If you have a MBPR, please try to disable HiDPI, see if it works

[bhtooefr]

I want to see if using the display with the desktop area of a 2880x1800 Mac is possible. If push comes to shove, when I get mine, I'll run Windows on it (well, I WILL run Windows on it for games and such at least), but I'd like to know if OS X will work.

As I don't have a MBPR yet (haven't even ordered yet), or even a modern OS X machine (unless you count the broken iBook G4 with Leopard on it as "modern", which for these purposes it clearly isn't), I can't really do any experimenting here. But, I'd like to see this solved, hence this thread.

Looks like this is the first thing to try (from reading various sources):

Set the display to optimal if you're using another setting. Other settings may work, but... best to start there.
Install the latest Xcode, then get Graph Tools for Xcode from Xcode>Open Developer Tool>More Developer Tools...
Launch /Developer/Applications/Graphic Tools/Quartz Debug, go to Window>UI Resolution, and there will be a checkbox for HiDPI support. I'm expecting this to be checked. If so, uncheck it. If not, report back in this thread, and that will mean that this approach is a dead-end.
Log out, re-login. Report what you see, preferably with screenshots.
Check the display control panel. If it looks different from normal, screenshots please.

 

[Stetrain]

You're gonna need one of these:

 

[bhtooefr]

Lean in close to the display if you're having trouble seeing it.

In my case, I've got a 20/20 left eye, and I'm wearing bifocals on top of that (due to my right eye). So, you could say that I have a couple different magnifying glasses on my face right now.

 

[Madmats]

Someone will probably try this before I get my MBP Retina. But if not, I will!

There must be a way to enable OS X under the native resolution though. Someone will find the way.

 

[bhtooefr]

According to the IBM_T2X_LCD Yahoo Group, this method WORKS.

Also, apparently, SwitchResX can do it too.

 

[kensenjiha]

That doesn't work quite well. i use "Change Resolution.app"

 

[doh123]

That doesn't work quite well. i use "Change Resolution.app"

CHange Resolution.app is not very good. It works for some things but it was very quickly put together and just is very basic... I wouldn't really use it if I were you, and I made the app

This is a much better app someone else has been developing, that works much better with MANY more options.
http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/vi9yf/set_your_retina_macbook_pros_resolution_to/

 

[glaseryaniv]

My question is, if you set it to, say, 1650x1050 non HiDPi. Thats something I could really enjoy. This way I still have readable text, and all the apps should work well and sharp(er), even the non-retina apps. Can someone try this? Does this make sense to anyone?

 

[Stetrain]

My question is, if you set it to, say, 1650x1050 non HiDPi. Thats something I could really enjoy. This way I still have readable text, and all the apps should work well and sharp(er), even the non-retina apps. Can someone try this? Does this make sense to anyone?

Not sure what the advantage would be over the 1680x1050 HiDPI mode. Non-retina apps should look basically the same in both cases.

 

[glaseryaniv]

Not sure what the advantage would be over the 1680x1050 HiDPI mode. Non-retina apps should look basically the same in both cases.

I'm thinking maybe then it will just scale down normally, like on any regular monitor. Then things should be less blurry in that retina optimized apps will not look so much better than their non-retina counter parts, and those will not be over-sampled. I might be way off about this...

 

[Stetrain]

I'm thinking maybe then it will just scale down normally, like on any regular monitor. Then things should be less blurry in that retina optimized apps will not look so much better than their non-retina counter parts, and those will not be over-sampled. I might be way off about this...

As I understand it it would just make everything look equally fuzzy, rather than just the non-retina apps.

 

[doh123]

My question is, if you set it to, say, 1650x1050 non HiDPi. Thats something I could really enjoy. This way I still have readable text, and all the apps should work well and sharp(er), even the non-retina apps. Can someone try this? Does this make sense to anyone?

sure that might be less work on the hardware, but its not going to look great.

Just like taking say a 1920x1200 screen and running it at 1680x1050, its not the right number of pixels to make everything look perfect, so things are scaled in a simpler way... everything will be drawn at 1680x1050 then stretched to fit a bigger resolution. That type of scaling is much easier on the hardware but looks much worse than Apple's HiDPI scaling.