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I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2012 and I use it together with a Dell 24" Monitor, which has 2.560 x 1.440 pixels (WQHD).

When I use this monitor together with my Windows PC, I'm using a scaling of 125% to increase everything (e.g. GUI elements, font, etc.) to a proper size. Screenshot of the corresponding options in settings:

Screenshot of the settings on Windows

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an equivalent setting option on my Macbook. All I can do is to change the output resolution for the external display. When I choose the native resolution 2560 x 1440 everything is of course quite small. When I choose for example 1080p everything has a proper size for me, but it is blurry.

Is there any possibility to have something like "windows scaling" on my MacBook Pro Mid 2012, or is there any 3rd party App which adds this functionality?

enter image description here

I'm looking for something like this for external displays on my MacBook: ![enter image description here

UPDATE 16.05.18 available resolutions via RDM enter image description here

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    Try googling for macOS resolution app. There are various resolution manager apps available for free. Try if any one of them fulfils your requirements. Some results that show up on googling: SwitchResX, QuickRes, EasyRes, Resolutionator.
    – Nimesh Neema ♦
    May 12, 2018 at 17:05
  • @NimeshNeema I tried SwitchResX but it isn't able to scale up content (e.g. program's gui). I can only set up multiple resolutions for my external display. Once again, I'm looking for a way to display things on my 24" display with the size like I would use 1080p on his monitor, but with the sharpness of WQHD.
    – d4rty
    May 14, 2018 at 12:16
  • Your display has a OSD settings panel. Set the display to 1080p on the Mac and open the OSD menu by clicking the first button above the power button and go to Meny->Display->Sharpness. Change the sharpness value up or down. Does it help?
    – iTunes
    May 14, 2018 at 16:02
  • @iTunes I can't find any sharpness value. Could you please post an image of the proposed setting?
    – d4rty
    May 14, 2018 at 18:39
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    @d4rty There is no way to have different scaling factors on macOS for multiple screens. Windows 10 can do this but there is no equivalent setting on macOS. Funny though that non of the Mac users here seem to grasp what you are asking. Scaling is something different than resolution.
    – koloman
    Aug 20, 2018 at 11:47

1 Answer 1

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You're best off using Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable for this. HDMI would work but you'd need to make sure your mDP to HDMI adapter and HDMI cable were compliant. It's just easier to buy one mDP to DP cable.

The easiest way is to hold Alt when you click on the Scaled option, which will force macOS to show the additional scaled resolutions in the list.

Here's Displays for my Apple Cinema HD Display as standard: enter image description here

And then after Alt-clicking the Scaled option: enter image description here

Alternatively, you can use a menu bar app called RDM (download link at bottom of readme) which lists all available resolutions, with retina resolutions marked by the ⚡️ lightning bolt emoji:

enter image description here

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    I am aware of this, BUT it makes things blurry (using a lower resolution than the native/max display resolution)! I want to use WQHD resolution on th external display, but things should be displayed like I would display them with "only" FHD.
    – d4rty
    May 16, 2018 at 14:26
  • Then you need to choose a retina resolution marked with a lightning bolt. It would help if you posted an image of what options you have the RDM app?
    – Matt Sephton
    May 16, 2018 at 15:21
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    See updated question
    – d4rty
    May 16, 2018 at 15:38
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    I have a similar problem with a 2560x1440 display (Dell P2418D) connected via DP cable. The HiDPI/scaled (lightning bolt) resolutions show up for me, but are only available for 16:10 resolutions so leave black bars on the sides. Otherwise the standard macOS interface lets me choose various non-retina resolutions that all look blurry. I think macOS is intentionally but incorrectly limiting the available resolutions.
    – drfrogsplat
    Apr 3, 2019 at 3:33
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    RDM is by far the best one I've tried, by far.
    – user353302
    Nov 15, 2019 at 17:40

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