M1 Macbook Pro - External Monitor Blurry Text

I had also tested it with a usb-c cable DisplayPort from the Thunderbolt port at the back of the mini to the DisplayPort 1.2 connector on the monitor. I get the same, fuzzy text. I also tested it with my 2018 MacBook Pro with same DP cable. Same fuzzy text. This is an OSX issue when rendering the desktop with external monitors.

The web is full of similar stories with people buying new cables and monitors to try to rectify this problem. Macs seem to be exceptionally fussy about what displays they will work with, which is not acceptable; that’s the reason we have industry standards to adhere to so that IT devices can interoperate (I also work as a Development engineer in IT btw). I switch back to the PC (and other windows machines) with the same cable and the display text is crystal clear.

Will try again with the certified cable ultra HDMI 48Gbps when I get it later but I am not hopeful. I’ll return the mini if it doesn’t work.

Not being negative here, I’m a real Apple fanboy with two macs (with their own , Apple display), iOS devices, Apple TV’s etc. I want to get this to work so I can do my software development on the mini. But with the text as it is this is impossible.

The manual for that display suggests that such problems MAY be caused by the display's Picture format = "Full screen Display" feature. In this mode, the picture ever-so-slightly stretched to fill the entire display.

I except you want to select Picture format = "dot-by-dot"

on the "color" sub-menu, there is a setting to 'I-Style setting' = "Text" that can be selected for sharpness of text over all else. 'Blue-light reducer' seems to turn off MANY other features.

It is kind of you to check. I have played around with all those settings Grant. Yes, I am on iStyle text too and played with the blue light settings at great length. Doesn't improve the situation. Nor does swapping to Displayport. I should be getting the higher quality and bandwidth HDMI cable later so will try that. I cannot see that fixing the issue though, but worthy of a try. I surely hope it does because the M1 and MAc is superb.

Would a DP cable (1.2 max on this monitor) connected to the Thunderbolt port of the mini need to be an active cable do you know please?

Please try turning off the "True Tone" feature in your built-in display preference because it fixed my issue with a 1920x1080 Dell monitor.

I always assumed that the "True Tone" only applies to the built-in display, but it actually does affect the external monitor.

Good luck!

I could make mine just about usable by turning down the brightness a bit and fiddling with the contrast and colour settings on my monitor. On that basis I kept the M1 mini and hope that this issue does get addressed eventually.

Investing in a 8K certified HDMI cable, a well-meant suggestion earlier in this thread, made no difference at all. Nor does using DisplayPort.

That's really helpful many thanks for posting this information

As my monitor (a BenQ 1080p HD 24 inch) has DVI-D I will try using a DP to DVI-D cable. I am definitely not a tech person so why would this remedy the problem and presumably stop the M1 using YPbPR instead of RGB mode?

I have spoken to apple and they have told me that officially now the M1 does not have support for external monitor but they are working on it and hope to have a solution out this year (!) as there has been such a demand. Its a pity they don't make that clear when you purchase an M1 machine. What I can't understand is that there seem to be a lot of people attaching monitors to screens and multiple screens even for video work with M1 machines. How come they are able to do this? So there must be unofficial solutions somewhere - they can't all be working with cr*p display quality screens (sometimes three of them at once!). So frustrating.

It is astonishing Apple let the M1 out with this issue. Especially so since Apple prides itself on the user experience and the "feel" of the platform for which they charge a significant premium. Steve Jobs would turn in his grave..... I can accept that the issue might have been in the first releases of M1/Big Sur as an initial bug or code shortcoming/oversight. But we are now at 11.2.3 and you still haven't addressed this issue. There is also an issue with colour accuracy related to this.

Does not take Einstein to realise that many people are working from home more in the pandemic. As such, they need more screen real estate to remain productive i.e they need an external monitor attached to their machine. And, of course, you HAVE to use an external monitor with the Mini. A lot of MACs used in the corporate world nowadays. Employee productivity is going to start to suffer unless this matter is addressed and this will start to hit Apple sales when employees no longer can do their job properly and start calling in sick to work with headaches/eye strain induced bu this problem.

Apple, we know you read this and many other forums. You need to take this matter seriously and get a fix out in 11.3. It should be treated as a priority issue.

What I am doing now is doing my video and photographic work on the M1 and switching over to either my iMac or my Windows machine (M1 Mac and windows machines hooked up to same monitor on different DP/HDMI ports) when I need to do textual work. It is far from ideal and not really acceptable I'd argue. Windows is perfectly clear.

sfromgi wrote:

It turns out the problem is that M1 is incorrectly using YPbPR mode instead of RGB mode

Readers find that when that occurs, it is because the DISPLAY is telling the Mac that is its recommended mode, and the Mac responds by sending YPbPR instead of RGB. Tthe problem is in the EDID information sent by the display.

You may be able to modify the defaults by using a third-party app such as SwichResX, but it is not trivial.

I had this happen today. I went into display settings and clicked the scaled option. Only two resolutions showed as being available. I then plugged out the HDMI from the USB-C adapter and back in again and when the computer reconnected to the monitor 4 resolutions became available. One of the hidden ones resulted in no blur. Hope this helps someone else.

Still having this issue with Apple Multiport Adapter. I have got an LG Ultrawide monitor connected via HDMI 2560x1080 and my texts are blurry. With my Windows laptop everything is perfect. When will this be addressed??

I just received a new M1 Mac Mini and I noticed that colors and text on two separate monitors are not very clear. My first monitor is an LG QHD ultra-wide and my second is a AOC QHD 16:9 monitor. I called customer support and after some troubleshooting said that I should call the monitor manufactorers about the issue. I am not satisfied with this answer. I have a PC that runs Intel HD graphics and looks beautiful on both these monitors. If I cant resolve the issue I may just return it since this is a major deal breaker for me.

jdelamett6163--

You have posted a "me, too" on the end of a thread that is already so long that Readers can no longer provide you with customized help. (We can't keep straight who is talking, and the specifics of what Mac and what MacOS you have.)

If you would like to pursue YOUR issue, you need to start a new discussion and include what model of MacBook Pro by year, early mid late, and screen size, what version of MacOS and a summary of the issue in your own words, and .

I can start a new thread but its the same issue everyone on this thread has been talking about. After reading all the posts I think their doesnt need to be a customized solution but rather a generic one for everyone in the thread.