RMBP - External HD display resolution issue

[Bhang]

I know there are a ton of threads dedicated to this issue and I have scoured a good many of them. Most of them give the exact same remedies but NONE of them actually do any good. I have 2 MBP's. A 13" from 2010 and a brand new one I purchased in 2015. I have yet to find a way to get this new RMBP to display text on my external monitor anywhere near as good as my 2010 MBP. This is baffling to me. Text just looks terrible and strains the eyes to use. I have tried changing anti-aliasing, text smoothing and even a script that forces RGB mode. ( something about HDMI defaulting its color profile for a TV rather than a monitor). This also did nothing to make text clearer. Is there ANY way to get my external 1920x1080 monitor to look as good through my late 2014 MBP as my 5 year old 13" on the same display?
😕

UPDATE: I resolved this issue by using a DVI to HDMI adapter. I don't know why this worked but it worked like a charm.

 

[yjchua95]

I know there are a ton of threads dedicated to this issue and I have scoured a good many of them. Most of them give the exact same remedies but NONE of them actually do any good. I have 2 MBP's. A 13" from 2010 and a brand new one I purchased in 2015. I have yet to find a way to get this new RMBP to display text on my external monitor anywhere near as good as my 2010 MBP. This is baffling to me. Text just looks terrible and strains the eyes to use. I have tried changing anti-aliasing, text smoothing and even a script that forces RGB mode. ( something about HDMI defaulting its color profile for a TV rather than a monitor). This also did nothing to make text clearer. Is there ANY way to get my external 1920x1080 monitor to look as good through my late 2014 MBP as my 5 year old 13" on the same display?
😕

First, make sure you're not mirroring.

Second, make sure that OS X is set to run on the external display's native resolution.

 

[Bhang]

I have done all of that to no avail, however I did find a solution. It has something to do with HDMI. As soon as I use an HDMI to DVI adapter it works flawlessly. I don't know why I haven't seen any mention of this solution online, but it is probably there somewhere. I'm just glad I finally got it to work.
Thanks, none the less, for your reply.

 

[segalas]

First, make sure you're not mirroring.

Second, make sure that OS X is set to run on the external display's native resolution.

yj--

I may have this issue with mirroring. It is possible to display the content on my external monitor without mirroring? I bought the Dell u2715h and at 2560x1440, i am surprised to see grainy/fuzzy text, even with mDP to DP running the forced RGB mode script.

Thanks.

 

[JTToft]

yj--

I may have this issue with mirroring. It is possible to display the content on my external monitor without mirroring? I bought the Dell u2715h and at 2560x1440, i am surprised to see grainy/fuzzy text, even with mDP to DP running the forced RGB mode script.

Thanks.

- Certainly, yes. There's a checkbox in your Display preferences for enabling/disabling screen mirroring.
With mirroring, both displays have to run at the same resolution, hence why one may see fuzzy text on the one that runs at below its native resolution.

(I have the same monitor as yours, but in the 25", so do let me know if you need any assistance.)

 

[segalas]

- Certainly, yes. There's a checkbox in your Display preferences for enabling/disabling screen mirroring.
With mirroring, both displays have to run at the same resolution, hence why one may see fuzzy text on the one that runs at below its native resolution.

(I have the same monitor as yours, but in the 25", so do let me know if you need any assistance.)

Thanks for that info, I will let you know what I find when I get home. It has been bugging me since last week.

 

[segalas]

- Certainly, yes. There's a checkbox in your Display preferences for enabling/disabling screen mirroring.
With mirroring, both displays have to run at the same resolution, hence why one may see fuzzy text on the one that runs at below its native resolution.

(I have the same monitor as yours, but in the 25", so do let me know if you need any assistance.)

Still experiencing issues. Where do I check on this mirroring, etc?

See attached.

 

[segalas]

Also,

What # is your sharpness set to on your Dell U2515h?

Did you apply the $defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int # ?

 

[JTToft]

Still experiencing issues. Where do I check on this mirroring, etc?

See attached.

- Mirroring only applies when you use more than one monitor (external plus MacBook Pro's own, for example). It appears you only use one.
There has to be more than one monitor for it to be possible to mirror the image from one to the next. If you had been using more than one, you would see it here (screenshot below).

(Your monitor does run at native resolution, so on that front, you're all good.)

Also,

What # is your sharpness set to on your Dell U2515h?

Did you apply the $defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int # ?

- 50 % sharpness, factory default. I find that looks best.

- No, I did not. Does that do something different than the font smoothing option in Sys. Pref.?

Also, are you quite sure the perceived fuzziness doesn't simply result from you being used to the crispness of your Retina Display, and then finding everything else looks bad?

 

[Bhang]

Sorry for not responding sooner, but the issue has been fixed. I assume an update fixed it at some point. I turned of having separate desktops for some time and just recently retried using it and its now working fine. Issue resolved.
Thanks for all of your help!