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5K2K at 120Hz with Mac Mini M4

Can somebody with M4 MacBook Air and Studio 2025 please check if they have the same 5K2K problem?
 
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2xmos said:
Hello,

I plan to use a G9 57 in PBP mode: so one part of the screen would be at 5K2K resolution (and the other part is another PC completely), and refresh rate of this monitor is 120hz

Then, due to the limitations of mac os quoted in this thread, I shouldn't have HIDPI support natively: But I seen that with BetterDisplay it would allow me through the virtual screen feature to have HIDPI resolutions, which is fine for me

But looking at this feature, I seen that virtual displays can only do up to 60hz: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/discussions/1675

So does that mean I cannot have both HIDPI for 5k2k and 120hz? Gotta pick one of the two?

Thanks
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It isn't that HiDPI is completely missing; we just can't do the really small stuff. M4 does HiDPI up to 3008-wide and M4 Pro does up to 3360-wide scaled resolutions. If you have an M4 Pro, you might find builtin scaling acceptable for a 1:1 (dual 4K) setup on your G9.

This situation is so frustrating. I'm not otherwise a huge fan of Linux on the desktop, but my crusty old Skylake i3 with RX590 GPU and Ubuntu has zero issues scaling text and making everything look great on my 5K2K.
 
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So given that we know the Dell U4025QW works @120Hz with 3840x1620 scaled HiDPI, is the theory that only monitors able to do 120Hz or above can work at that “ideal” resolution? And the problem is with people trying to use UltraWides that only have 60Hz and below?

(If that’s the case, I would think surely there’s another 5K2K monitor out there that can do 120Hz and above … but no one’s said if they work yet? Not many data points in that first post … 🤔 )
 
Beau Slim said:
It isn't that HiDPI is completely missing; we just can't do the really small stuff. M4 does HiDPI up to 3008-wide and M4 Pro does up to 3360-wide scaled resolutions. If you have an M4 Pro, you might find builtin scaling acceptable for a 1:1 (dual 4K) setup on your G9.

This situation is so frustrating. I'm not otherwise a huge fan of Linux on the desktop, but my crusty old Skylake i3 with RX590 GPU and Ubuntu has zero issues scaling text and making everything look great on my 5K2K.
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Thanks for the reply, sadly In my case I have another PC with PBP set as 21:9 and 11:9, so 5K2K is the only resolution I can use, I will have to wait for a fix
 
I'm optimistic that with the release of the Studio (and what should be a larger userbase utilizing the 5K2K than those of us with a mini or macbook pro) that Apple willl come out with a fix sooner than later.
 
mrhansolo said:
I'm optimistic that with the release of the Studio (and what should be a larger userbase utilizing the 5K2K than those of us with a mini or macbook pro) that Apple willl come out with a fix sooner than later.
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Since we haven't seen a fix yet, I am hoping that they fix it with the next major macOS update. That does seem to be the way Apple progress with display capabilities software wise.
 
Hello to all.
For this moment i work on M2 mini with LG 40WP95C at 3008x1269 HiDPI (and sometimes in native 5120x2160 - for photos). OS - Sequoia 15.3.1. All available resolutions you can see in attachment.
If i upgrade M2 to M4 can i still work at 3008x1269 HiDPI?
 

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  • Screenshot 2025-03-08 at 16.01.52.png
    Screenshot 2025-03-08 at 16.01.52.png
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@Gonochnik I wonder why your 3840x1620 isn’t HiDPI? Maybe your M2 mini isn’t an M2 Pro? I think if you go to an M4 Mini or an M4 Pro mini it’s hard to predict what you might lose, because you’re already missing the “ideal” scaled 3840x1620 @60Hz HiDPI resolution that this post/thread is about.
 
Stumbled into this thread, can someone summarise what is actually up with 5K2K on M4 Pro (with/without Betterdisplay)?

I'm looking to refresh my monitors pretty soon, and I am looking to ditch most of my (at least the centre of each set) 16:9 displays.
 
Riot Nrrrd said:
So given that we know the Dell U4025QW works @120Hz with 3840x1620 scaled HiDPI, is the theory that only monitors able to do 120Hz or above can work at that “ideal” resolution? And the problem is with people trying to use UltraWides that only have 60Hz and below?
Click to expand...
Yes, waydabber suggested something like this. Either 120Hz or something to do with DSC causes Apple's driver to reserve more memory for the display, thus allowing larger framebuffers for scaling.
 
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Chancha said:
At this point I am unsure if Apple just decided this isn’t a bug it is what it is. Or if they are too occupied with cleaning up after Siri ******** the bed.
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Wait, I just realized you were looking at a Studio Display that does full 5K. I think the 3840x1620 HiDPI setting is just for 5K2K monitors. My bad.

Having said that, I’m not sure what your screen shot is telling us. What do the two Kanji(?) characters say in the resolution you highlighted?

Today is March 12th, there should be at least 2 people in the world who (a) have picked up their M4 Max or M3 Ultra Mac Studio today; (b) have an UltraWide display; and (c) read MacRumors and know they should be reporting in to this thread ;)
 
Riot Nrrrd said:
What do the two Kanji(?) characters say in the resolution you highlighted?
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If you can get Apple character recognition to capture the characters correctly (in Safari.app or copy and paste into Preview.app and use Text Selection option), then you should be able to select the text, copy it, and paste it into Google translate.
Google translate says
預設 = default
低解像度 = low resolution
 
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Riot Nrrrd said:
Wait, I just realized you were looking at a Studio Display that does full 5K. I think the 3840x1620 HiDPI setting is just for 5K2K monitors. My bad.

Having said that, I’m not sure what your screen shot is telling us. What do the two Kanji(?) characters say in the resolution you highlighted?

Today is March 12th, there should be at least 2 people in the world who (a) have picked up their M4 Max or M3 Ultra Mac Studio today; (b) have an UltraWide display; and (c) read MacRumors and know they should be reporting in to this thread ;)
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The Studio Display having the 5120 actual pixel width is similar enough to the 5k2k displays, in that, if I am not wrong, all the Pro/Max/Ultra chips of the M1/2/3 generation can output up to 3360 HiDPI width with macOS settings, 3840 HiDPI width if unlocked by like BetterDisplay.

My photo / screenshot of the demo M4 Max Mac Studio just shows and confirms it behaves just the same as the M4 Max MBP, the highest HiDPI being 3200 means it is still capped or bugged, or whatever is happening.
 
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I'd already have an M4 Max Studio ordered if not for this ridiculous issue. Just crazy that my M1 Pro MBP is more capable than the latest machines in this regard. It just has to be an oversight that hasn't caught the engineering team's attention yet.
 
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kong0329 said:
Has anyone tried sequoia 15.3.2 to see if this is fixed...?
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Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 10.33.45 am.png


:)

I, also, tried it on an M4 Mini Pro yesterday on 15.3.2

M4 Max Studio just replaced the M4 Mini Pro (same as the Max, 3360 x 1418).

Of course, I whipped out Better Display Pro immediately (after decommissioning the licence from the Mini first :)
 
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