Even on an Intel Mac with a discrete GPU, fractional scaling is rarely a problem. I typically run my trashcan Mac Pro (low-end D300 GPUs) at 4K/1440p, and only

Even on an Intel Mac with a discrete GPU, fractional scaling is rarely a problem. I typically run my trashcan Mac Pro (low-end D300 GPUs) at 4K/1440p, and only a few problems come to mind: • Microsoft Remote Desktop (with "Optimize for Retina displays" enabled and RDP host settings optimized for quality) is usable and looks good, but things that rapidly change large sections of the display, like dragging windows around, have noticeable lag. Though this lag is generally only reduced, not eliminated, at native resolutions, so changing modes in this case is rarely worthwhile, and the Windows applications I use most (Visual Studio, JetBrains Rider, and Windows Terminal) run well enough that I choose to work via 1440p-like Remote Desktop 99% of the time even when a local connection is only a KVM switch away. • Playing back 60 FPS videos in mpv with high quality presets and scaling algorithms drops frames. Default settings and lower frame rate videos both work fine, and in light of Retina superscaling, the quality difference is negligible, so I change mpv settings rather than scaling settings in this case. • While not a performance problem, displays from OSes designed with pixel-perfect rendering in mind (e.g., classic Mac OS, NeXTSTEP) look bad at higher-than-VGA resolutions. The only scenario where I typically switch to another scaling mode is when emulating these.