Windows 8 Snap on retina MacBook Pro

[skaertus]

I am just curious...

I have a laptop with a screen resolution of 1920x1080 in which I installed Windows 8. The Windows Snap feature (http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-feature-focus-snap) is nearly unusable for real multi-tasking at this resolution, and it would only be useful for previewing other apps. The snapped apps are so small that can be barely viewed even at 1920x1080.

I was wondering if it is possible to really use this feature in a MacBook Pro with a retina display, as the much higher resolution would allow the tiny letters on the snapped app to be readable. I wonder, for instance, if a PDF file or a website would be readable on a 2560x1600 or 2880x1800 resolution.

Has anybody thought of that, or even tested that? If someone could put some screenshots showing how it looks on such resolutions, I would be grateful.

 

[dusk007]

How small is you screen? Windows should detect them on its own.
There is one very simple switch and in theory you can set even higher DPI.

Go to PC Settings (mouse upper right corner and the gears) -> Ease of Access
-> Make everything on your screen larger.

I think the default switch is from 100 to 140%. Windows 8 supports more but they don't show in the easy settings.
This setting only affects the Modern UI such as the snap area but changes nothing about the Desktop DPI. Those you need to change separately.

On a 23" screen that size looks ridiculous, on a 13" I imagine it might just be right. On 15" I guess I would stick with the default. Windows 8 should detect most resolutions by default if they are really high. An 11.6" at 1080p would be set to 180 or 200% by default.
I don't know how it would react on a 15" retina if you run it at native res but there is definitely a setting to make it work. The settings for the small screens would work just fine there. 180% might be even to big for some people.

 

[skaertus]

How small is you screen? Windows should detect them on its own.
There is one very simple switch and in theory you can set even higher DPI.

Go to PC Settings (mouse upper right corner and the gears) -> Ease of Access
-> Make everything on your screen larger.

I think the default switch is from 100 to 140%. Windows 8 supports more but they don't show in the easy settings.
This setting only affects the Modern UI such as the snap area but changes nothing about the Desktop DPI. Those you need to change separately.

On a 23" screen that size looks ridiculous, on a 13" I imagine it might just be right. On 15" I guess I would stick with the default. Windows 8 should detect most resolutions by default if they are really high. An 11.6" at 1080p would be set to 180 or 200% by default.
I don't know how it would react on a 15" retina if you run it at native res but there is definitely a setting to make it work. The settings for the small screens would work just fine there. 180% might be even to big for some people.

I've already tried that, but that doesn't solve the problem of readability. The DPI is still too low for text to be readable in snapped apps.

 

[bill-p]

Has anybody thought of that, or even tested that? If someone could put some screenshots showing how it looks on such resolutions, I would be grateful.

Well, you asked for it.

Now feel sorry for your network bandwidth and screen resolution...

All you gotta do is set DPI scaling to 199% (200% causes the cursor to glitch out).

Works even under Windows 7. The result is actually pretty astounding.

I run Win 8 in VMWare just to test it out occasionally. Win 7 is my main gaming force (obviously), so it's on Bootcamp, hence the "limitation" of 2880 x 1800.

 

[skaertus]

Thank you. These screenshots look great.

Have you used the Windows Snap function under Windows 8? Are PDFs or websites readable at the tiny portion of the screen with such a high resolution?

 

[bill-p]

Yeah, it's readable. You can see from the 3rd screenshot how "large" texts would look by zooming the image to 50%.

But that's at 1920 x 1200 scaled mode. Obviously it looks larger and more readable at 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050 scaled modes.

 

[dusk007]

I've already tried that, but that doesn't solve the problem of readability. The DPI is still too low for text to be readable in snapped apps.

I only tried the weather and stocks app but it is so big that even on an 11" screen I think I could easily read it. 13" would be just normal text size.
The snap area is set such that it leaves about a 4:3 screen in the big area. That is only so much space.

Have you used the Windows Snap function under Windows 8? Are PDFs or websites readable at the tiny portion of the screen with such a high resolution?

How should websites ever be readable in such a small space. PDFs have seemless zoom to any zoom level but obviously the small snap is menat to be used for stuff like skype, newsfeeds, stocks, email inbox. Stuff that displays bits of information and that usually displays at very readable font size.
If you are actually trying to read a website in the small snap area you will run into a problem regardless of screen size of resolution. With a lower resolution you couldn't read anything either because it would be all fuzzy.

What screen size do you actually have and what are you trying to accomplish?

 

[skaertus]

What screen size do you actually have and what are you trying to accomplish?

I do have a 15.6" screen with a 1920x1080 resolution. A PDF, for instance, is unreadable at this resolution. But with a 2880x1800 resolution, it might be readable, even though the letters are small.

 

[dusk007]

Now I understand you. I thought the font size is too small like I think everyone else but you worry about wether the text is sharp enough to be actually readable even in that tiny small space.

@bill-p You should snap some pdf to the left or right and post a screenshot of that. That should show how fuzzy the fonts are.

Visual Studio 12 has a simulator but I don't have it installed right now.

 

[bill-p]

Well, fonts are not fuzzy. But ClearType can make them look... very small:

This is at 2880 x 1800:

And here's a shot on OSX for comparison:

You may have to tweak ClearType a lot in order to make certain documents readable.