Archive. This is an archive of the Apple Support Community. Discussions are being restored and soon you will be able to read and post here again.
DraganP
User level: Level 1 (13 points)

Text is blury on external monitor

Hi all. I have an external 23" (1920x1080) monitor that is hooked to MacBook Pro 13" via HDMI cable. The fonts and text on external monitor are super blurry and hardly readable. When i connect that same monitor to a laptop running Windows 10, that issue is not present there. So i searched on web a bit about this issue, and found out that this issue was on Mojave and High Siera as well. So i found couple of potential fixes with some settings that is done via terminal commands, but those 'fixes' had low impact on fixing this issues. Are there any solutions to this problem as this is so annoying.

All best,

Dragan

Posted on Nov 30, 2019 11:35 AM

7 replies

BobTheFisherman
User level: Level 10 (87,747 points)

Dec 16, 2019 3:37 PM in response to DraganP

Use extended desktop mode instead of mirror desktop. Mirroring mirrors the display resolution as well as the content. The resolution of your computer being mirrored may not be the best resolution for your external display.

DraganP Author
User level: Level 1 (13 points)

Dec 16, 2019 1:18 PM in response to chuck_3rd

I've already tried that. I've tried Macbook Pro 13'( Late2013 i think) running on Sierra ( not High Sierra) and this issue that i was complaining about, is not present there when MBP is hooked to another monitor (24'' 1920x1080 Dell monitor). Don't know what to do honestly..

All best,

Dragan


[Edited by Moderator]

RaphaelB
User level: Level 1 (19 points)

Jan 8, 2020 9:32 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

I am experiencing the same problem with a new Dell 32" D3218HN, and through similar research have tried many suggested solutions (several of which have been outlined above) to no avail. It's definitely not mirroring vs extended, and the apple trouble shooting guide is pretty useless.


I'm on a MBP Early 2015 Retina display. It seems like this issues goes back about 10 years, however, based on posts from these forums, Macrumors, and other third party sites.


Currently I'm attempting to connect HDMI to HDMI. I've ordered an HDMI to Minidisplay as my next test, and if that doesn't work I'll also try HDMI to *shudder* VGA. None of the smoothing default settings or terminal overrides have helped. Too bad those old mac vs pc commercials of mac "just working" with everything aren't valid anymore! I'm definitely open to any more suggested solutions though - I have no desire to spend $700 on a monitor for work just to be able to read text without getting a headache.

DraganP Author
User level: Level 1 (13 points)

Jan 9, 2020 2:52 AM in response to RaphaelB

I even bought and usb-c to displayport adapter to test it, but the same results. Only thing left is to try to get hands on some 4K monitor and try with it and see will that fix this annoying thing. Could it be that my MacBook is broken, GPU to be precise, or maybe just the usb-c (thunderbolt) port.

RaphaelB
User level: Level 1 (19 points)

Jan 10, 2020 6:31 PM in response to DraganP

Minidisplay improved it very slightly, but not enough to make it usable for text.


@DraganP - based on the number of people who have reported these issues over all different generations of Mac and MacOS, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that it is your GPU or port.


How about we take another tack - can anyone suggest external monitors that don't cost $700 (like the LG in the Apple store) that actually work properly with MBPs?

DraganP Author
User level: Level 1 (13 points)

Jan 11, 2020 4:28 AM in response to RaphaelB

What i don't understand is that two of my friends, both of them have MacBook Pros, and none of them are having this issue. Which i super odd..I will soon test all my adapters with theirs MBPs, and i will post results here. Hoping that i will find some answers for all us.

All best,

Dragan

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/250903591