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Pro Display XDR on my 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max
- Thread starter Nomad110
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This is good stuff Allen. Would you mind posting a screen shot of your custom resolution entry into SwitchResX? I thought I tried this one but I couldn't get it to work. It's possible that I just stopped when I ran into the first one that didn't work assuming that nothing higher would work. BTW...I agree with you 100% that the BetterDummy solution is not viable...too many side effects.
Yeah, here's a screenshot of what I'm using, plus the latest batch of resolutions I was trying.
It's honestly a bit weird that there would be some sort of limit @ the 4K HiDPI resolution, as BetterDummy shows that it's certainly not the hardware that would be a problem rendering at those resolutions. SwitchResX's documentation hints that the way it works is by running a custom resolution through macOS's boot-up checks, and invalidates anything that doesn't pass those tests. I couldn't find anything that documented exactly what the XDR display itself (and I'm pretty sure it's specific to this monitor) would invalidate, but that would be key in figuring out which resolutions we'd actually be able to set.
No, I'm running a M1 Pro MBP 16".
It's only another 80 px more, so in reality I don't think it's that much difference. Don't see any artifacts, though, which is nice.
Just tried it and doesn't work. Since BetterDummy is able to go way higher than this I'd like to think there isn't so much a max resolution that we're hitting, but just the bunch of numbers that get marked as invalid through some combination of M1 + XDR checks.
The difference between BetterDummy and the SwitchResX route is that BetterDummy simulates a screen with a certain native resolution, say, "8K", so a "4K" HiDPI mode is simply pixel-doubling, with no downscaling required. On the other hand, defining a scaled resolution in SwitchResX and using the HiDPI mode that goes along with it implies downscaling a framebuffer the size of the scaled resolution to the XDR's native (6K) resolution. And the limits for both routes may well be different - in my experience (with Intel Macs), they are. I apologise if you've already known all this.
Hey @allenmhc - BetterDummy developer here. I am sorry about that, I tried every way I could think of to somehow get around the sleep bug in macOS regarding mirrored virtual displays but simply found no alternative to the current solution (which messes up window locations). To be fair, both the messing up and the spaces issue (which is an other macOS bug I can't do much about) happens with multiple displays only (when there is an other display alongside the mirrored set), so for ppl who use only their external displays on M1 (with their macbook with clamshell mode or their mini) the app works mostly fine. I hope for a fix for all these things in future macOS versions but I understand if it is not Apple's highest priority and I have no way of pushing it really.
Ah, that's a good point—you're right in that the codepaths are almost certainly different, and that a hardware downscaling step explains why this problem is specific to the XDR itself.The difference between BetterDummy and the SwitchResX route is that BetterDummy simulates a screen with a certain native resolution, say, "8K", so a "4K" HiDPI mode is simply pixel-doubling, with no downscaling required. On the other hand, defining a scaled resolution in SwitchResX and using the HiDPI mode that goes along with it implies downscaling a framebuffer the size of the scaled resolution to the XDR's native (6K) resolution. And the limits for both routes may well be different - in my experience (with Intel Macs), they are. I apologise if you've already known all this.
Will keep poking around, though I think the holy grail is finding some documentation on either the monitor or the LG panel itself!
Hey @stevemr123, thanks for all your help so far, and yeah—I empathize that at this point, we're at the point of trying to reverse-engineer and hack around issues in the operating system, which is inherently janky and error-prone. I try to get some perspective by reminding myself that this is basically the most first world of first world problems.Hey @allenmhc - BetterDummy developer here. I am sorry about that, I tried every way I could think of to somehow get around the sleep bug in macOS regarding mirrored virtual displays but simply found no alternative to the current solution (which messes up window locations). To be fair, both the messing up and the spaces issue (which is an other macOS bug I can't do much about) happens with multiple displays only (when there is an other display alongside the mirrored set), so for ppl who use only their external displays on M1 (with their macbook with clamshell mode or their mini) the app works mostly fine. I hope for a fix for all these things in future macOS versions but I understand if it is not Apple's highest priority and I have no way of pushing it really.
The downscaling occurs before the image is output to the monitor. The monitor is always driven at the native resolution. You can verify this in SwitchResX by double-clicking on any scaled mode in the "Available resolutions" tab. This reveals the timing parameters of the native resolution and at the bottom it says "Scaled" and indicates the framebuffer size. So the limit with regards to downscaled framebuffer dimensions may be irrespective of the monitor's native resolution. My tests on Intel Macs suggest this to be the case.
If, on the other hand, you were trying to feed the XDR an actual "8K" mode in order to run "4K" HiDPI by simply pixel-doubling, I'd fully expect the monitor itself to be the limiting factor.
Got it. According to this then, the limitation we're running into is how much the M1s allow the resolution to get, as it's running into limits with the size of the framebuffer in just sheer numbers of pixels it'd have to render in HiDPI (which will be approx. 4x the actual UI size). Then it makes me wonder whether the # of external monitors a M1 chip supports affects the possible resolutions available; e.g., M1 vanilla vs. Pro vs. Max can support different #s of external monitors.
Incidentally, I found another resolution that works in SwitchResX: 7476 x 4206.
So, a height of 4206 is OK but 4214 is not.
Question: since a width of 7680 is possible (7680×3240 for 3840×1620 HiDPI) - can you test if SwitchResX accepts 7680×4206? I know it's the wrong aspect ratio and would look weird on the XDR, I'm just wondering if SwitchResX allows it.
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Yes it is, i test it and did not get better results at all. Only 1 pixel more does not work anymore! Apple limited the max resolution we can get here. Only with BetterDummy u can get more. I just use now 3740x2098 HiDPI and compare it with BetterDummy 4k. In 4k u have a little more space, but u only realize that when u switch between 4k and 3740x2098. In cm i see a difference around the screen about 1cm more space.
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Cool. That's not quite a 16:9 aspect ratio and might look a little weird on the XDR. 7474×4204 is as close to 16:9 as possible given that width.
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Did someone figure out HiDPI Resolution for the Internat Display in Aspect Ratio 14:9 ?
I created a new Post but no-one answers. Have some trouble there.
forums.macrumors.com
I created a new Post but no-one answers. Have some trouble there.
MacBook Pro M1 16/14, Aspect=14:9, HiDPI Resolutions with Internal Display
Hi guys, iam on MBPro 16 M1 MAX. Just make some tests to get more HiDPI options in aspect: 14:9 But i can only set 14:9 with HiDPI 5248x3392 with SwitchResX. When i want to add another resolutions in 14:9 they do only accept that as 16:10. I want to add something between 4672x3020 and...
forums.macrumors.com
Hi,
so I got the Mac Book Pro 14 M1 Pro now and as a Monitor the LG38WN95C-W.
If I connect via Thunderbolt, HDMI or Displayport, the text is fuzzy/blurry.
The Monitor settings:
- 3840 x 1600
- 21:9
- 144hz
I have done:
- Disabled font font smoothing
- Changed in SwitchResX to 3840x1600, 144hz without HiDPI
but not really a huge improvement. I´m reading here different methods of SwitchResX and BetterDummy Can someone help me if there is a solution to make it work with either of the methods? What do I need to do in SwitchResX or Better Dummy with my Monitor and MacBook Pro 14 to make it workable?
so I got the Mac Book Pro 14 M1 Pro now and as a Monitor the LG38WN95C-W.
If I connect via Thunderbolt, HDMI or Displayport, the text is fuzzy/blurry.
The Monitor settings:
- 3840 x 1600
- 21:9
- 144hz
I have done:
- Disabled font font smoothing
- Changed in SwitchResX to 3840x1600, 144hz without HiDPI
but not really a huge improvement. I´m reading here different methods of SwitchResX and BetterDummy Can someone help me if there is a solution to make it work with either of the methods? What do I need to do in SwitchResX or Better Dummy with my Monitor and MacBook Pro 14 to make it workable?
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Unfortunately that's to be expected because the monitor only has 110 ppi, which is far too low for macOS' HiDPI modes with their vastly better font rendering to be enabled OOTB.
You can try to enable a HiDPI mode but that will sacrifice some screen estate.
Example: For a 3072×1280 HiDPI mode (which gives you 80% of your native screen estate), add a scaled mode of 6144×2560 in SwitchResX, i.e. it has to be exactly twice as wide and twice as tall as the HiDPI mode you want to use. Once that has been successfully added (SwitchResX will need to show it as "Active"), a 3072×1280 HiDPI mode will become accessible on the "Available Resolutions" tab.
If you want to go the BetterDummy route, add a virtual monitor with a native resolution of, again, 6144×2560.
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Plz look here:
Fuzzy text with LG 38WN95C-W + Base 14" MBP M1 Pro
These are some in-depth tests! Really appreciated. Thanks for your extensive explanations. After doing some testing and taking into account stevemr123's response about the scaling algorithms I've decided to play a little more with the font smoothing (turning it completely off) and not using...
forums.macrumors.com
Thanks.
I tried HiDPI with 3840x1600 before. Based on your suggestion I should try to add a scale to SwitchResX of
6144x2560?
Because you have mentioned double the resolution. So I should not enter 7680x3200?
A 3840×1600 HiDPI mode? Was text rendered acceptably?
That would be for 3840×1600 HiDPI, i.e. the same as the monitor’s native resolution which only provides a (very) slight improvement in my experience. By going for a lower-than-native HiDPI mode, there should be a more noticeable difference.
“Double the resolution”, in this case, refers to the HiDPI mode you want to try, not your monitor’s native resolution. The monitor is always driven at its native resolution regardless of the HiDPI mode used.
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