Text too small on MBA M1

[phl92]

My new MBA M1 13" is showing text for me (mostly in Safari browser) too small.
I used Command + most of the times to zoom in, but this leads sometimes to text places appearing out of alignment (especially in Google Docs and other text Apps.)
I also found that in Apple System preferences --> Monitors --> I can decrease the resolution. I tested this and this helps actually. But is this draining my battery more than the Default resolution?

Are there other options?

 

[crispApple]

You can use the trackpad to zoom in, just pinch and zoom like on your iPhone (or other smart phone). Don't know if it will help or not.

 

[Osamede]

My new MBA M1 13" is showing text for me (mostly in Safari browser) too small.
I used Command + most of the times to zoom in, but this leads sometimes to text places appearing out of alignment (especially in Google Docs and other text Apps.)
I also found that in Apple System preferences --> Monitors --> I can decrease the resolution. I tested this and this helps actually. But is this draining my battery more than the Default resolution?

Are there other options?

No its not "draining" your battery.

First port of call is to go to display settings and pick a resolution that makes the UI, Finder and the text in browser work for you most of the time, at 100% without adjustments.

Then for step 2 you can adjust the Finder font size further in Finder settings and then adjust safari display/zoom settings.

But first do step 1.

 

[Toutou]

The default scaling on newer MacBooks can feel a little small, feel free to use a lower one. It's actually draining the battery less, as the computer has to render less pixels, but the difference is negligible.

 

[JayElDee]

But by going to a lower resolution on display, doesn't that effectively reduce the resolution of the retina display?

 

[calstanford]

Change your settings to this and everything will be better, bigger, sharper because this is the actual native resolution (2560x1600) of the display. "Default" uses a scaled version.

 

[JayElDee]

But by going to a lower resolution on display, doesn't that effectively reduce the resolution of the retina display?

bump, meaning reduce the resolution for video output?

 

[Toutou]

But by going to a lower resolution on display, doesn't that effectively reduce the resolution of the retina display?

The physical resolution of the display is 2560x1600. macOS is set to "Looks like 1440 x 900" by default, which means that macOS renders a 2880x1800 image (exactly two times the 1440x900 virtual screen) and shrinks it down to the actual 2560x1600 resolution.

This allows you to use more screen estate, but the image is slightly blurrier, because each physical pixel of the 2560x1600 display doesn't exactly correspond to a single pixel in the 2880x1800 source.

If you lower the resolution to "Looks like 1280 x 800", which takes the virtual size of your screen down from 1440px wide to 1280px wide, everything will look a little larger and macOS will render the 1280x800 virtual screen to a 2560x1600 image and it will display the image perfectly 1:1 on the physical 2560x1600 display. This is actually the sharpest setting available, because there is no scaling involved. This is what macOS used to be set to by default until a few years ago when they changed the default to the scaled "Looks like 1440 x 900" option.

If you go even lower to the "Looks like 1024x640", then you're actually losing both screen estate and physical pixels, but that resolution is only useful if you're somehow visually impaired and you need everything to be HUGE, which also means you won't care about the almost imperceptible sharpness loss.

 

[JayElDee]

Thank you!
I changed the "scaled" res to Looks Like 1280x800, and as you say things got bigger as I wanted. So, that looks fine. And it looks sharp.
How does this affect video output, for example, if I am HDMI-ing out to a large screen TV?
Is this still the

actually the sharpest setting available, because there is no scaling involved.

and will it hold up under zooming in on an image, or am I losing something? The outputted TV display is 4k.

If I read you correctly, it sounds like this: the 1280x800 is slightly less than the 1440x900 in resolution, BUT when displayed on the retina's 2560x1600 changes are made to the pixel layout to make it "fit" on the display, thus some pixels are "compromised" resulting in actually lessened sharpness. Square peg round hole kinda thing?

Very much appreciate your input and thanks again
John

 

[Amethyst1]

How does this affect video output, for example, if I am HDMI-ing out to a large screen TV?

You'll get a completely separate set of scaling settings for an external 4K monitor/TV. The "default" pixel-perfect setting ("looks like 1920x1080" for a 4K screen) will still be the sharpest though.

the 1280x800 is slightly less than the 1440x900 in resolution, BUT when displayed on the retina's 2560x1600 changes are made to the pixel layout to make it "fit" on the display, thus some pixels are "compromised" resulting in actually lessened sharpness.

This applies to any scaled setting other than the pixel-perfect "looks like 1280x800" one.