External monitor blurry text at 1080p on 2k monitor

Ya this is all I have, 2048x1152 might not be to bad if I had that option, wonder why I don't or if there is a way to add custom resolutions.

WOW, so just figured it out, you have to hold option key when clicking on scaled to see "more" options... 2048x1152 looks WAY better.

Somewhat new to mac and experiencing the same thing with the new Mac Mini 2020 with M1 chip hooked up to a 2560x1440 144hz display. This is so mind blowing it's crazy... on Window you can run native resolution e.g. 2560x1440 and scale text/apps at a percentage which I usually have set to 125% and everything looks perfect.

On the mac, the only options I have is to "reduce" the resolution to 1920x1080 which looks like trash. Keeping it at the native resolution 2560x1440 I can hardly read text but it's better than everything looking horrible and blurry at 1920x1080. I have to basically zoom the text in browsers, other apps where you can zoom text etc, but that doesn't look right either, and is also not needed on Windows when using it's scaling option. I really hope at some point apple decides to provide better scaling, I don't understand how anyone thinks this is a better approach to scaling. It is the one major thing that makes me want to return the Mac Mini.

I have the same issue! I just bought mac mini m1 with big sur installed and the monitor is Asus 27'' 1080p . I have tried the code that you copy and paste on terminal at value 0 ( turning off the font smoother) no luck on that. System preferences > Display settings > default> 60hertz no luck. Talked to apple they made me log in as guest which they said it could make a difference no luck . we did screen recording and and they sent me a software to collect info which i downloaded and ran it and sent them all. they said engineers will look at it and let me know. Pictures and videos are fine but txt is really disturbing with the fuzziness. I am thinking to change the cable connection. Mine is connected with hdmi, instead I want to try usb c (thunderbolt) to vga to see if it makes any differences... if you have any other solutions please I need help. I am putting an attachment which shows the display settings.

Even scaling (such as retina 50% scale) looks awesome. Uneven scaling (such as 3:4 pixel mapping for 1080p to 1440p) looks blurry as pixels get split. The solution: Find a 4K monitor in the size you want for 1080p, or if that isn't in the budget find a 1080p monitor the same size as your 2K so you can avoid fuzzy scaling.

One possible tweak: Go to ->System Preferences -> General: Try disabling 'Use font smoothing when available.' That may make scaled text slightly less blurry.

My bad: I tested that on Catalina but it sounds like that checkbox got removed in Big Sur.

Supposedly that can still be adjusted in terminal by using 'defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int #' with # = 0 off, 1 light, 2 default, or 3 for heavy. However the command didn't seem to do anything on Catalina.

Hi. Having the same issue but I'm not sure I understood your answer. As I understand it, It has to be 4K in order to use 1080p, right? I was wondering if LG 34 ultra wide would do it but it's only 1440

Hi I am having trouble with blurring fonts from macbook pro 2018 to a dell 27 FHD. I am feeling quite ill trying to work on it. I do not understand what you meant by the advice above. I do not understand resolutions - words like native etc. I am finding it hard to get help from anyone. I wish Apple continued to make the cinema screens - min just died. It was the best.

> On the mac, the only options I have is to "reduce" the resolution to 1920x1080

Odd. My M1 Mac mini offers me 2560x1440, 2048x1152 as well as 1080p, 1080i, 720p. Philips 2K Brilliance 272B monitor.

If your monitor has a VGA output, use that via a USB-C to VGA adapter which gives you 1080p - this gives me crystal clear text with a Philips 2K monitor.