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View Full Version : Refurb Mac: My text looks like it is fuzzy, font irregular...



webella
May 20, 2009, 06:08 PM
Hi,

I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions as I just got a refurbed Imac and my text (the font letters) are alittle fuzzy and almost look like a printed piece of paper where the ink is missing or irregular. Not sure it is a monitor problem as I can move the open window and the issue does not stay consistent to where the screen is (like a pixel area). It shows in gmail, documents, and email. It is showing as I typing this. Any thoughts or troubleshooting I can do before I lug this to a store? :confused:

Many thanks in advance!


Yaris
May 20, 2009, 06:16 PM
Could you take a screenshot to see if it shows up and post it here?
webella
May 20, 2009, 06:21 PM
Could you take a screenshot to see if it shows up and post it here?

Can you tell me how to do that (real beginner, here!)
Yaris
May 20, 2009, 06:24 PM
Press Command+Shift+3.
webella
May 20, 2009, 06:30 PM
I hear the screen shot but I do not know how to get it here.... :confused:
POX
May 20, 2009, 06:33 PM
If you are a "switcher", itīs normal, fonts on mac and pc are rendered different ways.
Yaris
May 20, 2009, 06:45 PM
I hear the screen shot but I do not know how to get it here.... :confused:
It should show up on your desktop.

Does it look anything like this?
webella
May 20, 2009, 07:04 PM
I think I made it an attachment...
Kilamite
May 20, 2009, 07:13 PM
Fonts look fine. OS X renders fonts differently to Windows XP and prior - OS X puts more anti-aliasing on them. Windows 7 is putting a bit on it too. Makes them replicate very closely what they will look like printed out - good for designers.

You'll get used to it then look at a Windows XP machine and go "ooh my eyes that's too sharp".
webella
May 20, 2009, 07:18 PM
Fonts look fine. OS X renders fonts differently to Windows XP and prior - OS X puts more anti-aliasing on them. Windows 7 is putting a bit on it too. Makes them replicate very closely what they will look like printed out - good for designers.

You'll get used to it then look at a Windows XP machine and go "ooh my eyes that's too sharp".

It doesn't look fine on my side. It looks blurred and irregular and I have friends that have the same machine and the font looks perfectly good on their machine...I cannot imagine anyone working or wanting to have email and docs look like what they are coming across on my screen.
Kilamite
May 20, 2009, 07:21 PM
It doesn't look fine on my side. It looks blurred and irregular and I have friends that have the same machine and the font looks perfectly good on their machine...I cannot imagine anyone working or wanting to have email and docs look like what they are coming across on my screen.

The actual font looks different (as well in your Mail sidebar) to the standard OS X font (I believe is Lucida Grande), but I can't see that the active font in your screenshot is "blurred and irregular".
Yaris
May 20, 2009, 07:48 PM
The actual font looks different (as well in your Mail sidebar) to the standard OS X font (I believe is Lucida Grande), but I can't see that the active font in your screenshot is "blurred and irregular".

I think this might mean that there is a problem with the screen. Look at my screenshot. Does the text look weird like it does where you have a problem on your computer? If it's a text rendering problem then my screenshot will look different as yours.
Kilamite
May 20, 2009, 07:50 PM
I think this might mean that there is a problem with the screen. Look at my screenshot. Does the text look weird like it does where you have a problem on your computer? If it's a text rendering problem then my screenshot will look different as yours.

If his screenshot looks fine to us, then how would comparing your screenshot to his make any difference..?
Yaris
May 20, 2009, 07:58 PM
If his screenshot looks fine to us, then how would comparing your screenshot to his make any difference..?

Wow I just realized my last post was worded absolutely horribly :o . I really meant that he should compare his own screenshot and my own to whatever problems he seems to have if he hadn't done so already. If you have a camera it would be helpful if you could provide a physical picture of your screen as well.
justinm
May 20, 2009, 08:03 PM
Is your resolution set to the optimum resolution for your monitor?
statik13
May 20, 2009, 08:11 PM
Have you checked to make sure zoom is off?

Hold down <cntrl> and move your mouse scroll wheel. It will zoom in or out of your screen. Make sure it is fully zoomed out otherwise you can get blurred text.
jont-fu
May 20, 2009, 08:28 PM
Is your resolution set to the optimum resolution for your monitor?

I bet this is the problem. The size of the screen capture is 1280x800, which doesn't match any iMac screen resolution that I know of.

To the original poster: open System Preferences, Displays, and set the resolution to highest available. 1680x1050 in a 20" iMac or 1920x1200 in a 24" iMac.
Tomorrow
May 20, 2009, 10:36 PM
I think I made it an attachment...

This is 1280x800 res screenie. The iMac has a sharper resolution - you're not running at native.

Change your display in System Preferences to the highest res available.

EDIT: Yeah, I didn't scroll all the way down before I replied ;)