Phil2003

Q: External monitor = blurry fonts

Hi,

 

Im quite satisfied with my first OSX product, a macbook pro 13". But i want to use it mainly with my 27" external Samsung LCD, which is

quite frustrating as the fonts are totaly blurry compared to Win7.

 

Things of interest:

 

Macbook Pro 13" Mid 2012

OSX = Montain Lion 10.8.2

Adapter: Official Apple Adapter mini-dvi -> HDMI

Ext.Monitor resolution: 1920x1080 native

Tried changing the fonts with Tinkertool

Tried changing the font smoothing via System settings and Tinkertool

Tried changing my monitors settings (AV/PC, sharpness, etc)

 

On the macbook everything looks fine.

 

Any hint?

 

Thanks

Phil

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 6:21 AM

Close

Q: External monitor = blurry fonts

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 4 of 4
  • by blacksd,

    blacksd blacksd Oct 8, 2015 12:07 PM in response to lunard
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 12:07 PM in response to lunard

    This is pretty much the same I have observed: a Windows 10 Enterprise VM running in Parallels Desktop full screen on an external monitor is perfectly fine, with or without the edid fix the fonts are clear and extremely good looking. If I switch to another desktop on OS X, with the same settings, the fonts are terribly blurry.

    This is not what I expected from a top-of-the-notch machine. I'll use it on a bootcamp partition as much as I'll have to, and sell it as soon as possible.

  • by Bokajip1,

    Bokajip1 Bokajip1 Oct 15, 2015 6:29 AM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2015 6:29 AM in response to Phil2003

    So just to make sure? There is no official solution to this problem yet?

     

    I have the exact same problem. And i tried everything! even spend some money to try with different cable solutions.

     

    Running: el capitan btw

  • by sweejin,

    sweejin sweejin Oct 15, 2015 7:43 AM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2015 7:43 AM in response to Phil2003

    I don't know if this has been shared on this thread (sorry, I didn't read through the entire post), but if you're using a Dell LCD monitor, or perhaps other brands, perhaps this can help:

     

    http://www.ireckon.net/2013/03/force-rgb-mode-in-mac-os-x-to-fix-the-picture-qua lity-of-an-external-monitor

  • by pycckuu,

    pycckuu pycckuu Oct 17, 2015 11:49 AM in response to sal_manilla
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 17, 2015 11:49 AM in response to sal_manilla

    I think it is a bit late, but did you solve your problem with Dell u2412m and os x? I use mini-display to dvi adapter. The fonts are blurry. Will the new display port cable help?

  • by mikepieronek,

    mikepieronek mikepieronek Oct 25, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Phil2003

    I have a Dell U2412 monitor. I had a same problems with blurry fonts. Well, they weren't blurry as much as too high a contrast. White outlines around my black type. My solutions was to adjust the Sharpening feature of the monitor. By default it was set to 50. I set it to 0 and now everything looks fine.

  • by wather_mac,

    wather_mac wather_mac Dec 5, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 5, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Phil2003

    I have just purchased a Dell U2715H, and have exactly the same problem, with a brand new Mac Book Pro 15" with Retina display. I've tried the hack by setting the LCD font smoothing, and also the Display hack posted on ireckon - Absolutely no difference what so ever in the fonts looking blurred. However, looking at About this MAC, I now noticed after the ireckon hack, that my graphics card doesn't display the external as a TV!

     

    I have one question to Apple - How, can they not get this sorted? Surely, they must have the same problem with people buying the Mac Mini (or is this a dedicated graphics card).

     

    I've been an IMAC user for many a year, and now need to be more portable, due to a change in role at work, and when back at home, need the extra real estate  an external monitor provides.

     

    Apple, clearly state that we shouldn't be having this problem, as they state that 4k devices are supported - this is not a 4k monitor, and it looks awful.

     

    What gives!

  • by SneakPeak,

    SneakPeak SneakPeak Dec 14, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Dec 14, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Phil2003

    Hello All,

     

    I have a dell U2412M.  It worked fantastically with my old Windows 10 Lenovo B570 laptop.  I bought a MacBook Pro (non retina display) as for me it was an upgrade form my old corei3 processor with a maximum ram limit of 8GB.  I use Adobe creative cloud and I wanted the more powerful processor and the ability to put in 16GB of ram.  I can't afford the retina display, plus I do almost all my work on my external monitor so I thought there would be no issue. 

     

    I bought a kanex mini display port to VGA adaptor.  The fonts were terrible.  I tried all the solutions posted on this thread with no noticeable improvement.  I then went to the i-store and bought an apple mini display port to dvi adaptor and used the dvi cable supplied with my monitor.  There is a very slight improvement but nothing to get too excited about.

     

    I am really disappointed as I thought Apple was supposed to be this absolutely fantastic product.  Expensive but really impressive.  I like the way photoshop works on my new machine but my eyes are getting roasted by staring at these horrible fonts on my external monitor. 

     

    Some are worse than others.  I have noticed that fonts seem to render slightly better in Safari than they do in google chrome.  I really wish there was a solution to this.

     

    Very disappointed new Mac owner.

     

    Cheers

     

    SneakPeak

  • by SwiftPanda,

    SwiftPanda SwiftPanda Jan 1, 2016 5:34 PM in response to wather_mac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 5:34 PM in response to wather_mac

    This is exactly what I am experiencing.

    I have detailed it in here: http://mserdur.blogspot.com.tr/2015/12/macbook-pro-retina-15-el-capitan-with.htm l

  • by vvojtek,

    vvojtek vvojtek Jan 4, 2016 12:31 AM in response to SwiftPanda
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 4, 2016 12:31 AM in response to SwiftPanda

    I had the same issue. Thank for the solution link. Now my Dell monitor working OK with Mac OS.

     

    btw.

    Apple should fix this problem since many users reported issues. I am new in Mac OS universe and everyday I have some new disappointed, one day i discovered hibernation not working another day iscsi only works when you extra pay .... ....

  • by sb020397,

    sb020397 sb020397 Jan 21, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Phil2003

    This is super disappointing as I own 4 2713hm Dell Monitors.   For some reason I decided to buy to iMac 27 5K computers.  One for home and one for the office.   2 of the Dell's are connected to each.

     

    The monitors in el capitan do not need the RGB fix.   The OS does it correctly.  The issue after 3 days of lost productivity is that the main system font is designed for the retina display.   Found a way to get the lucinda font installed which cleaned up my dells but ruined the retina.

     

    With apple care I have 2500 spent on each machine.  $5000!

     

    I'm furious.  I made the switch simply because I love the iPhone and the integration with the mac is excellent.

     

    Surely this can be fixed.   I've exhausted google trying to resolve.  Guess I am going to switch back to my Windows PC.   Very disappointing.  Wish android felt better to me as I could use that with my windows pc and accomplish much of the same but that is a hard switch after using an iPhone from day one.

  • by Zemelia,

    Zemelia Zemelia Feb 3, 2016 1:30 PM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 3, 2016 1:30 PM in response to Phil2003

    Have same issue with MacBook Pro "15, external monitor rendering is extra bad.

    This solution http://mserdur.blogspot.com.tr/2015/12/macbook-pro-retina-15-el-capitan-with.htm l doesn't works for me

  • by SteveYellowSports,

    SteveYellowSports SteveYellowSports Mar 1, 2016 4:26 PM in response to Phil2003
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 4:26 PM in response to Phil2003

    71UbBS-GVZL._SL1500_.jpg

    I just received this monitor this morning and have it connected to my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, late 2013) with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2GB video card running El Capitan. I initially connected my monitor via the Mini Displayport to HDMI cable I bought from Monoprice a year or so ago. I do a lot of touring and corporate video work and it's the same cable I use to connect my Mac into many video switchers that have an HDMI input, so it's been a solid cable in a variety of setups. With this monitor, it wouldn't work properly at 1080p (red dots everywhere) and at 1080i it wasn't syncing properly and was shifting up and down (jittering, is probably more accurate). I grabbed a standard HDMI cable out of my gear bag and plugged that in instead and it's working great at 1080p. It still has the same issue at 1080i, with the rapid up and down shifting. However, at 1080p it's perfect.

     

    Unlikely some people who have complained about this monitor being way too bright, ti's actually dark (on the Natural setting) than my rMBP screen at 100% and only slightly brighter than my late 2009 21.5" iMac that it's also sitting next to.

     

    I haven't had a chance to test with VGA or DVI yet since I don't have the correct Apple adapters at home.

     

    Response Time is best set to Standard for normal use. When I set it to Advanced or Ultra Fast I get trailing on my mouse cursor. I have Dynamic Contrast off.

     

    Contrast is set to 60 and Brightness is set to 100. My home office has natural light filtered through blinds with the windows behind my screens rather than behind me, so there isn't really any glare. I don't see any reflection on the screen of the lamp that is behind me like I can on my iMac screen. The color matching seeing fairly close to my MacBook Pro screen. When I set my background to solid white or solid black, they are both fairly even and I don't see any bleeding or obvious color issues.

  • by tgerz,

    tgerz tgerz Jun 1, 2016 10:40 AM in response to mdmdiv
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 1, 2016 10:40 AM in response to mdmdiv

    I may be drudging up the past, but I figured I'd mention that the part about making sure the monitor is set to PC instead of PC fixed it all for me. I didn't have to use any of the crazy "Force RGB" stuff.

  • by stevetrier,

    stevetrier stevetrier Oct 5, 2016 6:22 AM in response to tgerz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 5, 2016 6:22 AM in response to tgerz

    I have a 27 inch HP monitor. All you need to is turn OFF Overscan on your Monitor, then in System Preferences on your Mac Underscan all the way to the left "OFF". That's all. Works with other external monitors as well. Works like a charm, no scripts needed or any sort of tweaks.

first Previous Page 4 of 4