Confusion over Display Resolution

[mac_in_tosh]

For the 2019 13-inch MB Pro with Touch Bar, the specs indicate a 2560 x 1600 native display resolution. If I go to System Preferences / Display, there is a default lower resolution and a choice of scaled resolutions. For the latter, the "More Space" option appears to offer the highest resolution but it is only 1680 x 1050. How can the display be set at the full 2560 x 1600 resolution?

 

[AnotherSoftwareEngineer]

Use something like EasyRes: http://easyresapp.com

 

[idark77]

MBP uses Retina Display so the resolution is doubled in width and height.
If you want a resolution of 2560 x 1600 you need to choose 1280 x 800.
The “More Space” resolution is 1680x1050 x2 = 3360 x 2100@2X

 

[leman]

How can the display be set at the full 2560 x 1600 resolution?

For clarification: macOS does not support this, for the simple reason that the DPI of the display is too high to be used comfortably for most people. If you still want to do it, you can hack the system configuration to server you the unsupported resolution — best way to do it is using a third-party tool like one linked above. Please keep in mind though that if you do this, it might stop working without warning at any time.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

If you want a resolution of 2560 x 1600 you need to choose 1280 x 800.

I'm not following your logic. If I want a higher resolution, I should choose a low resolution option?
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For clarification: macOS does not support this, for the simple reason that the DPI of the display is too high to be used comfortably for most people. If you still want to do it, you can hack the system configuration to server you the unsupported resolution — best way to do it is using a third-party tool like one linked above. Please keep in mind though that if you do this, it might stop working without warning at any time.

I wouldn't want to go the third party route and while 2560 x 1600 would be taxing on a 13-inch screen, it might prove useful under certain circumstances. But I find it puzzling that Apple is advertising a display resolution that is not obtainable with their OS. It's like a car company advertising 300 HP but their engine computer limits it to 250.

 

[idark77]

No it is not correct and it is not my Logic but it is the Retina display.
Your 2019 13 MBP has a default resolution setting of 1440x900 = 2880 x 1800@2X
So if you want 2560 x 1600@2X you need to choose the display option in the middle button (Larger Text side), labelled as ‘Looks like 1280×800’
The 1280 x 800 option will look in Retina Display at 2560 x 1600@2X

 

[Valdna]

You guys are confusing resolution with scaling....
If you truly want to get 1:1 scaling get an app that does the configuration magic for you.
I'm using SwitchResX but there are many others available...
Just google for "how to run retina native resolution"

 

[leman]

I wouldn't want to go the third party route and while 2560 x 1600 would be taxing on a 13-inch screen, it might prove useful under certain circumstances.

Appel is not really known for giving you all the fine-grained control over your user experience. In fact, they are quite opinionated about some things.

But I find it puzzling that Apple is advertising a display resolution that is not obtainable with their OS. It's like a car company advertising 300 HP but their engine computer limits it to 250.

It's because you are confusing resolution with resolution. The displays always runs at native 2560 x 1600. But the OS uses logical resolution where a single logical pixel is backed by multiple physical pixels with sub-(logical)pixel rendering precision.

It's kind of similar to how printers work. If you printed a text on a modern laser printer using its "native resolution" (that is, using smallest dots the printer can produce), you wouldn't be even able to read the text. What happens instead is that the text image is printed using these small dots and this gives you superior ultra-smooth image quality.

The main reason why traditional (speak, legacy) displays didn't work that way all the time is because the display resolution sucked until very recently. Computer folks didn't really bother much with proper image sizes and were just using what their displays could do, simply because doing anything else would make your image look like crap (jagged and/or blurry edges everywhere). With modern HiDPI displays, we can actually do drawing as it's supposed to be done.