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1920x1200 Dell U2412M sharp in Win10, soft on M1 mini, is this normal?

ilex27

ilex27

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 30, 2020
62
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The new M1 mini is my first desktop Mac. I am not expecting retina quality from a 94.24 pixel density screen, but I sure thought it would be as good as the PC, and it's not.

Is this normal to Mac? I'm seeing users on thread after thread using 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 24" screens and people seem satisfied.

I am running twin Dell U2412M screens and switching between the PC and the mini via a KVM outputting HDMI-to-DVI. The image quality is noticeably poorer when using the mini. What am I missing here?

PC:
PC_Screen.png


mini:
Mac_Screen.png


My planning diagram:
KVM_diagram.jpg
 
Noticed this exact thing with my M1 Mini.

Wasn't happy at all and could never figure it out.
Was super soft and "meh" through HDMI and DisplayPort (with adapter of course)

Same monitor with 2 other Intel macOS machines, one on Catalina, one on BigSur -- all much much sharper and clearer.

Really weird. Feels like an M1 hardware/driver thing.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Noticed this exact thing with my M1 Mini.

Wasn't happy at all and could never figure it out.
Was super soft and "meh" through HDMI and DisplayPort (with adapter of course)

Same monitor with 2 other Intel macOS machines, one on Catalina, one on BigSur -- all much much sharper and clearer.

Really weird. Feels like an M1 hardware/driver thing.
Click to expand...
So I'm not crazy. Thanks for your input, turbineseaplane.

I'll contact Apple and see what they say.
 
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1.5 hours with Apple support today and I was escalated twice. Submitted screenshots to the next level of support and hope to hear back in a day or two.
 
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ilex27 said:
1.5 hours with Apple support today and I was escalated twice. Submitted screenshots to the next level of support and hope to hear back in a day or two.
Click to expand...

Please keep us in the loop. This situation will keep away from any M1 Mini's until it's confirmed resolved.

The Mini in particular needs to work correctly and smoothly with a wide range of monitors from the last decade. The whole idea of the Mini is "bring your own existing accessories".

It doesn't seem to just be a Big Sur thing, as our in house 2016 MBP and my Hack (with RX 580) look **superb** on this same monitor and both are on 11.1

Perhaps a driver issue they can sort out for the M1 hardware - I hope?
 
Oh boy, I was looking to use the same monitor for a while and haven’t ordered M1 Mini yet. Now this made me think..
 
After a week without the promised callback I contacted Apple again. Evidently
1) they don't support 3rd-party products (my monitors, or anyone's I guess)
2) so they can't escalate to engineering (see #1) and the original tech was in error
3) have no control over the drivers (whut?)
4) would not confirm a minimum resolution required for the M1
5) would not recommend a monitor ("do some research")
6) welcomed me to tell engineering via the website feedback form, tech support doesn't have the ability to pass stuff on to them because, you guessed it, #1

Basically I can: return in the next three days, live with it and hope for an update, or cave and buy new screens. Is Apple really that much better than Windows, y'all? What would YOU do?
 
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Is your color scheme YPbPr (in Color OSD on the monitor)?

It seems like a common problem with Dell displays. Some model suffers more than other regarding text quality.

But no one knows if other monitors also have this color scheme in input since Dell is (one of the) only monitors to display such information.

On my Intel Mac in HDMI my U2414H is in YPbPr, but I never noticed the difference in quality or any blur in text versus the input in DisplayPort which is RGB.

I think I’d either return the Mac or change the display. It might be a good time to upgrade ... ? 😅
 
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As my observation, starting from Mojave, OSX resolution in 1:1 scale are meh. This is completely opposite on Windoze 10, 1:1 are clear sharp, but higher scaling than 1:1 are mixed feelings.

Since them, somehow OSX preferred HiDPI display to got nice sharp looking, e.g 24 or 27 inch 4K display set in 1920x1080@2x, that's 2:1, and would class as "retina" look.

This is not from M1 I guess, but from OS itself, I think Big Sur still carry this behavior.

MacOS Mojave removes subpixel anti-aliasing, making non-retina displays blurry | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com news.ycombinator.com
 
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pldelisle said:
Is your color scheme YPbPr (in Color OSD on the monitor)?

It seems like a common problem with Dell displays. Some model suffers more than other regarding text quality.

But no one knows if other monitors also have this color scheme in input since Dell is (one of the) only monitors to display such information.

On my Intel Mac in HDMI my U2414H is in YPbPr, but I never noticed the difference in quality or any blur in text versus the input in DisplayPort which is RGB.

I think I’d either return the Mac or change the display. It might be a good time to upgrade ... ? 😅
Click to expand...
Oh, I was hoping you were on to something! But no, they are RGB. You might be right about buying new monitors but I sure did not expect that I would have to.
 
It's not an issue with your monitors but Big Sur's problem, if you zoom on your first screenshot you'll see that it's using sub-pixel antialiasing while the second is not, so let's hope for a third-party software solution.

spa.png


*Top one is without sub-pixel antialiasing.
 
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I think you are correct about the cause, too bad Apple tech support is not up to speed on this.
 
Got the same monitor and it looks like absolute junk when hooked up to my iMac via any input. Displayport is useable, but still more blurry than any other system I own. Looks very crisp plugged into my 2006 MBP, and same with any of my Windows machines.

Shame because I love this monitor, they've been really reliable units for me. Two on the sides, one vertical and one horizontal. (using one with Windows atm though) Another consideration in my potential abandonment of my iMac and Big Sur altogether.
 
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That’s weird because I’ve had a U2311h for 9 years (which is only one year different) and it worked perfectly with MBP15 Retina 2012 and 2013 (the only macs I’ve ever had and still have the 2013). My U2414H works perfectly fine also either in HDMI or DisplayPort.

So there must be something weird on the 2012 model, because 2011 and 2014 works totally fine.
 
All of you are using "cheap" cables/adapters. Use the cables on the Apple store website. Also, dump the cheap displays while you are at it. Macs work best with high-end displays.
 
TopDog5450 said:
All of you are using "cheap" cables/adapters. Use the cables on the Apple store website. Also, dump the cheap displays while you are at it. Macs work best with high-end displays.
Click to expand...
Complete nonsense. Apple doesn't even make displays anymore other than their $6,000 display that is 6x or more expensive than the actual hardware. No cables are available on the Apple Store that are compatible with this display. Regardless of make the cords I have are pulled from workstation class machines with thicker gauge than anything made for a consumer monitor and they still display this issue. Same issue when using the cheap cords, same issue when using cords I've used from past Apple hardware (Power Mac and Cinema Display).
 
Fishrrman said:
I've posted this before, I'll post it again:
www.howtogeek.com

How to Fix Blurry Fonts on macOS Mojave (With Subpixel Antialiasing)

Apple's macOS Mojave disables subpixel antialiasing, also known as font smoothing, by default.
www.howtogeek.com www.howtogeek.com

If you have an m1 Mini with a "blurry" display, you should try this before you give up on it (either the display or the Mini)...
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've tried it on all the settings, I can't see any difference. I love my Dell screens but I guess it's time to choose another brand if I want sharp text.
 
In desperation I went to Best Buy and bought the only higher resolution monitors they had on the shelf, the 2K HP 27mq.

They were not that much better and the stand does not adjust like my beautiful Dells. They went back.

My pair of Dell S2721QS are in the pipeline and should arrive in a few days. If 4K doesn't suit me then there is no hope.
 
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