Retina question, quite noobish

[bdsams Veteran]

So I have a Retina MBP 15in, the tech specs say '2880-by-1800 native resolution' but in the display options, all I have are the selections below

When I select, 'best for retina', it chooses a lower resolution, not sure what, but how do I enable the 2880 by 1800 :/ ?

[TheLegendOfMart]

Natively you can't all it does is scales the UI.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/18/3-ways-to-run-a-retina-macbook-pro-at-2880x1800-native-resolution/

Some apps on there that will allow you to set native resolution.

[game_over]

http://www.madrau.com/indexSRX4.html

[firey]

Quick google search shows it's not possible without hackin' some files:

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/21/running-the-retina-macbook-pro-at-full-2880x1800-resolution/

[Brian M. Veteran]

So I have a Retina MBP 15in, the tech specs say '2880-by-1800 native resolution' but in the display options, all I have are the selections below

When I select, 'best for retina', it chooses a lower resolution, not sure what, but how do I enable the 2880 by 1800 :/ ?

The display is 2880x1800 :p.

Best for retina is 1440x900 pixel doubled (this will look by far the nicest). Apple doesn't allow you to use 2880x1800 in normal dpi mode - you'll need something like SetResX to do it (good luck to your eyes if you do :p)

[bdsams Veteran]

ah ok, just wanted to make sure that everything was ok with my machine...thanks all!

[game_over]

What resolution is everyone actually running on their rMBP? I've always went with best for retina but just had a tinker and the higher res look nice and not as bad on the eyes as i would expect. It says performance may be effected so wondering users experience on this?

[Brian M. Veteran]

What resolution is everyone actually running on their rMBP? I've always went with best for retina but just had a tinker and the higher res look nice and not as bad on the eyes as i would expect. It says performance may be effected so wondering users experience on this?

I have mine at best for retina, until I open Xcode, TextMate or Logic - then I switch to 1920x1200 :p.

[Shadrack]

I don't like how they have defined HiDPI resolutions. I assure you that 1440 x 900 HiDPI mode is actually 2880 x 1800 resolution. Take a screenshot if you need further convincing. I think it is because if you consider how the resolution relates to desktop realestate 1440 x 900 HiDPI mode is equivalent to 1440 x 900 normal DPI mode. HiDPI mode will use high resolution images when available and stretch low res images. If you were able to set the resolution to 2880 x 1800 normal DPI mode everything would be TINY but you would have a LOT of desktop realestate!

[Luis Mazza]

SetResX allows you to set any resolution you want, even for external monitors. You can even set 3.200x1800 and also achieve 1600x900 HiDPI mode on external monitors... It's a great app. The only one that allows you to do that.

Any resolution you choose will always be scaled down to your monitor's supported resolution. But it looks better in HiDPI.

[Shadrack]

SetResX allows you to set any resolution you want, even for external monitors. You can even set 3.200x1800 and also achieve 1600x900 HiDPI mode on external monitors... It's a great app. The only one that allows you to do that.

Any resolution you choose will always be scaled down to your monitor's supported resolution. But it looks better in HiDPI.

Hmmm...I may give that a try! I have a 27" cinema display 2560 x 1440. At full resolution I sometimes find the UI elements to be too tiny (I have really pathetic eye sight even with vision correction). But 1280 x 720 HiDPI makes everything TOO large. Intermediate resolutions are fuzzy (yes I am sensitive to fuzzy resolutions despite my poor eye sight).

[Luis Mazza]

Hmmm...I may give that a try! I have a 27" cinema display 2560 x 1440. At full resolution I sometimes find the UI elements to be too tiny (I have really pathetic eye sight even with vision correction). But 1280 x 720 HiDPI makes everything TOO large. Intermediate resolutions are fuzzy (yes I am sensitive to fuzzy resolutions despite my poor eye sight).

Take a look at this: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1568657

We discussed a lot about that :)

[Razorwing]

I run mine at 1440x900.

[bdsams Veteran]

I don't like how they have defined HiDPI resolutions. I assure you that 1440 x 900 HiDPI mode is actually 2880 x 1800 resolution. Take a screenshot if you need further convincing. I think it is because if you consider how the resolution relates to desktop realestate 1440 x 900 HiDPI mode is equivalent to 1440 x 900 normal DPI mode. HiDPI mode will use high resolution images when available and stretch low res images. If you were able to set the resolution to 2880 x 1800 normal DPI mode everything would be TINY but you would have a LOT of desktop realestate!

That's the issue, the menu bar at the top becomes huge, tabs on chrome are massive! I like real estate!

[Shadrack]

Take a look at this: http://forums.macrum...d.php?t=1568657

We discussed a lot about that :)

Wow, got 1600 x 900 HiDPI mode enabled. Really love it. Web pages work well, but the UI lag is pretty crappy :(. I'm going to experiment with 1920 x 1080 HiDPI.

[Luis Mazza]

Wow, got 1600 x 900 HiDPI mode enabled. Really love it. Web pages work well, but the UI lag is pretty crappy :(. I'm going to experiment with 1920 x 1080 HiDPI.

It's going to be worse... The higher the DPI, the more rendering is needed (2x the DPI selected).

I actually use HiDPI only for day-to-day, but when I play HD videos or full screen content, I rather enable the default resolution without HiDPI.

Also, if you are using two monitors and one is disabled, try to lower the resolution of the disabled monitor to the minimum with no HiDPI. It saves videocard processing power and memory.