Text Rendering on MacBook Pro

[rickeames]

So here is an issue, and perhaps I'm being really picky, but text on 10.5.2 on a MacBook Pro does not look very good compared to my other Macs (like my 30" monitor where it's really nice and crisp). (this is the new LED MBP...15")

I'm set to "automatic" but the text is still just not crisp. Even Vista renders text better than this.

Is it the LCD and pixel density that is causing it? My last MBP was a 17" high density and it was crisp as crisp can get.

[dops7107]

Mine seems fine (got it yesterday, can't say it looks any different from my Mini G4 on a 17" LG TFT monitor). Can you post a screen shot of what you like vs. what you dislike?

[alfogator]

Higher pixel densities will make text appear sharper.

Depending on your settings and your display the rendering will make text look blurry. You can try different rendering settings, they are in the Appearance applet in system settings:

Automatic
Standard
Light
Medium
Strong

Standard employs antialiasing, Light and Medium subpixel rendering while Strong applies both algorithms. You should try them and see which one renders better. You need to logout to see the new setting, it's not applied immediately.

Changing display gamma will affect the appearance of Standard and Strong settings, so you might want to consider this as well.

[rickeames]

Higher pixel densities will make text appear sharper.

Depending on your settings and your display the rendering will make text look blurry. You can try different rendering settings, they are in the Appearance applet in system settings:

Automatic
Standard
Light
Medium
Strong

Standard employs antialiasing, Light and Medium subpixel rendering while Strong applies both algorithms. You should try them and see which one renders better. You need to logout to see the new setting, it's not applied immediately.

Changing display gamma will affect the appearance of Standard and Strong settings, so you might want to consider this as well.

Yeah, they all do not look great. Why does Vista look better with text on the exact same screen? That's the part I don't get -- it's the same pixels. I just tried each of the settings there, and the text still isn't what I would consider "crisp." There have to be some specific fonts Apple recommends as the 'good ones' as the ones I'm choosing, which are still TT, are not working to my expectations.

[yippy]

First, make sure that your are running the display at the maximum (native) resolution. Anything else will make the text blurry no matter what you do.

Mac OS X renders fonts a bit more smoothly than Windows but if you have other Macs then this isn't the case as you are used to it already. Not sure what the problem would be other than the above as all of the MacBook Pro screens I have seen are perfectly clear.

[dejo]

Maybe try going to System Preferences > Appearance and setting "Turn off text smoothing for font sizes 12 and smaller". See if you find that more satisfactory.

[scott9s]

I've actually read that Windows Vista Text Rendering is better than Mac OS X.

I'll see if I can find the reviews / articles.

Here's one unscientific look.

http://scobleizer.com/2008/03/07/why-vista-isnt-as-good-as-the-mac/

[gloves]

It's another thing that falls under personal preference. Some people prefer the way the Mac renders its fonts. I know I do - but that isn't to say that Windows clear type fonts are not clear, it's just that I appear to have a preference for the way Mac renders its fonts. :)

[simaomm]

Anyone found a solution for this issue?

Here's how arch linux renders my fonts:

http://pessoa.fct.unl.pt/smm19295/archlinux.png

And here's how my macbook renders it:

http://pessoa.fct.unl.pt/smm19295/macbook.png


It is unacceptable.

[macrem]

I've actually read that Windows Vista Text Rendering is better than Mac OS X.

I'll see if I can find the reviews / articles.

Here's one unscientific look.

http://scobleizer.com/2008/03/07/why-vista-isnt-as-good-as-the-mac/
But that link explains "Why Vista isn’t as good as the Mac"

[yaemes]

actually i see what you mean, the linux one is a bit different. the mac one renders the text like it was intended to by the font face maker and the linux and vista ones lock the text to the nearest pixel producing a clearer result but at the loss of accuracy. to me, though, the mac display looks tons *better*

[Jiddick ExRex]

Anyone found a solution for this issue?

Here's how arch linux renders my fonts:

http://pessoa.fct.unl.pt/smm19295/archlinux.png

And here's how my macbook renders it:

http://pessoa.fct.unl.pt/smm19295/macbook.png


It is unacceptable.

If it's not acceptable I hardly see the reason to complain about it. Get a refund, sell your mac or stay with Vista.
I unfortunately don't see Apple doing anything about this tomorrow nor the day after!
"Apple" and "consumer settings" do not go well hand in hand... :(

[dops7107]

Are those browser shots? The same browser I assume? They look like different fonts, never mind different renderings.

[doug in albq]

Are those browser shots? The same browser I assume? They look like different fonts, never mind different renderings.


They look like different fonts because os X actually shows the font as the font designer intended it to look and Windows perverts the font's shape to such extremes that no font under 18 point size looks anything like it was intended to look. Most people have become so accustomed to looking at Microsoft's perversions of fonts, that they do not know what helvetica or times is even suppose to look like. Thanks to Microsoft we now have a generation of people used to looking at "computer type" i.e. some mono-spaced, ascii-character, two-color crap...............

[yaemes]

i could not have put it any better than what doug said

[simaomm]

They look like different fonts because os X actually shows the font as the font designer intended it to look and Windows perverts the font's shape to such extremes that no font under 18 point size looks anything like it was intended to look. Most people have become so accustomed to looking at Microsoft's perversions of fonts, that they do not know what helvetica or times is even suppose to look like. Thanks to Microsoft we now have a generation of people used to looking at "computer type" i.e. some mono-spaced, ascii-character, two-color crap...............

Here's another shot, this time it's a mac mini.

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6456/picture1ih3.jpg

How do you explain this then? Much more crisp and less bold.
Macbook's font rendering is just bad.

Besides, the shot I posted earlier isn't from windows.

[plinden]

Yes, there's a noticeable difference, but since those are apparently screenshots, it's the browser itself that's displaying them differently. There must be something different in how each browser is rendering.

Are you using the same browser in each?

How about a comparison of Finder windows?

Windows font display is indeed "crisper" but I find the Mac font rendering is easier on the eye. (I use Windows at work)

[Runt888]

Here's a good article that describes the differences between font rendering on OSX and Windows.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html

It basically comes down to personal preference. Despite what a lot of people on this board say, there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods.

[macbook123]

I have the same problem, the font looks blotchy under OS X imho. When you switch to "light smoothing" and turn off smoothing for font sizes 12 and smaller, is it at least a bit better? I can't check right now as I can't log out (have several codes running).

[wo0f]

@rickeames yeah I aggree totally. Ive just recently purchased a macbookpro 15inch, and have been trying to figure out whats going on with the fonts all being bolder.

Note - the thing that interests me is that the difference between safari / firefox rendering of type on the lappy is not the same as the font rendering on my g5. Being an art director small things like font width are really very important. Its no small issue.

Having read the above posts it makes sense why a certain amount of boldening is occurring - thats fair enough.... but why the fonts look so different on my g5 to the macbookpro frustrated me... I guess it is what it is... we need accept it. :)