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

Love my 11.6" MBA, but my eyes don't!

gloryunited said:
Changing the resolution really not an option in Mac OS?

I have never used Mac's before, considering buying my first one (MBA) though. If the texts appear too small to me, I would definitely want to adjust the resolution to suit my eyes.
Click to expand...

OS X does not have resolution independence. So changing the resolution to a non-native one for the panel makes the screen look terrible.

gwsat said:
There are at least 3 ways to change screen resolution on OS X:

(1) Use the :apple:+ or :apple:- keyboard shortcut to either increase or decrease the size of the image being displayed

(2) Go to Displays Preference and change the screen resolution from, in the case of the 13 inch MBA, 1440 X 900 to 1280 X 800; this will automatically increase the size of the image, although it will, of course, reduce the resolution

(3) Use the trackpad to two-finger scroll vertically while depressing the control key to zoom in or out.

This is all very quick and easy to do. The only one that is even remotely tricky is (2) to change the screen resolution. If you check Show displays in menu bar option, you can do this one from the desktop.
Click to expand...

1) CMD+ and CMD- are fine, but not when you have to have them on every site, and pressing them makes the text way out of proportion with the BG most of the time, and on the 11" makes you have to do more annoying scrolling. :)

2) Already covered above. I can only hope that OSX Lion gets Resolution Independence, so that people who don't want tiny UI elements can continue to buy macs (which seem to be headed to higher and higher resolutions).

3) The zoom in and out is fine too - but also a hassle when it's having to be done on 90% of pages you surf to, or annoying to use when you're typing in a document (tho, thankfully on programs like Bean, Word and Final Draft you can just increase the workspace to 200%).

For surfing the best solution I've found so far is trying to use Safari 5's "reader" function whenever possible. The Text is cleaner, easier to read, and larger.
 
Get them reading glasses out.

I'm 50 now and I'm afraid to say it does help with these high res macs.

$10 glasses and you get to keep your wonderful toy.
 
fyrefly said:
OS X does not have resolution independence. So changing the resolution to a non-native one for the panel makes the screen look terrible.

1) CMD+ and CMD- are fine, but not when you have to have them on every site, and pressing them makes the text way out of proportion with the BG most of the time, and on the 11" makes you have to do more annoying scrolling. :)

2) Already covered above. I can only hope that OSX Lion gets Resolution Independence, so that people who don't want tiny UI elements can continue to buy macs (which seem to be headed to higher and higher resolutions).

3) The zoom in and out is fine too - but also a hassle when it's having to be done on 90% of pages you surf to, or annoying to use when you're typing in a document (tho, thankfully on programs like Bean, Word and Final Draft you can just increase the workspace to 200%).

For surfing the best solution I've found so far is trying to use Safari 5's "reader" function whenever possible. The Text is cleaner, easier to read, and larger.
Click to expand...
First I agree with you that changing the display's resolution gives inferior results than either of the other two options I described. But I see nothing involved in either the :apple:+, :apple:-, or the control-2 finger scroll solutions that could be fairly described as a "hassle." All that means, of course, is that without differences of opinion, bookmakers would starve.:)
 
felt. said:
iPad: 132 PPI
17" MBP: 133 PPI
11" MacBookAir: 135 PPI

wat..?
Click to expand...

Exactly. The text size should be the same for the 11'' and the 13''. You just get more real estate to work with in the 13''. If you are getting eye strain on the 11'', you will get eye strain on the 13''.
 
Dammit Cubs said:
Exactly. The text size should be the same for the 11'' and the 13''. You just get more real estate to work with in the 13''. If you are getting eye strain on the 11'', you will get eye strain on the 13''.
Click to expand...

Actually the 13" is not in the above. From another post:

MBA 11.6" (1366) = 135.09 PPI, 0.188mm dot pitch, 18250 PPI²
MBA 13.3" (1440) = 127.68 PPI, 0.1989mm dot pitch, 16302 PPI
MBP 13.3" (1280) = 113.49 PPI, 0.2238mm dot pitch, 12880 PPI²

I don't know if difference between 127 and 135 is too little to discern. Certainly the older 13" was very different.
 
+1 on the reading glasses. I'm 44 and just upgraded to new glasses and they make reading so much easier. I have a high res MBP 17 as well as the Air 11 and I can't see either of them without the glasses.

I also ran my Spyder Pro on the 11 and it made a huge difference to the contrast and readability. Borrow one if you can. Profile sharing does not work as well.
 
Have I got the solution for you; i will gladly swap my T60p with the IPS QXGA 15" panel (that is 2048*1536 pixels!) with your 11" MBA if you are so into IPS panels. Also have a x61 tablet with the IPS SXGA+ 12 incher (1400*1050 pixels).
;)
 
iCal typeface on MBA

I've always found the events in iCal hard to read, but on my 11.6" MBA, they're very very hard to read. CMD + doesn't work in iCal. Any suggestions?
 
i was worried about the same thing when deciding on which version of the macbook air to get. Other than the specs are alot better on the 13" i also believed that the 11.6" is just too small for my eyes.


what i would do is change the resolution and always zoom in the text. that is what i do when im using my mac mini connected to my tv.


hope this help and good luck :)
 
Yep. Same opinion.

I was all set to buy a maxed out 11.6"...
..luckily I played with it for about 25 minutes at the Apple Store.

Eyes were hurting and I left with nothing.

Bummed.
 
No Country For Old Men ;)

Maybe we need to relabel this to No Country for Old Men topic. I'm wear bifocals so I'm going to have to check this out carefully next time at the Apple Store. Which is almost every weekend.
 
teerexx52 said:
Nope. Just worried over time if my eyes will hold up. Planning on keeping this one. One of the things I keep thinking about is that someone posted a bit back that the 13" MacBook Air's font is 6% bigger than on the 11.6". Another guy posted he went from the 11.6 to the 13 because he was having trouble reading the screen and said it made little difference. Could be that 6% difference really isn't going to help to switching to a 13" isn't going to help??? Make any sense?
Click to expand...

It does make sense, which is one of the reasons I ordered the 13-inch, 4GB, 128GB MBA because I will be looking at the screen all day. Couldn't be happier with the purchase:)
 
I agree that the lack of resolution independence is a major gripe on MacOS. If you come from Windows, it is hard to believe that MacOS fails here.

I want more pixels and a sharper image, not smaller fonts. Zooming is inacceptable, and lowering the resolution is ridiculous. Still, I find that a lot of older folks run their Macs on low resolutions, because it is easier to put up with the terrible blurriness instead of the need to put their noses to the screen.


fyrefly said:
2) Already covered above. I can only hope that OSX Lion gets Resolution Independence, so that people who don't want tiny UI elements can continue to buy macs (which seem to be headed to higher and higher resolutions).
Click to expand...

I would not hold my breath. People could already write resolution independent applications, but eventually, Apple would have to announce and enforce this. This will probable take about a year of advance notice, so we won't see it in summer.

The problems do not only apply to 3rd party applications. Most Apple applications fail miserably when you change the resolution (you can already do this using a shell command). iTunes, Finder, Dock etc. - they all need to be partially rewritten.

You can tell that Apple's developers are not preparing for this, because XCode becomes unstable when you change the resolution.
 
I change the font size all the time when I´m surfing the web, and it´s super easy.
Just "spread" two fingers horisontaly for increased size and "close" them for decreased size.
Much better than the Zoom function mentioned above as it just affects text. (Its the same as cmd & +)
Couldn´t be simpler in my opinion

(I didn´t re-read the thread, so it could be posted already)
 
I agree that Macs need resolution independence. OS X is supposed to be the most advanced OS, right?

When I moved to a Mac the small fonts drove me crazy. I found some imperfect solutions.

TinkerTool will let you increase the size of some system fonts. It doesn't work for everything and sometimes you'll notice an app where the increase font size doesn't fit properly, but for the most part it's worthwhile.

For websites, you can use that Command + idea. Firefox has a nice add on called "no squint" which will remember the font size you picked on a specific website. I wish Safari had this.

Also on Firefox I was able to use an add-on called Stylish to adjust the font sizes of the Firefox menus and tabs themselves.

Hope it helps.
 
Thanks to all the for CMD+ and "finger zooming" tips. However, I stand by the fact that it's a hassle to have to do this on potentially every site you visit in a high-rez mac (especially with a tiny 11" screen).

It changes things from:

1. Type in URL
2. Hit Enter
3. Page comes up
4. Read
5. Scroll

to:

1. Type in URL
2. Hit Enter
3. Page Comes up - has tiny text
4. CMD + (or Finger Zoom)
4a. Potentially zoom in too much - or too little. Adjust accordingly.
5. Read
6. Scroll
7. Scroll some more 'cause the text is bigger

And that's for *each* site or tab. Not an ideal solution, IMHO, but to each their own.

Gruber said:
I would not hold my breath. People could already write resolution independent applications, but eventually, Apple would have to announce and enforce this. This will probable take about a year of advance notice, so we won't see it in summer.

The problems do not only apply to 3rd party applications. Most Apple applications fail miserably when you change the resolution (you can already do this using a shell command). iTunes, Finder, Dock etc. - they all need to be partially rewritten.

You can tell that Apple's developers are not preparing for this, because XCode becomes unstable when you change the resolution.
Click to expand...

Darn. This really sucks, 'cause like you say - as the resolutions get higher and higher, the percentage of people who are putting up with a blurry crappy OS just so they don't have to put their nose to the screen to read it is just gonna get larger. :S

Well... guess there's no option for me but to turn on universal access ;)
 
teerexx52 said:
So the 13" is better for you with the 6% larger font?
Click to expand...

Yes, I noticed quite a big difference in the Apple store one day when I went on them for a long time. I was on the 11-inch for 30 minutes and found myself squinting. Then I switched to the 13-inch and it was a significant improvement. Everyone's experience will obviously be different though.
 
boonedocks said:
For websites, you can use that Command + idea. Firefox has a nice add on called "no squint" which will remember the font size you picked on a specific website. I wish Safari had this.
Click to expand...

For Chrome, there is an extension called "ZoomAll", which changes zoom setting permanently to an arbitrary value.

For Safari, you can create a style sheet to increase the magnification on all webpages, and make Safari execute this on every page you visit. Also, there might be a Safari extension by now.
 
kyleen66 said:
This.

While we don't like to admit it, our eyes do age and there comes a time to get them checked. Could be the problems with the new screen is a sign of maybe needing glasses. I know I certainly need to go get mine checked and probably adjusted to the "over 40 and you just plain need glasses" now thing.
Click to expand...

From the very beginning, I knew that what I wanted was the smaller 11.6" MBA. I kind of suspected that I would be unhappy with the small screen (my eyes are aging, yet I still read MacRumors in 'portrait mode' on my iPhone 4). I was so happy because it seemed just perfect for me when I tried it out in person at my local Best Buy.
 
I agree the font is small, but so far not having trouble with eye strain.
I have set my preferences in Safari to never use fonts smaller than 14, and that seems to work well for Safari.
For everything else I just enlarge in each application if needed by either using the command+ or just by pinching on the trackpad.
 
yoak said:
I change the font size all the time when I´m surfing the web, and it´s super easy.
Just "spread" two fingers horisontaly for increased size and "close" them for decreased size.
Much better than the Zoom function mentioned above as it just affects text. (Its the same as cmd & +)
Couldn´t be simpler in my opinion

(I didn´t re-read the thread, so it could be posted already)
Click to expand...

I just found this out! Very cool!!
 
iRun26.2 said:
Who would want to do that all of the time? I would never have ordered my 11.6" MBA had I needed to do that when I was checking one out at the store.
Click to expand...

I feel bad about making my previous comment. I thought he was was referring to the 'magnify' (control+track pad) which would be an inconvenient method to deal with the small screen. I didn't realize he was talking about increasing the font size on web-pages.

(I even make 'closed minded' responses sometimes...) :)
 
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