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If you are on macOS, all is good. Never had a problem with any of my 4 monitors (3x4K, 1x5K). I set the scaling to a size I like, and the text is super crisp. I

If you are on macOS, all is good. Never had a problem with any of my 4 monitors (3x4K, 1x5K). I set the scaling to a size I like, and the text is super crisp. I don't see how any programmer can NOT like that.

mulmen 6y ago
How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. In my experience MacOS multi-monitor support is effectively non-existent. Recently I picked up a 49” ultra-ultra wide monitor (basically 2x27” panels). It is one monitor but MacOS can’t drive it. They just don’t detect that resolution. I switched to a 43” 4k monitor (technically more pixels) and MacOS drives it fine. My experience with MacOS is not “it just works” unless you are doing something Apple already predicted. That’s fine for me, I just wish they still sold a reasonable monitor themselves so I could be assured it would work properly.
- kitsunesoba 6y ago
  >How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. At least for apps that are dedicated to one screen + virtual desktop, right click its icon in the dock and assign it to that display and workspace. Note that the effectiveness of window restoration also depends on the make/model of your monitors – many manufacturers incorrectly share EDID's across all units of the same model and sometimes across multiple models, making it much more difficult for operating systems to uniquely identify them.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- eludwig 6y ago
  It helped me to check "Displays have separate spaces" in the Mission Control panel. MacOS seems to remember what went where with this checked.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    That might work but it breaks my workflow in another way. Physically the display is a single panel. I organize workspaces by task so changing to a new one needs to change "both" panels because I'm actually using them as one.
- bonestamp2 6y ago
  > every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first Maybe we can get to the bottom of this. What is your use case? I ask because as long as I plug them into the same ports it remembers how I arranged them previously (2018 macbook pro 15"). I haven't had to arrange them in over a year... even remembered when updating to latest operating system. Occasionally, I even plug in my LCD TV as a third external monitor and it remembers where that one should go in the arrangement too.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    MacOS cannot drive one 5120x1440 display using Intel display hardware. It will happily drive two displays at 2560x1440. The monitor had multiple inputs so by putting it in PBP mode I was able to drive one input as USB-C and another as HDMI through a dock converter. This means the wakeup was not in sync. MacOS would see one monitor, arrange everything on that then realize there was a second one and fail to move anything back in this "new" arrangement. The fact that it was all one physical monitor may have further confused the OS as a sibling comment mentions. The solution was to sell the monitor to a Windows-using architect friend and buy a different panel with a resolution MacOS supports. She has a macbook too but it's the fancy one with discrete graphics which can drive 5120x1440. The value proposition of MacOS to me is that I plug things in and they work. Any fiddling beyond that destroys the benefits of using this platform. I'm willing to iterate on hardware until I find something that works.
    - madeofpalk 6y ago
      > MacOS cannot drive one 5120x1440 display using Intel display hardware. For other readers, this is not technically correct. The 2020 13” MacBook Pro can drive the Pro Display XDR with its integrated Intel graphics.
      - mulmen 6y ago
        I do not have a 2020 MacBook so I cannot test but the Pro Display XDR is not 5120x1440, it is 6016x3384. The problem with my current MacBooks ('14 15" RMBP and '17 13" MBP, both with Intel Iris graphics) is that while they can drive 4k displays they cannot drive the 5120x1440 resolution specifically. This limitation is specific to the MacOS drivers. Windows in Bootcamp is able to drive 5120x1440 on these devices.
- auggierose 6y ago
  That used to happen occasionally to me as well in earlier macOS versions. Didn't have to do any rearranging since Mojave, I think, definitely not on Catalina.
  - SenHeng 6y ago
    I use a single 34" 4K monitor with an arm mount on my Mac Mini. The power button on this monitor is one of those touch sensitive ones on the bottom right that I sometimes accidentally brush past. When I switch it back on, every single window gets reduced into an incoherent size and everything gets moved to the top left. It's really annoying. I'm thinking of flipping my monitor upside down so I'll never accidentally brush that area while picking up something on the table.
    - onetom 6y ago
      That's likely a firmware bug in the monitor. It probably reports some ridiculously small resolution during its boot process and macOS queries it that time and rearranges the windows accordingly. macOS could implement workarounds of course, but probably it just follows the process whatever the display id protocol prescribes...
- lemming 6y ago
  How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. I finally got sick of this and wrote a Hammerspoon script to deal with this. The config looks like this: local dualLayout = { {"Firefox", nil, primary, topLeft, nil, nil}, {"Preview", nil, primary, topLeft, nil, nil}, {"Sublime Text", nil, secondary, topHalf, nil, nil}, {"Slack", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"Notes", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"iTerm2", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"Safari", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"IntelliJ IDEA", "cursive", primary, hs.layout.maximized, nil, nil}, {"IntelliJ IDEA", "community", secondary, hs.layout.maximized, nil, nil}, } Now when I connect my two external monitors, a quick Ctrl-Alt-Cmd-R lays everything out. It's crap that I have to, but it saved my sanity.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    This is really cool, thanks. I tend to have one space per task and have at least a Firefox and an iTerm on every one. Just running a single monitor is the way to go for me. The benefits of multiple monitors just doesn't make up for all the fiddling.
- CaptainMarvel 6y ago
  I was able to use a 5120x1440 resolution on my MacBook Pro using SwitchResX. No idea why Mac OS doesn’t let you select that resolution.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    What kind of MacBook do you have exactly? Year, size, graphics hardware and OS. Reports I read stated that while you can select it with SwitchResX it was scaled. I never tried installing it myself because I’m not a fan of modifying the system on a Mac, especially one I don’t own. From my poking around I think the horizontal resolution is the problem. The system scans possible resolutions to see what works. Apple just never expected a single display that wide. There’s some reports that newer MacBooks with discrete graphics on Catalina can indeed run this resolution. It used to not work regardless of hardware, now apparently discrete graphics MacBooks can run it. Maybe because they updated the drivers/system for their new super fancy monitors.
    - nl 6y ago
      You probably have to update the monitor info DB on MacOS. See https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/233854 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/233854
    - CaptainMarvel 6y ago
      Text looks similar to Windows and Linux (both of which definitely run at native resolution). macOS Mojave 10.14.6 MacBook Pro 15” 2019 Radeon Pro 555X Intel UHD 630
      - mulmen 6y ago
        Right, you have discrete graphics. I do not which is why I am stuck with the MacOS driver bug for Intel display hardware. I’ve seen zero reports of anyone successfully running 5120x1440 using Intel graphics.
  - CaptainMarvel 6y ago
    To clarify: I mean I have no idea why Mac OS doesn't let ME select that resolution while SwitchResX does.
- bosie 6y ago
  Have you tried https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ ? Was working relatively well on my macbook before I switched to an iMac
tick_tock_tick 6y ago
Text honestly looks like shit an any non 4k external monitor for macOS it's kind of crazy how bad it is compared to windows.
- monocasa 6y ago
  It's just a different stylistic choice. A lot of font nerds prefer the OSX choices because they try to stay true to the original font spacing without regard to the pixel grid.
  - noisem4ker 6y ago
    Missing sub-pixel antialiasing is plain technical deficiency, not a stylistic choice. I agree arguments can be had about hinting and aligning the glyphs to the pixel grid, but not much beyond that.
    - monocasa 6y ago
      It's still there, you just have to go turn it on. But yes, I didn't know that they ripped out subpixel rendering in late 2018 by default.
      - sgerenser 6y ago
        Yeah they didn't completely remove it, but they did a good job of hiding it by not making it an option to turn on in the GUI. Have to use a terminal command to enable it: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/337871 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/337871 In general with a HiDPI screen I don't find any need for it. But on a low-res display like the typical 24" 1080P models it certainly helps.
        pouta 6y ago
        I've been looking for this for so long. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow
        6y ago
namdnay 6y ago
I’d say all is bad with MacOS and external monitors... It can’t manage text scaling like Windows, so you either have to downscale resolution and get everything blurry or keep the ridiculously high native resolution and have everything tiny :(
- monadic2 6y ago
  Is it not visible for you in the displays settings? You DO need all the monitors to have the same DPI or you’d have a window rendered half in one dpi and half in another when dragging across a display boundary.
  - namdnay 6y ago
    No, when it’s an external screen I don’t get any scaling options, only the choice of resolution. I have a 24” QHD, so either it’s ridiculously small 2500xSomething or it’s blurry HD :(
    - ghostpepper 6y ago
      I have this problem as well. I actually run my 27-inch 4K screens downscaled on MacOS because the tiny font at native-4K gives me a headache. The worst thing about it is that scaling seems to use more CPU than running natively and the OS has some noticeably additional latency when running scaled.
    - monadic2 6y ago
      Odd, my main setup is an external 4k monitor and I only use it with the “large text” text scaling and I have no complaints, the text is clear and large and easy to read. Perhaps you’re also using your laptop screen as well?
      - namdnay 6y ago
        No I close the laptop. Maybe it has to be a 4K monitor? Or an Apple monitor
therealdrag0 6y ago
> scaling I was plagued with performance problems, mostly in IntelliJ, until I realized it didn't work well with scaling. Going to native resolution solved it.

mulmen 6y ago

How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. In my experience MacOS multi-monitor support is effectively non-existent. Recently I picked up a 49” ultra-ultra wide monitor (basically 2x27” panels). It is one monitor but MacOS can’t drive it. They just don’t detect that resolution. I switched to a 43” 4k monitor (technically more pixels) and MacOS drives it fine. My experience with MacOS is not “it just works” unless you are doing something Apple already predicted. That’s fine for me, I just wish they still sold a reasonable monitor themselves so I could be assured it would work properly.

kitsunesoba 6y ago
>How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. At least for apps that are dedicated to one screen + virtual desktop, right click its icon in the dock and assign it to that display and workspace. Note that the effectiveness of window restoration also depends on the make/model of your monitors – many manufacturers incorrectly share EDID's across all units of the same model and sometimes across multiple models, making it much more difficult for operating systems to uniquely identify them.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
eludwig 6y ago
It helped me to check "Displays have separate spaces" in the Mission Control panel. MacOS seems to remember what went where with this checked.
- mulmen 6y ago
  That might work but it breaks my workflow in another way. Physically the display is a single panel. I organize workspaces by task so changing to a new one needs to change "both" panels because I'm actually using them as one.
bonestamp2 6y ago
> every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first Maybe we can get to the bottom of this. What is your use case? I ask because as long as I plug them into the same ports it remembers how I arranged them previously (2018 macbook pro 15"). I haven't had to arrange them in over a year... even remembered when updating to latest operating system. Occasionally, I even plug in my LCD TV as a third external monitor and it remembers where that one should go in the arrangement too.
- mulmen 6y ago
  MacOS cannot drive one 5120x1440 display using Intel display hardware. It will happily drive two displays at 2560x1440. The monitor had multiple inputs so by putting it in PBP mode I was able to drive one input as USB-C and another as HDMI through a dock converter. This means the wakeup was not in sync. MacOS would see one monitor, arrange everything on that then realize there was a second one and fail to move anything back in this "new" arrangement. The fact that it was all one physical monitor may have further confused the OS as a sibling comment mentions. The solution was to sell the monitor to a Windows-using architect friend and buy a different panel with a resolution MacOS supports. She has a macbook too but it's the fancy one with discrete graphics which can drive 5120x1440. The value proposition of MacOS to me is that I plug things in and they work. Any fiddling beyond that destroys the benefits of using this platform. I'm willing to iterate on hardware until I find something that works.
  - madeofpalk 6y ago
    > MacOS cannot drive one 5120x1440 display using Intel display hardware. For other readers, this is not technically correct. The 2020 13” MacBook Pro can drive the Pro Display XDR with its integrated Intel graphics.
    - mulmen 6y ago
      I do not have a 2020 MacBook so I cannot test but the Pro Display XDR is not 5120x1440, it is 6016x3384. The problem with my current MacBooks ('14 15" RMBP and '17 13" MBP, both with Intel Iris graphics) is that while they can drive 4k displays they cannot drive the 5120x1440 resolution specifically. This limitation is specific to the MacOS drivers. Windows in Bootcamp is able to drive 5120x1440 on these devices.
auggierose 6y ago
That used to happen occasionally to me as well in earlier macOS versions. Didn't have to do any rearranging since Mojave, I think, definitely not on Catalina.
- SenHeng 6y ago
  I use a single 34" 4K monitor with an arm mount on my Mac Mini. The power button on this monitor is one of those touch sensitive ones on the bottom right that I sometimes accidentally brush past. When I switch it back on, every single window gets reduced into an incoherent size and everything gets moved to the top left. It's really annoying. I'm thinking of flipping my monitor upside down so I'll never accidentally brush that area while picking up something on the table.
  - onetom 6y ago
    That's likely a firmware bug in the monitor. It probably reports some ridiculously small resolution during its boot process and macOS queries it that time and rearranges the windows accordingly. macOS could implement workarounds of course, but probably it just follows the process whatever the display id protocol prescribes...
lemming 6y ago
How do you manage multiple monitors with MacOS? I was doing this until recently and every single login involved rearranging my windows because MacOS moves them all to whatever display woke up first. I finally got sick of this and wrote a Hammerspoon script to deal with this. The config looks like this: local dualLayout = { {"Firefox", nil, primary, topLeft, nil, nil}, {"Preview", nil, primary, topLeft, nil, nil}, {"Sublime Text", nil, secondary, topHalf, nil, nil}, {"Slack", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"Notes", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"iTerm2", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"Safari", nil, secondary, topRight, nil, nil}, {"IntelliJ IDEA", "cursive", primary, hs.layout.maximized, nil, nil}, {"IntelliJ IDEA", "community", secondary, hs.layout.maximized, nil, nil}, } Now when I connect my two external monitors, a quick Ctrl-Alt-Cmd-R lays everything out. It's crap that I have to, but it saved my sanity.
- mulmen 6y ago
  This is really cool, thanks. I tend to have one space per task and have at least a Firefox and an iTerm on every one. Just running a single monitor is the way to go for me. The benefits of multiple monitors just doesn't make up for all the fiddling.
CaptainMarvel 6y ago
I was able to use a 5120x1440 resolution on my MacBook Pro using SwitchResX. No idea why Mac OS doesn’t let you select that resolution.
- mulmen 6y ago
  What kind of MacBook do you have exactly? Year, size, graphics hardware and OS. Reports I read stated that while you can select it with SwitchResX it was scaled. I never tried installing it myself because I’m not a fan of modifying the system on a Mac, especially one I don’t own. From my poking around I think the horizontal resolution is the problem. The system scans possible resolutions to see what works. Apple just never expected a single display that wide. There’s some reports that newer MacBooks with discrete graphics on Catalina can indeed run this resolution. It used to not work regardless of hardware, now apparently discrete graphics MacBooks can run it. Maybe because they updated the drivers/system for their new super fancy monitors.
  - nl 6y ago
    You probably have to update the monitor info DB on MacOS. See https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/233854 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/233854
  - CaptainMarvel 6y ago
    Text looks similar to Windows and Linux (both of which definitely run at native resolution). macOS Mojave 10.14.6 MacBook Pro 15” 2019 Radeon Pro 555X Intel UHD 630
    - mulmen 6y ago
      Right, you have discrete graphics. I do not which is why I am stuck with the MacOS driver bug for Intel display hardware. I’ve seen zero reports of anyone successfully running 5120x1440 using Intel graphics.
- CaptainMarvel 6y ago
  To clarify: I mean I have no idea why Mac OS doesn't let ME select that resolution while SwitchResX does.
bosie 6y ago
Have you tried https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ https://cordlessdog.com/stay/ ? Was working relatively well on my macbook before I switched to an iMac

tick_tock_tick 6y ago

Text honestly looks like shit an any non 4k external monitor for macOS it's kind of crazy how bad it is compared to windows.

monocasa 6y ago
It's just a different stylistic choice. A lot of font nerds prefer the OSX choices because they try to stay true to the original font spacing without regard to the pixel grid.
- noisem4ker 6y ago
  Missing sub-pixel antialiasing is plain technical deficiency, not a stylistic choice. I agree arguments can be had about hinting and aligning the glyphs to the pixel grid, but not much beyond that.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    It's still there, you just have to go turn it on. But yes, I didn't know that they ripped out subpixel rendering in late 2018 by default.
    - sgerenser 6y ago
      Yeah they didn't completely remove it, but they did a good job of hiding it by not making it an option to turn on in the GUI. Have to use a terminal command to enable it: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/337871 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/337871 In general with a HiDPI screen I don't find any need for it. But on a low-res display like the typical 24" 1080P models it certainly helps.
      - pouta 6y ago
        I've been looking for this for so long. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow
      - 6y ago

namdnay 6y ago

I’d say all is bad with MacOS and external monitors... It can’t manage text scaling like Windows, so you either have to downscale resolution and get everything blurry or keep the ridiculously high native resolution and have everything tiny :(

monadic2 6y ago
Is it not visible for you in the displays settings? You DO need all the monitors to have the same DPI or you’d have a window rendered half in one dpi and half in another when dragging across a display boundary.
- namdnay 6y ago
  No, when it’s an external screen I don’t get any scaling options, only the choice of resolution. I have a 24” QHD, so either it’s ridiculously small 2500xSomething or it’s blurry HD :(
  - ghostpepper 6y ago
    I have this problem as well. I actually run my 27-inch 4K screens downscaled on MacOS because the tiny font at native-4K gives me a headache. The worst thing about it is that scaling seems to use more CPU than running natively and the OS has some noticeably additional latency when running scaled.
  - monadic2 6y ago
    Odd, my main setup is an external 4k monitor and I only use it with the “large text” text scaling and I have no complaints, the text is clear and large and easy to read. Perhaps you’re also using your laptop screen as well?
    - namdnay 6y ago
      No I close the laptop. Maybe it has to be a 4K monitor? Or an Apple monitor

therealdrag0 6y ago

> scaling I was plagued with performance problems, mostly in IntelliJ, until I realized it didn't work well with scaling. Going to native resolution solved it.