Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Scale issues for 4K Displays

I saw someone post about this issue with the icon and text scale being reduced when you change the resolution to 4k on third party displays. Someone on that thread had mentioned that they didn't think that, that was the issue on a Dell 4k Display.


I'm here to let you know it's still an issue on those displays as well. I'm running a Dell U2718Q. It's not a high-end display, but it's still mid-range and I would love to be able to use it in 4k as it was intended. I've tried running it on DP and HDMI both and the issue is the same regardless. I've also tried this on a Samsung 4k Display to no avail.


I've tested this out on High Sierra and Mojave. I also experienced another sort of unrelated issue on Mojave, which is why I haven't reinstalled it (Mojave) yet.


I'm not sure why they aren't supporting 3rd party displays and that's really unfortunate especially with all the money they charge for their stuff.


I'm a big supporting of Apple, but they are dropping the ball on this. I would love to see more support from them instead of just focusing on the newest and greatest devices.


Especially when I purchased my Mac Pro (Brand New) with the ATI Radeon 5870 HD several years ago and they not only installed a defective card that died 1 day after receiving my system, but then the replacement cards fan that they sent started to go out 3 months later. I switched over to an Nvidia card, but since they aren't "really" supporting those cards that much anymore I've switched back to AMD's Radeon. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with this one.


I've invested a lot of money on Apple products over the years, so it would just be nice to receive a little support from them in return.


User uploaded file



System Specs:


Mac Pro Mid-2010

2 x 3.46 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon

OS 10.13.6

128 GB RAM

1TB Mercury Electra 3G MAX SSD

Radeon RX 580 8Gbs

24 TB internal RAID

Mac Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), Mid 2010 5,1

Posted on Nov 22, 2018 2:43 AM

Reply

Similar questions

3 replies

Nov 26, 2018 5:40 AM in response to wired2film

It might have been my previous reply on this topic. 🙂


Some older Dell 4K monitors are pre-defined in macOS as 'Retina' displays aka HiDPI capable displays, I believe the Dell P2415Q is one such. Newer ones may not yet have been added by Apple as such.


I would strongly recommend only trying to use Displayport for this, in most if not all cases the HDMI port even on video cards for the classic Mac Pro is limited to HDMI 1.2 which at best only does 4K at 30fps.


It is possible to create a custom monitor/display definition to override the default one and thereby 'tell' macOS to treat the display as a HiDPI capable display. See the following links for information about doing this.


Nov 22, 2018 7:59 AM in response to wired2film

The way this is supposed to work in MacOS after the retina display:


The actual resolution of the screen is automatically set to the highest available for best viewing of pictures. This makes the text tiny, and often unreadably tiny.


You then choose something off the Scaled options list. Whatever you choose does NOT actually change the resolution of the display, but instead scales up only the text on the display so that it "looks like" the numbers you chose under scaled. When text is drawn, it is doubled or tripled or times 1.25 or whatever it needs to be shown properly.


Some Dell displays do not report their correct capabilities, and this can become more complex if this display is one of several from Dell that lies.

Nov 22, 2018 12:09 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Even if what you're saying is true, which I'm not saying that it isn't, then apparently Dell, LG, and Samsung are all lying about their capabilities on some of their displays.


That being said, my 4k monitors worked properly in El Capitan, It wasn't till I moved to the newer OS's like High Sierra and Mojave when I started having this issue, which could be when they started adjusting for Retina Displays, but I don't know when they started adjusting for that.


Anyways, I just wanted to clear everything up, that this is not just an issue on LG and Samsung. It's also an issue on Dell as well.

Scale issues for 4K Displays

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.