4K display scaling?

[patseguin]

I bought a Mac mini this summer and was using a 1440p monitor with it. An LG 4K display in my house freed up so I'm using it. it looks great, but things like moving windows and maximizing/minimizing seem noticeably sluggish. Is that because the OS is scaling the UI to 2560x1440? If I use the default setting, everything is too big.

 

[Stephen.R]

How much memory do you have?

 

[Jochheim]

I bought a Mac mini this summer and was using a 1440p monitor with it. An LG 4K display in my house freed up so I'm using it. it looks great, but things like moving windows and maximizing/minimizing seem noticeably sluggish. Is that because the OS is scaling the UI to 2560x1440? If I use the default setting, everything is too big.

Yep if you use a scaled resolution it will bring the performance of your mini down. But other than using native 4K or 1080p as scaled (to big elements) you can also try to „reduce transparency“ or what it is called in English in your accessibility settings. This could also help in performance.

 

[patseguin]

Yep if you use a scaled resolution it will bring the performance of your mini down. But other than using native 4K or 1080p as scaled (to big elements) you can also try to „reduce transparency“ or what it is called in English in your accessibility settings. This could also help in performance.

That’s a shame. Why can’t apple have hi-dpi scaling like windows 10 Does?

 

[Stephen.R]

That’s a shame. Why can’t apple have hi-dpi scaling like windows 10 Does?

There is a performance hit to running a scaled UI, but not to the point of "noticeably sluggish" with a single display on a Mini with enough memory.

So let me ask again: how much memory do you have.

As for why macOS doesn't use Windows scaling: because it requires every single app to implement it to work well. They tried that approach years ago with resolution independence.

 

[patseguin]

How much memory do you have?

16GB

There is a performance hit to running a scaled UI, but not to the point of "noticeably sluggish" with a single display on a Mini with enough memory.

So let me ask again: how much memory do you have.

As for why macOS doesn't use Windows scaling: because it requires every single app to implement it to work well. They tried that approach years ago with resolution independence.

sorry, I meant to respond to you. I have 16GB ram.

 

[idktbh]

There are only 2 modes to run macos in Hdpi without losing performance
1. Native screen resolution
2. Native resolution divided by 2 (2x scaling)

In your case 3840 x 2160 (native) or 1920 x 1080 (2x scaling)

Everything in between will results in performance issues or blurry UI/text

Funny enough apple laptop line is not following its own rule, for example my former macbook 16" was way faster/sharper and less battery hungry running at 1536 x 960 than its original out of the box scaled resolution 1792 x 1120

 

[patseguin]

There are only 2 modes to run macos in Hdpi without losing performance
1. Native screen resolution
2. Native resolution divided by 2 (2x scaling)

In your case 3840 x 2160 (native) or 1920 x 1080 (2x scaling)

Everything in between will results in performance issues or blurry UI/text

Funny enough apple laptop line is not following its own rule, for example my former macbook 16" was way faster/sharper and less battery hungry running at 1536 x 960 than its original out of the box scaled resolution 1792 x 1120

I wonder why that is. The display actually looks quite a bit nicer than my native 1440p display. The performance is bad enough that I'm thinking about putting it back on and using the 4K display somewhere else.

 

[LiE_]

The 2018 Mac mini has a terribly underpowered GPU, this is the problem. My recommendation - sell it and get a M1 Mac mini.

 

[patseguin]

The 2018 Mac mini has a terribly underpowered GPU, this is the problem. My recommendation - sell it and get a M1 Mac mini.

I was actually considering that actually. This is the supposed 2020 Mini and I bought it this past June. I suppose I can sell it and still not lose a whole lot and get an M1. Does the M1 Mini have the same scaling issue? I assume it's an OS thing?

 

[LiE_]

I was actually considering that actually. This is the supposed 2020 Mini and I bought it this past June. I suppose I can sell it and still not lose a whole lot and get an M1. Does the M1 Mini have the same scaling issue? I assume it's an OS thing?

The 2020 Mac mini is the M1. Yours is a 2018 Mac mini. The M1 chip blows the GPU performance away on the 2018 model. Go for 16GB and you’ll be golden.

 

[pldelisle]

I was actually considering that actually. This is the supposed 2020 Mini and I bought it this past June. I suppose I can sell it and still not lose a whole lot and get an M1. Does the M1 Mini have the same scaling issue? I assume it's an OS thing?

Trading value at Apple is still pretty high when you exchange it for an M1 Mini.

 

[patseguin]

Trading value at Apple is still pretty high when you exchange it for an M1 Mini.

Thanks, I may try it and see what kind of trade-in I get. Even with the faster GPU, is it still scaling the UI and taking a hit?

EDIT: When I configure and add the M1 Mini on Apple, is there an option to trade in my old Mini?

 

[harriska2]

I scale my 40" Samsung 4k monitor/tv at 1.5x, not 2x. I have 32gb memory that I upgraded myself for about $150 (probably less nowadays). Looks wonderful. I'm also running Mojave so things may have changed in Catalina/Big Sur.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Thanks, I may try it and see what kind of trade-in I get. Even with the faster GPU, is it still scaling the UI and taking a hit?

EDIT: When I configure and add the M1 Mini on Apple, is there an option to trade in my old Mini?

Yes, there is always a hit scaling the UI but if the GPU is fast enough you won't notice any lag or issues. The M1 mini has a fast enough GPU for it to be smooth with a scaled UI on 4K.

 

[pldelisle]

EDIT: When I configure and add the M1 Mini on Apple, is there an option to trade in my old Mini?

Yes there is.

 

[pldelisle]

Yes, there is always a hit scaling the UI but if the GPU is fast enough you won't notice any lag or issues. The M1 mini has a fast enough GPU for it to be smooth with a scaled UI on 4K.

Yes much better than the Intel Mini.

 

[robertosh]

There are only 2 modes to run macos in Hdpi without losing performance
1. Native screen resolution
2. Native resolution divided by 2 (2x scaling)

In your case 3840 x 2160 (native) or 1920 x 1080 (2x scaling)

Everything in between will results in performance issues or blurry UI/text

Funny enough apple laptop line is not following its own rule, for example my former macbook 16" was way faster/sharper and less battery hungry running at 1536 x 960 than its original out of the box scaled resolution 1792 x 1120

Just a note, point 2 is also using native resolution, just that ui elements are represented using double of pixels to give you the look and feel of a 1080p resolution, but either native or 2x scaling (1080p) are using 3840x2160 as resolution.

 

[Fishrrman]

Very often when you use a "scaled" resolution with built-in video, you may experience:
- increased heat in the integrated GPU
- increased fan speeds
- more noise (due to the higher fan speeds).

If one wants 1440p as one's "primary resolution", then my advice is to buy a 32" 1440p "QHD" display that comes with 1440p as it's NATIVE resolution.
It's probably going to look very close to what you'd get with a 4k display "scaled down" to 1440p, WITHOUT any of the issues listed above...

 

[patseguin]

Very often when you use a "scaled" resolution with built-in video, you may experience:
- increased heat in the integrated GPU
- increased fan speeds
- more noise (due to the higher fan speeds).

If one wants 1440p as one's "primary resolution", then my advice is to buy a 32" 1440p "QHD" display that comes with 1440p as it's NATIVE resolution.
It's probably going to look very close to what you'd get with a 4k display "scaled down" to 1440p, WITHOUT any of the issues listed above...

Well, I think what I have is a 4K display and the ui is scaled to what 1440p would look like. it still seems to look way better than my 1440p monitor does.

 

[LiE_]

Well, I think what I have is a 4K display and the ui is scaled to what 1440p would look like. it still seems to look way better than my 1440p monitor does.

It will due to the high pixels per inch.

 

[Stephen.R]

It's probably going to look very close to what you'd get with a 4k display "scaled down" to 1440p

This is incorrect, for anyone with decent eyesight.

it still seems to look way better than my 1440p monitor does

As is expected. It's rendering at 137PPI rather than 92PPI (a 'native' 1440p 32" display).

There are two hardware options to improve GPU performance: buy an eGPU, or, as discussed, swap to an M1 Mac mini. In the mean time, disabling transparency should drastically improve performance. That may or may not be acceptable as a long term solution for you, but it should at least make it more usable until you decide what to do.

Edit: technically there's a third option possibly. When I used a single 4K display, I had it running at a non-default scaled resolution, and it was almost flawless for me - but I have 64GB of memory. The Mac mini will allocate up to 1.5GB of memory to the iGPU, but it's not a fixed amount, and there are copious reports of people with the minimum memory (yes I know you have more than the minimum) having issues with scaled resolutions; so a memory upgrade may also improve your scenario, but I'd put that very much in the maybe basket.

 

[4sallypat]

Thanks, I may try it and see what kind of trade-in I get. Even with the faster GPU, is it still scaling the UI and taking a hit?

EDIT: When I configure and add the M1 Mini on Apple, is there an option to trade in my old Mini?

You will love the new M1 Mini - it runs circles around the Intel without any heat.

Quite impressive for a base Mini !

You should get a 16GB model for more $ if you need that extra Unified Memory.

I run dual displays - 27" Apple Thunderbolt has a native look which I love for a WQHD display and for video 4K viewing, an HDMI connected 32" Samsung display is just awesome.

 

[MarkAtl]

Interesting thread. I’m using a repurposed base 2014 mini (i5 1.4, 4GB) with a SSD swapped in, running 4K at 30Hz (32” Samsung tv) scaling to 1920x1080 and running Big Sur. I haven’t noticed any UI sluggishness, and given this low spec if anything I should be seeing it.

 

[Stephen.R]

Interesting thread. I’m using a repurposed base 2014 mini (i5 1.4, 4GB) with a SSD swapped in, running 4K at 30Hz (32” Samsung tv) scaling to 1920x1080 and running Big Sur. I haven’t noticed any UI sluggishness, and given this low spec if anything I should be seeing it.

You’re running it in the most performant scaled mode: “@2x”. OP wants to use a different scaled resolution, which is more computationally complex (because it’s not just pixel doubled)