Pro Display XDR on my 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max

[Nomad110]

With Ventura Beta 9 it finally works !! 4k HiDPI with Pro Display XDR

No way!!! This is in the native sys pref or are you using SwitchRes X?

 

[Zorast]

I dont use SwitchResx, I use BetterDisplay. But I disable it and restart the System and did see this is possible. But i enable HiDPI 4k before in BetterDisplay, but it was never possible on Monterey 12.6 before. Yesterday I update to Ventura Beta 9 and did see it works now!!

 

[Nomad110]

I dont use SwitchResx, I use BetterDisplay. But I disable it and restart the System and did see this is possible. But i enable HiDPI 4k before in BetterDisplay, but it was never possible on Monterey 12.6 before. Yesterday I update to Ventura Beta 9 and did see it works now!!

This is greatest news ever. Can you share screen shots?

 

[Zorast]

 

[hardwickj]

@AironMan how does it look at that setting? My beef with some of the non-integer scalings is that they look too blurry.

 

[Zorast]

It looks perfect because it is in HiDPI. Only LowRes is Blurry on my Side.

 

[Nomad110]

It looks perfect because it is in HiDPI. Only LowRes is Blurry on my Side.

Awesome. Can't wait for Ventura. How is the stability @AironMan?

 

[Zorast]

Awesome. Can't wait for Ventura. How is the stability @AironMan?

U can work with the latest Beta version without any problem!

 

[Nomad110]

So I can confirm that this saga is finally over thanks to Mac OS Ventura. However it wasn't natively fixed for my MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max per what @AironMan reported from his experience with the Beta. I had to use SwitchRes X to manually enter the full 4K resolution as pixel doubled in order to get the HiDPI mode. After I did that it worked perfectly. But as far as I can tell...it's not that Apple graciously turned on hiDPI 4K mode for us on the M1 with Ventura. See the photos below and please confirm these findings on your own systems.

 

[xraydoc]

So I can confirm that this saga is finally over thanks to Mac OS Ventura. However it wasn't natively fixed for my MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max per what @AironMan reported from his experience with the Beta. I had to use SwitchRes X to manually enter the full 4K resolution as pixel doubled in order to get the HiDPI mode. After I did that it worked perfectly. But as far as I can tell...it's not that Apple graciously turned on hiDPI 4K mode for us on the M1 with Ventura. See the photos below and please confirm these findings on your own systems.

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How does one get to the "option" display settings on Ventura? Can't figure it out...

 

[Nomad110]

How does one get to the "option" display settings on Ventura? Can't figure it out...

So you cntrl-click in this area and select "show list".

 

[Zorast]

So I can confirm that this saga is finally over thanks to Mac OS Ventura. However it wasn't natively fixed for my MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max per what @AironMan reported from his experience with the Beta. I had to use SwitchRes X to manually enter the full 4K resolution as pixel doubled in order to get the HiDPI mode. After I did that it worked perfectly. But as far as I can tell...it's not that Apple graciously turned on hiDPI 4K mode for us on the M1 with Ventura. See the photos below and please confirm these findings on your own systems.

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Apple enable the option to go with 4k HiDPI, before it was not possible ! However they do not give us the option natively on Setting but with BetterDummy or SwitchResX its now possible and that is all I want !

 

[waydabber]

Yes, with BetterDisplay, you can enable 3840x2160 HiDPI - but only on M1 Pro/Max/Ultra macs. You can also enable native smooth scaling for flexible HiDPI resolutions. On the entry level M1 or M2 you still can't go beyond the native resolution (afaik).

 

[Nomad110]

So in anticipation of a potential M2 Pro (highest spec), 15" MacBook Air: Can anyone confirm here that displaying 3840x2160 HiDPI is possible with an M1 Pro? I've only actually confirmed this with a M1 Max on an Apple Pro Display XDR. From what I've see the M2 matches the capabilities of the M1 line with use higher clock speeds. Thank you in advance.

 

[Redneck1089]

I've encountered a recent issue with the Pro Display XDR using 3840x2160 HiDPI since the MacOS 14.1.1 update. Unfortunately, when viewing HDR content the entire screen dims dramatically, but the screen brightness controls do not change. More specifically, when HDR content is played on YouTube or the Photos App, particularly HDR footage from an iPhone, the screen's brightness instantly dims. As soon as the HDR content is exited, the screen's brightness returns to its normal level.

I made this post about the problem in the Pro Display XDR Owners Thread:

Have any users of an M1 Mac and a Pro Display XDR experienced screen dimming issues when viewing HDR content in hiDPI resolution, following the 14.1.1 MacOS update?

For instance, I have an M1 Max MacBook Pro connected to a Pro Display XDR, set to hiDPI (3840x2160) resolution using SwitchResX. Post-update, the screen dims noticeably whenever I watch HDR videos on YouTube or switch to the develop module in Lightroom Classic. This dimming happens without any changes to the screen brightness settings. Disabling hiDPI resolves this issue, but I prefer not to use the native resolution options.

I also wrote to SwitchResX and asked if they had noticed the issue. This is their response:

SwitchResX doesn't manage the way the screen is drawn or what video signal is sent to the monitor. It manages the commands that are sent to macOS to switch a resolution and allows editing macOS files that create resolutions, but once the resolution has been set, it just doesn't do anything (you can quit the daemon once you've changed a resolution for example, and this will not change its behavior).

So, it looks like Apple may have broken something with their most recent MacOS update. Has anyone else using 3840x2160 HiDPI encountered this problem?

 

[JeanDeFer]

Gooood afternoon everyone,

I made a similar post regarding this topic when the XDR first came out and I was driving it with my 16" MacBook Pro (Intel i9). You can see that post here.

To summarize that post, I was upgrading to the XDR from my trusty 27" LG UltraFine 5K displays which to my surprise had more usable UI screen real estate of 3200 x 1600 as compared to the 32" Pro Display XDR's usable UI real estate of 3008 x 1692. The reason is basically how Apple handles their HiDPI modes where the 5K display in "more space" mode used a <2x pixel doubling ratio and the Pro Display XDR used a proper 2x Pixel Double. Now that may be Apple's opinion of a perfect display but IMO it's just not enough UI real estate for a 32" display which I believe should be 4K (3840x2160).

Now never fear because I solved that problem using a WONDERFUL app I was happy to pay for called SwitchRes X (which is Apple Silicon optimized, YEA!). With my intel MBP I was able to simply turn on a custom resolution of 4K HiDPI mode with the XDR which forced the Mac to render 3840x2160 in HiDPI mode on the 6K display which looked marvelous.

Fast forward to receiving my absolutely maxed out MacBook Pro M1 Max and the situation isn't as elegant. It turns out that the new M1 Max Graphics system, although able to drive 3 of these amazing XDR displays, is limited to its max scaled resolution that it will drive. I did some research and it turns out that the late Intel MBPs could address a display up to 65,536 pixels wide as a scaled resolution. Unfortunately the the M1 Max (unsure about the others) are only able to address something much less than that. Turns out that it can not run the 7720 pixels wide required as a scaled resolution to drive my XDR display at 3840x2160 HiDPI. Therefor the option is simply unavailable in SwitchRes X.

Now perhaps someone smarter than I can explain why this limitation exists on such a beast of a GPU. Until then, I'll focus on what I did to resolve this since I just refuse to go back to the built in "more space" option of 3008x1692 on the XDR.

In SwitchResX there is a tab to enter in Custom Resolutions. Here you have the option to enter in specific resolutions that you can force the system to adopt (within reason). Since we knew that the scaled resolution width was something less than 7720 pixels wide I began trying 16:9 ratios of lesser resolutions that allowed for reasonable resolutions were the math would be reasonable and on 50 pixel intervals.

If the resolution was too high for the GPU to handle, it would be listed as invalid after a restart. If it was acceptable it would show active and be selectable in the Current Resolutions or under the Display Preferences when holding the Option key.

I found that the highest resolution that had reasonable scaled math and felt right on the screen was 7300 x 4106 which would give you a scaled resolution of 3650 x 2053. Now it wasn't the 4K I was wanting but close enough that I can't complain too much and actually am squinting less.

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Now I'd love to hear from the smarter folks as to why this limitation exists on such a powerful machine. Will Apple ever patch this? As far as I can tell this means that you'll never be able to drive an 8K display even over the thunderbolt ports. Can't be right?

I've included a scaled down screen shot of my desktop at this resolution on the ProDisplay XDR for reference. I really like it hence why I'm not making too much of a stink about it...but I do worry about this machine driving future 8K monitor tech that you would certainly want to drive at 4k HiDPI.

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Thanks!

The crazy thing is that my MacBook Air M1 controls the 6K without any problems. Last week apple support said, that if my M1 could handle it, M1 MAX should be able to handle it too. That's for the chip. but apparently the controller settings didn't allow it (or is that a mis interpretation?)

Hello all, RESOLVED. Go to Settings/Displays/Advanced. Toggle "show resolutions as list" ON. go back one level (to Displays) and toggle "Show all resolutions" ON. Now you have up to 6016x3384 on your XDR display and up to 3456x2223 on your system display. To bad that Apple support people (although very kind and helpful) didn't know about it.

 

[JeanDeFer]

To improve chances this will be found, I repeat my reply on reply as a plain reply

Hello all, RESOLVED. Go to Settings/Displays/Advanced. Toggle "show resolutions as list" ON. go back one level (to Displays) and toggle "Show all resolutions" ON. Now you have up to 6016x3384 on your XDR display and up to 3456x2223 on your system display. Too bad that Apple support people (although very kind and helpful) didn't know about it.