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External display scaling

I have a 2015 Retina MacBook Pro with an external 4k display (Asus PB287Q) and since updating to Sierra yesterday, I can no longer select scaling "resolutions" that are between 1920x1080 and 3840x2160. HD is way too big, 4K way too small. Please let there be a solution to this... I tried rebooting, and it actually brought back the correct options until I closed the lid, and now they are gone and won't come back.


This is what my display properties look like (alt-click Options):


User uploaded file

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 8:04 AM

Reply
23 replies

Nov 15, 2017 12:36 PM in response to r0kh0r

Just chipping in my solution to this. First off, don't expect a Mac to behave well with external devices. I've had issues for YEARS with all sorts of things.


The work around for the High-Sierra OS bug in this case was related to the cable used in my case. It seems the old Thunderbolt ports on the left hand side of my MacBook got a downgrade from Yosemite to High Sierra. Switching to a standard, $5 HDMI cable and plugging it in on the right hand side of my Mac solved the problem.

Sep 21, 2016 9:55 AM in response to dkentley

I have had the same issue since beta and still no word from apple. They have seriously borked the display drivers. I run two Dell P2715Q monitors. One monitor allows me to choose the old scaling with all the previously supported resolutions from 1080p up to 4k. On 10.11 I was able to select the same resolutions on both monitors. Now I'm stuck with the resolutions you mentioned on my second monitor. If I put my MBP to sleep and wake it up both monitors reflect the resolutions you show with no in-between options between 1080p and 4k.

Sep 22, 2016 12:10 AM in response to dkentley

I also have this issue with my 27" 1440p display (Acer XB271HU), it work perfectly fine over HDMI with a resolution of 2560x1440 until I updated to macOS Sierra yesterday. I now have to use my display in a horrible 1080p resolution where everything is blurry.
I Hope this gets fixed soon. It's also affecting my work capability considerably.

Sep 22, 2016 10:55 AM in response to socket70

Has anyone been brave enough to try the Sierra public .1 beta that was just released a little while ago? I have it sitting in my updates but I haven't taken the plunge yet. I don't have a non-production machine that I can test it with.


On MacRumors a user is suggesting it's a cable quality issue... while I wouldn't rule it out, I find it odd that there would be so many non-DP 1.2 compatible cables out there that used to work. He says that with a good cable (still only $15) he got a *better* experience with Sierra than El Cap, and on the Dell P2715Q that was mentioned here, and across a variety of Macs. So, it's intriguing at least.

Sep 25, 2016 1:04 PM in response to dkentley

I could make my LG ultrawide monitor work properly with SwitchResX, but after 2 more steps:


1 - I disabled System Integrity Protection before installing SwitchResX (http://www.madrau.com/support/support/srx_1011.html)

2 - I created a custom resolution based on the 1080P60 (automatically detected), just changing the first resolution parameter from 1920 to 2560 (don't forget to save and reboot the computer after creating the custom resolution - check the status column next to the resolution created). Those are the parameters of the custom resolution:

User uploaded file

I've been searching and trying fix this problem for three days, after upgrading to Sierra. I hope it helps!!

Sep 26, 2016 5:54 PM in response to aaronade

Same thing just happened to me. I have Sierra on one of my Macs and tried out connecting it to my 1440 display and it only goes up to 1080. My other laptop running El Capitan works just fine. This issue is NOT resolved in the 10.12.1 Beta update.


One way to fix this is to use an Active mDP to HDMI adapter and connect it the Thunderbolt 2/mDP of my Macbook Pro and it can now display at 2560x1440. So with Sierra installed, the HDMI on my Mac is useless if I want to use anything higher than 1080p. Super annoying.

External display scaling

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