didn't think it was working because I didn't know you had to log out.
* In general I've found Macs just suck at DPI scaling. If I'm not mistaken, your monitor is around 109 PPI, which isn't really that high compared to the internal screen (~250ppi), and firmly in the "non-Retina" UI elements zone. Check out these blog posts (https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/, part 2: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/) for more info on how this stuff works.
Imagine my surprise when I found out my 27" 4K screens that look incredibly sharp on Windows at 163ppi are actually in the "bad zone" for Macs, and look bad at native resolution. As a workaround I run them scaled @ 3360 x 1890 and then set my browser to permanent 90% zoom level. Kind of embarrassing that Windows has completely lapped Apple in terms of good sharp UI at flexible scaling levels. I mean you can set Windows DPI scaling down the single % point, it's great.