System fonts and text unreadable (too small) at 4K (28" monitor)

The use of light grey letters on a white background makes this much worse. I am sarcastically glad Apple does not give its users any choice.

Your display should be able to work in HiDPI mode. This would work similarly to how the "Retina" displays work.

See this article on how to enable it: http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/hidpi-mode-os-x/

After that, you should be able to set your display to something like 1920x1080 (HiDPI) - this would make your display nominally 1920x1080 but render all text and graphics in glorious retina mode.

Just another thing you might try: hold down the option key when pressing the "scaled" radio button, and see if it offers any more resolution options.

This seems to be completely unresolved. I just purchased an AOC 28" 4K monitor. The 4K images are beautiful on it, but the failure of EL Capitan to let me scale up the menus and fonts like you can on the iMac display is ridiculous. I get 3840x2160 (lower resolution) and everything else is just scaled down.

Why have I just been running into one problem after another on the Mac platform in the past few years. This is the type of stuff that lured me away from Windows.

Yea this is kinda lame we can't increase system font size when the resolution is at 4K. Maybe there will be an update at the keynote coming up. Or maybe it'll only look good at 4K with an updated Apple monitor.

What's the current status on this issue when using a Thunderbolt -> MDP output? I'm using an AOC U2879VF. Before using the Thunderbolt output from my MBP (using HDMI), I could NOT HiDPI output. I HAVE to use a Thunderbolt cable. It seems like some people running Sierra are getting HiDPI using the adapter...others are saying that doesn't help on Sierra.

Please clarify. I'm one of many who spent 2 years waiting for Apple to recognize and fix Safari's huge issue with crashing the entire GUI when closing YouTube windows and tabs...don't want to go through another huge Apple issue.

Has the issue been resolved by today's update?

Nah. For me, the menu bar and everything else gets really small if I'm using anything higher than the "default for display" resolution. Even on 10.12.1

LimelightLenny wrote:

Nah. For me, the menu bar and everything else gets really small if I'm using anything higher than the "default for display" resolution. Even on 10.12.1

Wait - if the "default for display" resolution is NOT the 3840x2160, then that is most likely HiDPI, even it does not say so. This IS what you wanted in the first place... large type and high resolution images on one and the same display - a.k.a. the magic of "retina". Seems to me you have exactly what you asked and did not realize it.

Yea I thought of that and you're absolutely right. Fonts look really smooth and clear. I just didn't think I was getting pictures and video in 4K because the resolution says it is 1080. Do you think the pictures and video that I'm viewing are just as sharp as they would be if I had the resolution in 4K?

Yes, Lenny, I think you're on the right track. I'm not the perfect person to explain this...and neither are the people writing some of the articles it seems , but essentially, you're telling the computer "hey, I want you to pretend we're in 1080, but show all that extra detail that my 4K monitor actually is capable of." You're getting higher DPI (hence "HiDPI" - for anyone who might be thinking "hi" as in "Hello DPI...Nice to see you today!"). You can check this out on the iMac also by looking at the monitor Display settings. It's using scaling as well.

My monitor is 28". I'm running HiDPI 2560x1440. Sometimes I would still prefer to be in full 4K and just be able to specify a much bigger font size so that I can fit more on the screen. That method just feels more flexible, but I think HiDPI is more user-friendly.

I just tried installing the new version of Sierra on an external drive. I've avoided Sierra due to the issues. I was able to select 2560x1440 (which is HiDPI) as usual. The Display panel doesn't use the "HiDPI" term, but you'd see if you install some 3rd party screen resolution settings apps.

Hope this helps!

BTW...it sounds like some of the people commenting about Sierra issues are having issues with scaling not showing up because they're trying to run 4K out of the HDMI port. I'm not sure about the current models, by my mid-2014 MBP cannot output 4K over HDMI. I bought a very inexpensive Cable Matters cable that goes from Thunderbolt to DP. It works flawlessly.

lolol I've been mad at Apple for like a week because I bought this 4K monitor and thought I wasn't being "allowed" to view it in 4K on the Mac. At least I know I'm getting the quality. I am using a mini Display Port to Display Port cable. Thanks.