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Low quality on text on external display - seems like a bug in OS X

Hi! I have recently converted to Mac from Windows 7. I hoped to experience that "it just works", but actually, my Windows PC worked better so far when it comes to basic, important things such as display, keyboard and trackpad.


I have connected an external Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW display to my brand new Macbook Pro (Retina, Haswell) via a Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter. If I move e.g. Safari to the external display, the text and icons seems to have a much lower resolution, but the resolution setting is correct (1680x1050). If I connect the display to my old Lenovo with Windows 7, everything is fine again.


The reason I think it's a software bug/feature in OS X, is that when I drag a window from my internal display to the external one, once the pointer gets to the external display, the quality on both text and icons in that window (it's very noticeable on the close/minimize/maximize buttons) gets much worse - on both displays. So, it seems like OS X "decides" that this window on the non-Apple-display should now have poor quality.


I have to say I expected more. I called Apple support, and the nice lady told me that my monitor was probably incompatible with this new and shiny computer. I would agree if it was some exotic hardware, but a monitor? I would expect a modern OS not to require compatible $999 monitors from the vendor.


I am not sure if it's related, but I also have problems with the display only showing "snow" some times after waking up the computer (works again after disconnceting/connecting the plug), and my keyboard and trackpad sometimes freezes, as described in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5296.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 4, 2013 11:09 AM

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Low quality on text on external display - seems like a bug in OS X

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