Macbook Pro Retina Screen Like Macbook Air

[tech324]

When I look at macbooks, I notice the fonts, windows, etc looks smaller on the 13 inch macbook air than the 13 inch macbook pro with retina. I like how clear the retina screen is but I don't like how everything looks big on the pro retina.

Can you make the retina screen on the macbook pro look like the macbook air?

 

[christarp]

When I look at macbooks, I notice the fonts, windows, etc looks smaller on the 13 inch macbook air than the 13 inch macbook pro with retina. I like how clear the retina screen is but I don't like how everything looks big on the pro retina.

Can you make the retina screen on the macbook pro look like the macbook air?

Yep, system preferences -> displays -> scaled resolution slider

Most likely you're seeing retina macbook pros at "Best for Display" setting, which is a 2:1 pixel scaling. IE you get the desktop space of 1280x800 at a resolution of 2560x1600.

I personally use my 13" rMBP at a "scaled resolution" of 1680x1050. The way retina then works is it renders everything at 3360x2100 and scales it down to a 2560x1600 resolution to fit in the screen, so you get the desktop space of 1680x1050 at 2560x1600 pixels.

macbook airs have a 1440x900 resolution (higher than the 2:1 pixel scaling of 1280x800, so while text on a rMBP will look sharper, it will also appear "bigger". using the higher scaled resolutions will essentially give you more desktop space and make everything smaller while still retaining quite sharp quality.