In their latest commentary The Tech Report looks at the nasty way that Win 8.1 renders its GUI on high pixel per inch displays, for instance the majority of high end laptops. 1366×768 panels don't look to bad but if you were to pick up a 13.3" 1920×1080 laptop or for that matter a reasonably sized 4k display you are going to notice blurry text and icons as Win 8.1 is not great at recognizing and scaling for monitors with dense pixels. Some 3rd party applications are better than others but for the most part you are going to feel like you are starting to lose your sight. They offer some workarounds that mitigate the issue somewhat, but like proper mouse support this is something the new flavour of Windows really should have gotten right immediately.
"Displays with high pixel densities are pretty much standard in tablets, and we're all waiting for them to become standard in notebooks. Take a trip to your local Best Buy, though, and chances are a majority of systems in the laptop aisle will have 1366×768 panels—even large notebooks that really have no business with a display resolution that low."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Intel Haswell Linux Performance Improved A Lot In 2013 @ Phoronix
- ARM server chip upstart Calxeda bites the dust on road to 64-bit glory @ The Register
- Globalfoundries adjusts global workforce @ DigiTimes
- How to Install SteamOS and Configure Wifi and Audio @ Linux.com
- TP-LINK 300Mbps AV500 WiFi Powerline Extender Starter Kit Review @ Madshrimps
- World’s first full-size Lego car can hit 20 mph, powered by insane, 1048-piston compressed air engine @ ExtremeTech
- Macbook webcams CAN spy on you – and you simply CAN'T TELL @ The Register
- Netgear R6100 Wi-Fi Router Review @ Legit Reviews
- Feminist Software Foundation gets grumpy with GitHub … or does it? @ The Register
High res, low res, up scaled,
High res, low res, up scaled, and full AA artifacts, windows 8.* is the dog’s mangy rectum, when it comes to getting productive work done, and 7 can fix 100 percent of the Problems of that crAppstore/TileFied kiddy sandboxed, Limited to 30% off the top, closed ecosystem M$ wet dream of Apple riches, TIFKAM UI based flipflopery. And a good dose of a BirdTux OS distro can, and will cure any future worries, of UIs from hell being forced down the throat.
Get off my productive desktop you peskey TIFKids, and go play in your sandbox lined with tiles!
M$ you should have spent your, non run off by stack ranking, brainpower on fixing real problems! Oh wait, there are only Marketing Monkeys remaining, typing randomly at the Keyboards, no wait, fondling at the tiles, to get to the desktop SDK application, that they will never be able to find and launch, to even randomly hit the keys to attempt to solve this display problem.
really…linux is your
really…linux is your answer…..then in the same breath you say it always has a great UI.
2 words… ubuntu UNITY.
🙂
Unity was ubuntu’s way of
Unity was ubuntu’s way of trying to get attention by actually putting an effort into designing a UI that is purely horrible in every way possible, and even ways that are impossible but they were still somehow able to make it horrible in those ways.
No one is forcing Ubuntu, or
No one is forcing Ubuntu, or its desktop(Unity) onto third party laprop/pc hardware, and there are many BirdTux based distros, available that do not use Unbutu or its unity desktop, so that is one of many, and Linux is not just Unbutu or dis-unity! So what about you, Elmer FUD, you do not have enough fingers and toes to count the distros that are not tied to Unity, even with your extra pinkies and webbed feet, oh you can not count that high! Linux has any desktop you want, but you can not see the forest for the monobrow growth hanging down over your eyes!
yes, you are correct…if i
yes, you are correct…if i listed all the distros and desktops i’d have a big bowl of spaghetti mess.
Linux always thinks MORE IS MORE!!!!!!!! well its not, and its why linux will forever stay in the backseat.
at least the BSD side has their heads screwed on straighter.
Bloody ignorance is strong
Bloody ignorance is strong with this post. You should learn like many others what is real problem and only then come back posting.
HINT: It is not Windows nor Microsoft but Google and others.
Ah the M$ pot calling the
Ah the M$ pot calling the G$$GLE kettle black, the last days of the M$ TRUST is upon us! Oh ye M$ investors would be so much richer, had you allowed M$ to be broken up. Sure ol’ John D Senior’s ego was hurt, but the individual companies were worth more, borken apart and competing with each other, than they ever were as one big octopus! Better watch out Intel, because the other Big Bucks players are eyeing some possible on chip interconnect fabric IP that has just come on the market, maybe, and I hope ARM holdings gets it, and pushes out to the all the ARM ecosystem partners to license and use in their non x86 server lineups! Fetch me some popcorn, robot, because the competition is about to begin. Don’t you go collecting any metrics on me, you bucket of bolts ‘bot, I’ve got to scan you for nasty bugs again, Damn I thought I took all the G$$GLE spy ware off, must be the NSA! Well good dose of Debian will fix that!
“1366×768 panels don’t look
“1366×768 panels don’t look to bad”
Too bad. Sorry not to be a grammar nazi. Just pointing it out.
Sorry author, but your title
Sorry author, but your title is even worse then of original article. Problem is not with Windows, but stupid third-party programs.
FIX THAT TITLE. IT IS NOT CORRECT AT ALL!
Actually, I’d guess that most
Actually, I’d guess that most people who have used Windows at the native resolution and then used DPI scaling will tell that things don’t look right in comparison. Letters for example look thinner and taller, it just doesn’t scale right, not even the Windows desktop.
I prefer to use a lower resolution. 1600×900 on a 1080p monitor for example, it’s not as sharp as the original resolution, but it’s perfectly acceptable. Lower resolutions do become noticeably blurry, but 1600×900 is perfectly acceptable, and best of all, every single application works properly. And then for gaming I use the native resolution to get the best experience possible, and games usually do a god job of scaling their UI properly, so no problem there when it comes to size.
Grayscale antialiasing…
Grayscale antialiasing… Performs better on week processors (e.g. tablets), where Win 8 targeted, but on big screens it proved to be not good enough.
The thing is Ms doesn’t want to change it. They say “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature”.
Maybe someone should come up
Maybe someone should come up with a BirdTux distro with a modifiable compositor, in the style of Blender’s compositor node editor! The distro could ship with a default one size fits all compositor starting/default AA algorithm and render pipline, but allow advanced users the ability to customize the AA algorithms, and other compositor pipeline workflows, through a node style Noodle plugin arrangement, that also allowes for custom nodes to be added(script based, or code based) to the OS’s compositor. Users and graphics software makers could offer custom taylored templates for others to import an use, for that software, or other uses! May the best algorithm/compositor win.
I have a 1080p Ultrabook and
I have a 1080p Ultrabook and a 2711U and I have no problems with text but then again I use Firefox and IE and only use Chrome if I have no other choice.
I have a new laptop coming,
I have a new laptop coming, the only reason why I didn’t have windows 7 installed on it is due to the fact that any other OS option cost me more money.
The first thing I’m doing with the laptop is… you guessed it… reformat with WIN7!
For many of third party apps
For many of third party apps out there, an assumption of 96px/in was made. In theory, developers were supposed to query Windows (pre-WPF) to get the a correct scaling factor, and use that to determine the exact layout, but this wasn’t always done.
Chrome in particular doesn’t use Window’s fonts, and doesn’t scale its UI properly for non-standard scaling–so it’s fuzzy.
*Shrug* I always thought that Microsoft would have the most difficulty with high-dpi displays–they have over 20 years of inertia to overcome. Before Win 8 released, I honestly thought that the Windows 8 aps would address this, then I saw the limitations of the API. (*sigh*)
Windows Desktop won’t be elegantly handling high-dpi displays for years.
With M$ any API and SDK
With M$ any API and SDK toolchain is always sure to be depreciated, as sure as a new M$ internal faction, that holds/gaims sway with the Chimperor, takes a fancy to a new and shiney way! And this change always happens just as the developers get up to speed with the new tools! So it’s really not about Developers, Developers, Developers,…It’s about Milking the Developers, Developers, Developers,…for all they’ve got in new training/retraining fees , licensing fees, and other hidden costs! It appears that M$ style fuzzy logic will, in fact, keep the displays looking fuzzy for some time to come!
I’ve been thinking about
I’ve been thinking about getting a Surface Pro 2, but am a little disappointed in the way the text looks in Chrome. Perhaps one could argue this is Google’s fault and not Microsoft’s, but either way it’s kind of sad to see on a brand new tablet/ultrabook.
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