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OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Beta Contains Native 'Retina' Resolution Option for 4K Displays

I paid $1,000 for two Dell 20.1" displays some time ago (ips, very similar to apple's 20.1, same element) - and you know what? they still work brilliantly. Of course, now you can get something similar for far, far less.

Some things are worth paying for, even with the early adopter tax.
 
Solomani said:
Umm, sure they would, they are Apple customers. They would pay over $3000 for a laptop computer. Something nearly unheard of in the PC world. :D
Click to expand...

Sure THEY would? So what does that make you being here if you're not an Apple customer? Oy Vey, if only MR required people to fill out a qualifications sheet before registering. :rolleyes:

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ionjohn said:
You guys would really pay a thousand bucks for a monitor? :eek:
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Wow, you don't spend much on tech products do you? Apple's Cinema Display has always hovered around $1000. A good Eizo monitor can start at $2000. You should get out more. ;)
 
repoman27 said:
As long as your iMac has two Thunderbolt ports, it should work with all but the most recently released 60 Hz 4K displays, since they were all multiple input devices. It's just the DisplayPort 1.2 MST based displays that have shown up in the past year or so that you wouldn't be able to drive at 60 Hz. And, theoretically, someone could build a 4K display with dual Thunderbolt controllers that could be driven at 60 Hz using a single OG Thunderbolt 1 connection.
Click to expand...

Does Mavericks support driving a 4K display properly with two thunderbolt ports, though?

And will this HiDPI mode become available when run in that mode?
 
This now makes a 4K display a very viable option. Without that the 4K display was very awkward to view.
 
Watabou said:
Sure. Have you actually used an LG display? Compare that to a LG, yes, LG Display ACD. The difference is pretty astonishing. I'm not sure how Apple does it but the ACD are just better to look at.
Click to expand...

That's because you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
 
zorinlynx said:
Does Mavericks support driving a 4K display properly with two thunderbolt ports, though?

And will this HiDPI mode become available when run in that mode?
Click to expand...

It *should*. Apple claimed the following during their October 22 event:

Single and dual-input displays
Automatically configured
Click to expand...

And HiDPI modes seem to be working for the Dell UP2414Q, which is single input but uses an MST hub internally, and thus presents itself to the OS the same way as a dual-input display would.
 
repoman27 said:
It *should*. Apple claimed the following during their October 22 event:



And HiDPI modes seem to be working for the Dell UP2414Q, which is single input but uses an MST hub internally, and thus presents itself to the OS the same way as a dual-input display would.
Click to expand...

This sounds awesome. I finally might have a good reason to upgrade my aging Dell panel.

Any recommendations on good 24" or so 4K panels which are VESA mountable and have dual-displayport inputs? :)
 
ionjohn said:
You guys would really pay a thousand bucks for a monitor? :eek:
Click to expand...

Considering that my current crop of monitors are about 10 years old each, I figure that I should be able to at least get 10 years or so out of the next ones I buy. So $100/year really isn't that bad, especially for something that I use pretty much every day :)

So yeah, I would pay a $1000 for a good monitor.
 
30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display was $3,299 on release in 2004; it dropped to $1,799 a few years later. The 32" Sharp is selling for $3,595 today. They don't care about their competitors pricing so I highly doubt a $999 price point.
 
ionjohn said:
You guys would really pay a thousand bucks for a monitor? :eek:
Click to expand...

Most definitely. For those of us who spend the day in front of a computer monitor, it's hard to think of a better use for $1000. That said, I very much hope Apple releases some non-4k Retina displays at lower prices.
 
Watabou said:
I've had my share of LG and Dell displays and they're the worst. Washed out colors, blurriness, etc.

Well, let's hope it does actually start at $1000 and not higher, eh?
Click to expand...


Apple uses crappy LG screens for their laptops and iMacs, eh.

So if you buy Apple you will probably be buying an up-priced LG screen, eh.
 
ionjohn said:
You guys would really pay a thousand bucks for a monitor? :eek:
Click to expand...
No never. Not for a monitor alone. But I'd pay nearly twice as much for an Retina iMac. Does that make any sense to you? Somehow I value the same display higher, when it is inside an all-in-one.
 
Actually.

n-evo said:
Personally I don't understand why Apple won't enable this for all screens. My mom really wants an iMac but with her eyes interface elements are just too small. Lowering the resolution or magnifying makes everything look blurry (waste of the iMac's screen) and increasing text size won't affect the interface.
Click to expand...

It is actually possible to enable hi-dpi mode (retina) on all Macs. If you try it out, you'll understand why Apple don't enable it though... You have to run at a quarter the full resolution in terms of working area, and for the non-retina displays, that's not all that usable. In case you want to try and turn on hi-dpi mode though:

Easy way:
1: download Xcode and Quartz debug
2: Open the Quartz debugger
3: Click "Window" in the menu bar, and pick "UI Resolutions".
4: There's a button that says: "Enable Hi-DPI mode" tick this
5: Now enter your password and System Preferences should have new resolution options for Hi-DPI mode.

Harder way:
1: Open Terminal
2: Type "sudo defaults write /library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist DisplayResolutionEnabled -bool true"
3: You will be prompted for your password and asked to either reboot or log out all users

Beware! Some users have reported problems using the terminal command. If anything goes wrong in the process, using the Terminal method, you will have to boot into single user mode to correct it.

Link to a guide for the Terminal method: http://cocoamanifest.net/articles/2013/01/turn-on-hidpi-retina-mode-on-an-ordinary-mac.html

Link to a guide for the Quartz Debug method: http://www.mactrast.com/2013/01/how-to-enable-retina-graphics-on-a-non-retina-mac/
 
Display menu is free from the App Store and much easier...

http://displaymenu.milchimgemuesefach.de/


casperes1996 said:
It is actually possible to enable hi-dpi mode (retina) on all Macs. If you try it out, you'll understand why Apple don't enable it though... You have to run at a quarter the full resolution in terms of working area, and for the non-retina displays, that's not all that usable. In case you want to try and turn on hi-dpi mode though:

Easy way:
1: download Xcode and Quartz debug
2: Open the Quartz debugger
3: Click "Window" in the menu bar, and pick "UI Resolutions".
4: There's a button that says: "Enable Hi-DPI mode" tick this
5: Now enter your password and System Preferences should have new resolution options for Hi-DPI mode.

Harder way:
1: Open Terminal
2: Type "sudo defaults write /library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist DisplayResolutionEnabled -bool true"
3: You will be prompted for your password and asked to either reboot or log out all users

Beware! Some users have reported problems using the terminal command. If anything goes wrong in the process, using the Terminal method, you will have to boot into single user mode to correct it.

Link to a guide for the Terminal method: http://cocoamanifest.net/articles/2013/01/turn-on-hidpi-retina-mode-on-an-ordinary-mac.html

Link to a guide for the Quartz Debug method: http://www.mactrast.com/2013/01/how-to-enable-retina-graphics-on-a-non-retina-mac/
Click to expand...
 
10.9.3 beta graphic drivers work perfect on our Mac Pro (Late 2013) with Sharp 32" PN-K321 4K display (DisplayPort 1.2 MST) Currently using 2560 x 1440 scaled setting...text is sharp and clear, menus are sized correctly for our normal computer, developer, and graphic use. Wow..it feels like we have a new computer this morning!

3200 x 1800 is the next choice for those wanting more screen real estate and still have readable menus. The Native resolution 3840 by 2160 good for video and photo editing but menus are small for my eyes. 10.9.3 beta is a big step in the right direction.
 
kristoffer4 said:
I wonder how much of a performance hit a MBP R13" would take if it would have to drive an external 4K screen? :confused:
Click to expand...

Given that the 13" rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU it might take a good hit if you are trying to drive both the laptop display and the 4k external display. That is a ton of pixels.

I'd be curious if the option was even there to run an external display at 4k in the 13" rMBP's.


I dont' understand why so many people dismiss 4k displays as not that big of an improvement.

They are one of those things that once you use it there is no going back. Kind of like being forced to watch a TV show in SD. You don't really realize how bad SD is till you see HD.
 
zorinlynx said:
This sounds awesome. I finally might have a good reason to upgrade my aging Dell panel.

Any recommendations on good 24" or so 4K panels which are VESA mountable and have dual-displayport inputs? :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. The Dell UP2414Q is pretty much right there, but in order to use two inputs you'd have to use one DP and one HDMI input and enable Picture by Picture (PBP) mode. I doubt this would work too well since the timing sources would be different.

On a totally different note, I wonder what the effective resolutions of the other scaled settings are for 3840x2160 displays?

Answer:

All scaled resolutions are "HiDPI" and rendered at 4x resolution (2x in each dimension).
3840 x 2160 (Native)
3200 x 1800 (Looks like 3200 x 1800)
2560 x 1440 (Looks like 2560 x 1440)
1920 x 1080 (Looks like 1920 x 1080)
1280 x 720 (Larger Text / Looks like 1280 x 720)

edit: blackhawk10 beat me to the punch with the other two intermediate resolutions.
edit 2: And Anandtech has posted a more thorough rundown.
 
Last edited:
Watabou said:
Sure. Have you actually used an LG display? Compare that to a LG, yes, LG Display ACD. The difference is pretty astonishing. I'm not sure how Apple does it but the ACD are just better to look at.
Click to expand...

c a l i b r a t i o n . . .:apple:
 
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