why does my new iMac start up with a screen resolution of 4480x2620 and not the default resolution of 2240x1260?
iMac (M1, 2021)
It's a 4.5K screen, the default is 4480x2520 ...
Per the Apple website specs:
24-inch 4.5K Retina display
Unless I'm mistaken, Default on this machine should mean "Retina, like 2240x1260" (so you're using 4480x2520 detail, but with a 2x scaling factor for the size of text and user interface objects).
There are some Mac laptops on which Apple cranked the Default setting up one notch from 2x scaling, towards "More Space". E.g., the 12" Retina MacBook, whose Default corresponds to "like 1280x800" although its LCD has a native resolution less than 2560x1600. (At the time, other Mac notebooks could do at least 1280x800 or "like 1280x800", so a lower setting might have caused some applications to run out of "workspace".)
Since Ventura is showing the Default as being skewed off towards the "More Space" setting, I wonder if Ventura changed the default, and the non-labeled center selection is the one that you now need to select if you want the "Retina, like 1240x1260" mode.
Did you select "scaled" in the display settings and then pick 2420x1260? If you did it should remember that setting.
The behavior that you're describing sounds like a bug. I'd suggest reporting it to Apple.
You should have a pane that looks like this that has the resolution as default or scaled.
Thanks for responding ku4hx . That is what the screen is capable of, but the table of resolutions off the Display on Settings shows 2420x1260 as the Default and that's what I would expect the system to use. When it uses 4480x2520 the display is pretty much unreadable without a magnifying glass. So I am wondering why it does not use the listed default.
although the screen shot I posted above showed the resolution, or display, icons I use the list
which show 2240x1260 as Default, but putting all that to one side, my problem is that when it opens after a shutdown, or even sleep, it displays as 4480x2520, which is unusable to me. However, when I open an app it usually changes to the 2240x1260. All very puzzling.
there is no "scaled" in the page for Displays. There is a list of available resolutions and controls for brightness and colour, but nothing else.
Nothing like that. This is what I see. This is an iMac running Ventura
I have been considering doing that and I guess it is time. Thanks for the advice
why does my new iMac start up with a screen resolution of 4480x2620 and not the default resolution of 2240x1260?
