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17 inch MBP Screen: High res makes text hard to read

O

Onay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 1, 2009
22
0
Okay this is a very specific problem that I'm sure other 17" MBP users have. I bought a 17" uMPB a few weeks ago and after a fair amount of use I am started to get a bit of eye strain from trying to read the text on the screen.

I understand that the text size (as well as palettes, other windows, etc.) are smaller because they are taking up the same number of pixels on a higher dpi screen (I believe the WUXGA MBP screen is 136 dpi). So it makes many things difficult to read.

I have tried TinkerTool to increase font sizes, but many things in the system appear to remain unchanged and things such as dialog windows are still very small. I really want to increase the size of the text globally but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution. I would not consider lowering my resolution simply because I want to be able to view my pictures and high def videos at native screen resolution.

Is there an easy solution to this? Please don't post things like "just zoom in by holding ctrl and scrolling" because I know that exists, but that's a workaround. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

EDIT: These are my google findings for my problem... Haven't been much help up to this point.
http://macosx.com/forums/hardware-p...splay-high-resolution-text-way-too-small.html
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/688203/
 
Well not going to post just zoom. However have you had an eye exam lately? Could be something more wrong with you and not the computer just a thought...
 
He didn't say there was anything wrong with the computer. Only that he has trouble reading the native font size...
 
Well to be honest, I keep my head about two feet away at most when doing things with text. I do understand your issue but even resting in my lap the res. is okay for me and my eyes. Tough to balance out screen res. vs eye strain if you are having problems but another thought would be to use some special glasses for using only on your computer that are meant for about 24" at most away from the screen.
Hate to say it but it's really either your eyes or adjust the screen and accept the situation that the res. is too small for the size screen and your eyes ;)
Good luck!
 
This is the reason that I was swayed to picking up a 15" mbp instead of a 17." I did have the 17" hi res previous gen mbp for a while and it strained my eyes that I would get headaches from reading articles (even with making font bigger).
 
huh?

I don't understand the problem people are having at all! Isn't there a minimum font size setting y'all could simply use?

Once this is set so the font has physically the same size as on a computer with poorer resolution, there's simply no excuse for eye strain because in this case the font at higher resolution will always be more legible (compare e.g. the font in a book, which is super-high resolution).
 
macbook123 said:
I don't understand the problem people are having at all! Isn't there a minimum font size setting y'all could simply use?

Once this is set so the font has physically the same size as on a computer with poorer resolution, there's simply no excuse for eye strain because in this case the font at higher resolution will always be more legible (compare e.g. the font in a book, which is super-high resolution).
Click to expand...

Yes, but its not necessarily the resolution that's affecting the text size. Its the DPI. Because the pixel density is higher on the 17" than on the 15", then the fonts look smaller because they're both taking up the same pixels, but the number of pixels per square inch is higher on the 17", thus the text is smaller.

I don't know of this minimum font size setting you're talking about
 
Onay said:
Yes, but its not necessarily the resolution that's affecting the text size. Its the DPI. Because the pixel density is higher on the 17" than on the 15", then the fonts look smaller because they're both taking up the same pixels, but the number of pixels per square inch is higher on the 17", thus the text is smaller.

I don't know of this minimum font size setting you're talking about
Click to expand...

hold command and + key to zoom in - to zoom out
 
No one-stop solution

I agree with your comments on the display of the 17 inch MBP (great display-tiny text). There is no one solution that will increase the font and text to make everything more readable but keeping the display at 1920 X 1200. There are a couple of things that I have found to improve the text with certain applications:

Apple Mail:
But here's another work around if small font sizes bug you too. It adds a new key to your com.apple.mail.plist file that will govern the size of HTML text.

1. Quit Mail

2. Open the Terminal and type in the following:

defaults write com.apple.mail MinimumHTMLFontSize 13

3. Restart Mail.app and your HTML messages are readable.

Of course you can set the point size to whatever you like. The best size is 14 for the 17 inch screen.

iCal:
A technique that might help is to change the display zoom factor for iCal with this command in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.iCal AppleDisplayScaleFactor 1.1

Like most apps, iCal hasn't been designed for resolution-independent display yet. You can change 1.1 to a larger scale factor, but any larger than this and the pop-up edit fields for events overflow the popup balloon.


Browser:
Also, if you use Firefox, there is an addon called "nosquint" that allows you not only to set a default magnification but you can set the magnification individually at different websites (for example the text at CNN may be best at 115% instead of 120% of default value). Once you set the magnification you want, it remembers that value for the next time you visit that site.
 
I was worried about the same thing, but it never became an issue for me. I did bump up the font size in Firefox, just because there are so many badly designed sites that use microscopic text.

I couldn't live without this screen now. I use Final Cut Pro and it's SO nice to have all that screen real estate. Now I can focus on work instead of constantly scrolling around and adjusting window sizes. Much nicer for PhotoShop and After Effects, too.

I LOVE my 17".
 
Yeah I really like the design and power of the 17", but find that resolution a little ridiculous. Why can't they keep the resolution at 1440x900? The old 17" iMacs were also at 1440x900 and looked fantastic!
 
isaaclimdc said:
Yeah I really like the design and power of the 17", but find that resolution a little ridiculous. Why can't they keep the resolution at 1440x900? The old 17" iMacs were also at 1440x900 and looked fantastic!
Click to expand...

Maybe Apple just wanted that the screens of 17" were Full HD ?
 
DFTU101 said:
I agree with your comments on the display of the 17 inch MBP (great display-tiny text). There is no one solution that will increase the font and text to make everything more readable but keeping the display at 1920 X 1200. There are a couple of things that I have found to improve the text with certain applications:

Apple Mail:
But here's another work around if small font sizes bug you too. It adds a new key to your com.apple.mail.plist file that will govern the size of HTML text.

1. Quit Mail

2. Open the Terminal and type in the following:

defaults write com.apple.mail MinimumHTMLFontSize 13

3. Restart Mail.app and your HTML messages are readable.

Of course you can set the point size to whatever you like. The best size is 14 for the 17 inch screen.

iCal:
A technique that might help is to change the display zoom factor for iCal with this command in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.iCal AppleDisplayScaleFactor 1.1

Like most apps, iCal hasn't been designed for resolution-independent display yet. You can change 1.1 to a larger scale factor, but any larger than this and the pop-up edit fields for events overflow the popup balloon.


Browser:
Also, if you use Firefox, there is an addon called "nosquint" that allows you not only to set a default magnification but you can set the magnification individually at different websites (for example the text at CNN may be best at 115% instead of 120% of default value). Once you set the magnification you want, it remembers that value for the next time you visit that site.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I've gone into all of my iLife apps and in Firefox and bumped up the text size in them, which helps a pretty good amount now. I could never lower the resolution because I can't live without so much real estate.

Anyway I just think that with more and more laptops with DPIs that are 120+, I would think that OS's would start developing technology that automatically makes the text size the same size physically on the screen, just using more detailed fonts at a higher resolution, so that people don't have to lean in so much to read them. I'm going into college and I still find myself leaning in all the time to read text. It's just something I'll have to get used to.
 
isaaclimdc said:
Yeah I really like the design and power of the 17", but find that resolution a little ridiculous. Why can't they keep the resolution at 1440x900? The old 17" iMacs were also at 1440x900 and looked fantastic!
Click to expand...

This would make me want to strangle Steve Jobs to death.
 
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