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> I'm imagining that this computer would run today's software reasonably well if macOS supported it Retina displays, SSDs, and fast Wi-Fi are things you don't

> I'm imagining that this computer would run today's software reasonably well if macOS supported it Retina displays, SSDs, and fast Wi-Fi are things you don't notice until they're gone

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
macOS makes 96dpi displays look bad. Text is fuzzy (by design) because Apple’s fontographers believe preserving the form of type is more important than maximising clarity by snapping form to the pixel grid, which is Microsoft’s rival philosophy. At higher resolutions this technique isn’t needed. For comparison, my Windows box has two HP Z27Q displays. These are both expensive 5K 27-inch panels that each need two DP1.2 cables (in MST mode) to drive them at 60Hz. In between the two is Dell’s latest 43-inch 4K IPS panel. The HP displays run at 192dpi/200% while the Dell runs at 96dpi/100%. All 3 displays are stunning. While the HP displays are noticeably sharper and are a pleasure to read and edit text on so is the Dell: the difference in Windows really doesn’t matter all that much. If I were to lose either models of monitor in a freak UPS explosion I wouldn’t be wanting sympathy for my very first-world-problem. And I need to give massive props to Microsoft for the well-thought-out multi-DPI support in Windows 10. My only qualm is I can never get the DPI override settings to work (and mstsc.exe needs more display settings besides a single checkbox). Stuff like that is why I don’t feel like I can comfortably switch to a Linux desktop right now. For example, last time I checked none of the production-quality display servers support mouse cursor scaling - is that still the case?
- ultrarunner 6y ago
  Maybe it's just being on Macs for the last 20 (!) years, but I greatly prefer the type treatment on macOS. Windows looks very "computery" and low-quality to me. Maybe I just don't have a critical enough eye for type. Either way, I'm glad I have the choice. That said, I wouldn't doubt that Apple fully intends for people to buy their high DPI displays now. I wouldn't be shocked if they got "brave" again and dropped support for low DPI screens entirely (like they did for VGA). It seems to me there used to be options to control type rendering that have now been removed.

> I'm imagining that this computer would run today's software reasonably well if macOS supported it Retina displays, SSDs, and fast Wi-Fi are things you don't notice until they're gone

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago

macOS makes 96dpi displays look bad. Text is fuzzy (by design) because Apple’s fontographers believe preserving the form of type is more important than maximising clarity by snapping form to the pixel grid, which is Microsoft’s rival philosophy. At higher resolutions this technique isn’t needed. For comparison, my Windows box has two HP Z27Q displays. These are both expensive 5K 27-inch panels that each need two DP1.2 cables (in MST mode) to drive them at 60Hz. In between the two is Dell’s latest 43-inch 4K IPS panel. The HP displays run at 192dpi/200% while the Dell runs at 96dpi/100%. All 3 displays are stunning. While the HP displays are noticeably sharper and are a pleasure to read and edit text on so is the Dell: the difference in Windows really doesn’t matter all that much. If I were to lose either models of monitor in a freak UPS explosion I wouldn’t be wanting sympathy for my very first-world-problem. And I need to give massive props to Microsoft for the well-thought-out multi-DPI support in Windows 10. My only qualm is I can never get the DPI override settings to work (and mstsc.exe needs more display settings besides a single checkbox). Stuff like that is why I don’t feel like I can comfortably switch to a Linux desktop right now. For example, last time I checked none of the production-quality display servers support mouse cursor scaling - is that still the case?

ultrarunner 6y ago
Maybe it's just being on Macs for the last 20 (!) years, but I greatly prefer the type treatment on macOS. Windows looks very "computery" and low-quality to me. Maybe I just don't have a critical enough eye for type. Either way, I'm glad I have the choice. That said, I wouldn't doubt that Apple fully intends for people to buy their high DPI displays now. I wouldn't be shocked if they got "brave" again and dropped support for low DPI screens entirely (like they did for VGA). It seems to me there used to be options to control type rendering that have now been removed.