Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HOWTO: 2880x1800 Without Scaling in OS X

Posting this from a rMBP at Best Buy. Changed the resolution to native; this is ridiculous. The pictures here don't do it any justice, seeing it in person is the only way to appreciate just how damn tiny everything is.
 
Also, I find it kind of funny how Apple's own Concierge desktop buttons aren't optimized for the retina display. They look awful. :p
 
upsguy27 said:
Posting this from a rMBP at Best Buy. Changed the resolution to native; this is ridiculous. The pictures here don't do it any justice, seeing it in person is the only way to appreciate just how damn tiny everything is.
Click to expand...
How did you manage to do this without getting yourself banned from the BB store for tampering (if any)?
 
Now, what am I reading in this thread? Is there native 3840x2400 support in the OS??? I have a 22" monitor with that resolution, you know :D

It's amusing watching people go bonkers over a 200PPI+ display -- believe me that's what I did once I had the Big Bertha up and running :D
 
jcpb said:
How did you manage to do this without getting yourself banned from the BB store for tampering (if any)?
Click to expand...

I dunno, it didn't seem like anyone even noticed.

Bad picture:

Xhv3H.jpg
 
plazmic said:
There's probably a cleaner method of accomplishing this, but I've been unable to find such readily available.

First of all, a camera shot showing the absurdly pixel-dense display in all its Retina glory inside OS X:

MOD EDIT: BROKEN LINK

I used a trial of the software package SwitchResX.

Within the SwitchResX Control panel, choose 'Display Sets'.

Create a new set with your choice of name and keybinding with '2880x1800' in 'Millions of colors'.

Save, Apply (reboot if asked), and hit your global keybind to activate the new resolution.

Some things of note: The Quartz window server appears to freak out at this resolution on a cold boot at the login screen... you can still see what's on screen, but there is graphical corruption until you login.

Hopefully someone will disclose a cleaner solution sooner than later. In the meantime, this workaround does the job.
Click to expand...

For a second I thought; "This isn't as good as I thought it would be..."

Then I realised you weren't in expose.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can do the same thing for free if you want... I wrote my own very simple little app for res switching, you can use for free. Checking posting here
http://wineskin.doh123.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=51

it also doesn't change any system files.

If you want to go back to normal Retina scaling, change it back to a normal 1440x900 and then go back in System preferences and set it back to Retina and it'll switch back fine.

EDIT: I just noticed, since I just change it without changing system files in this, that if you reboot or log out, OSX switchings itself back to 1440x900 scaled, so if you reboot you have to change it back manually again. I'm thinking of making just a little start up program I'll throw in my start up items that changes it for me, so I don't have to worry about issues until after its logged in and changes it up to 2880x1800

btw I do find 2800x1800 usable.. I do zooming a lot, but i did that on my old 1920x1200 screen too.
 
Last edited:
plazmic said:
An update on my experiences on 2880x1880.For mobile productivity, its game changing.
Click to expand...

This is what I've been trying to explain to people who've lacked the imagination of actually using that much resolution on a mobile machine.

This is also why I desperately want to get a retina 17 inch MacBook Pro in the future. Hey, 1920x1200 on my current 17 inch MBP is great, but on a daily basis I've longed for more space when working on complicated projects where I need many multiple documents/windows open at the same time and don't enjoy shuffling windows that are overlapping one another.

I really, really hope Apple is working on this right now. I just feel that Apple should continue to be a no-compromise company with no-compromise machines that BLOW the competition out of the water. A retina 17 inch MacBook Pro would be jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring and worth every expensive penny for ANYONE who often works with tons of open docs/windows while on the road.

----------
doh123 said:
btw I do find 2800x1800 usable.. I do zooming a lot, but i did that on my old 1920x1200 screen too.
Click to expand...
Imagine how much better it would be in a 16.5 or 17 inch MacBook Pro? I hope as more and more people actually use the higher resolutions and rave about it, Apple will realize there is most desinitely a market for a 17 inch retina laptop and with all that extra space they could finally offer hybrid SSD/HHD laptops to boot (pun intended).

:cool:
 
Based on all the screenshots/caps, I don't understand how you can work with that resolution. You'd have to be really close to the screen to read anything.


:confused:
 
Ryan1524 said:
Based on all the screenshots/caps, I don't understand how you can work with that resolution. You'd have to be really close to the screen to read anything.


:confused:
Click to expand...

depends on the text. I am already in the habit from my 1920x1200 screen to do a lot of zooming when I'm reading a lot... Ctrl+2 finger scroll helps a lot on certain areas when your going to read something that is tiny... but I can read most everything without doing so.

2880x1800 wouldn't be 'retina' on a 17" ... the PPI would be too small. They would probably make the screen 3360x2100
 
Slightly related, for those having issues with web pages displaying font sizes too small, I suggest you create a simple text file and change the file extension to '.css' and use the following code:

Code:

Code: 
html, body, * {
    font-family: Lucida Grande !important;
    font-size: 12px !important;
}
pre {
    font-family: Monaco !important;
    font-size: 11px !important;
}
a:visited, a:visited:hover, a:link:active {
    color: #9900CC !important;
}
textarea {
    font-family: Lucida Grande !important;
    font-size: 11px ! important;
}

Obviously you can change the font type name and size to something you prefer.
Body=most text on page
pre=fixed width text displayed in code areas
textarea=text entry boxes like the reply to thread boxes

You may not want the visited link code which is just an example of my css which changes visited links to purple colour.

To use style sheet for the following browsers:

OmniWeb/Preferences/Appearance/Style Sheet
Safari/Preferences/Advanced- Select the '.css' file as your custom Style Sheet
iCab/Preferences/Style Sheets
Camino rename file to 'userContent.css' place in ~/Library/Application Support/Camino/chrome/userContent.css
 
Question for those of us running this config: do your mind freak a bit when you go to a regular font-size screen like the iPhone/iPad. I feel like the text on those, even on my 27" LED Display are insane huge elderly font when I leave the tiny confines of the supreme res 2880x1800.
 
I'm barely half done setting up my MBPR at this point, however consider this another reason WHY you want to run this laptop at its native res.

I used phoenixdev's SetResX for now. My MBPR boots at the normal Retina res (1440 x 900), so I have to run the program after login and re-set to the native res. Windows 7 Ultimate via Bootcamp (with Apple's BC drivers installed) boots at the full native res.

First pic has Win 7 running via VMWare 4, with the Bootcamp desktop set to 1920 x 1200.
MBPR BG = https://yande.re/post/show/59758 (3200 x 2000)
Win 7 VM BG = http://konachan.com/post/show/72549/

Second pic's image is my own. Larger squares are actual scanned CD covers at 1400 px per side, smaller squares are the iTunes song artwork (usually 600 px per side, some can be smaller/larger). The image is a 2880 x 1800 center crop from a 7000 x 5600 collage base, which is itself scaled down from 14000 x 11200; it took a few hours for my desktop (C2D 3GHz/4GB) to put all of that on :p
 

Attachments

  • jcpb_mbpr2.jpg
    jcpb_mbpr2.jpg
    322.9 KB · Views: 463
  • jcpb_mbpr3.jpg
    jcpb_mbpr3.jpg
    708.3 KB · Views: 464
Is there a consensus on what's currently the most stable app to use for switching to the full resolution?
 
if no one really likes my junk little app to set resolutions, you can always grab this one and just stick it in your user startup items and it'll knock it to 2880x1800 after you log in. On any other Mac it'll just knock it to the biggest res possible up to a max of 2880x1800.

no annoying settings or menus or even having to see anything... just throw it in Apps, then go in your user in system preferences and add to startup items, and after you log in it changes for you.

Not sure why people say 2880x1800 is not usable, it works great for me.

http://wineskin.doh123.com/Special/SetRes.app.zip

EDIT: i changed it to just go to maximum resolution to whatever Mac your on when it runs.
 
Last edited:
doh123 said:
Not sure why people say 2880x1800 is not usable, it works great for me.
Click to expand...

I'd agree its usable for some, including me, but I wouldn't say I don't know why others think it might not be!

I love having the real estate, and for coding it's just amazing.
 
doh123 said:
if no one really likes my junk little app to set resolutions, you can always grab this one and just stick it in your user startup items and it'll knock it to 2880x1800 after you log in. On any other Mac it'll just knock it to the biggest res possible up to a max of 2880x1800.

no annoying settings or menus or even having to see anything... just throw it in Apps, then go in your user in system preferences and add to startup items, and after you log in it changes for you.

Not sure why people say 2880x1800 is not usable, it works great for me.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4486028/SetRes.app.zip

EDIT: i changed it to just go to maximum resolution to whatever Mac your on when it runs.
Click to expand...

just tried that, cripes that is small! I think you just need to get used to it, I'll have to play around with it while using intellij idea later on
 
doh123 said:
Not sure why people say 2880x1800 is not usable, it works great for me.
Click to expand...
Finder's default view settings can be a bit too small at the native res for some people.

My settings in the View Options:
Icon size = [ ] --- [x] (choose the larger icon)
Text size = 16 (max setting, default is ~12)

At least the main folder window area is readable with those settings, without getting closer to the screen.
 
Why on earth didn't apple just include the native res as an option?? This is supposed to be a "pro" system after all. :rolleyes:
 
jcpb said:
I'm barely half done setting up my MBPR at this point, however consider this another reason WHY you want to run this laptop at its native res.

I used phoenixdev's SetResX for now. My MBPR boots at the normal Retina res (1440 x 900), so I have to run the program after login and re-set to the native res. Windows 7 Ultimate via Bootcamp (with Apple's BC drivers installed) boots at the full native res.

First pic has Win 7 running via VMWare 4, with the Bootcamp desktop set to 1920 x 1200.
MBPR BG = https://yande.re/post/show/59758 (3200 x 2000)
Win 7 VM BG = http://konachan.com/post/show/72549/

Second pic's image is my own. Larger squares are actual scanned CD covers at 1400 px per side, smaller squares are the iTunes song artwork (usually 600 px per side, some can be smaller/larger). The image is a 2880 x 1800 center crop from a 7000 x 5600 collage base, which is itself scaled down from 14000 x 11200; it took a few hours for my desktop (C2D 3GHz/4GB) to put all of that on :p
Click to expand...

Can you set the VMWare resolution to 2880x1800? Thinking of having a Windows VM in one mission control screen and OSX in another with both having the native resolution. If you could tell that this works I'd be very grateful!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back