Display scaling settings. Every OS has them. They let you render your UI larger while still taking advantage of the increased resolution. For instance a 4k display at 200% display scaling will have everything be the same size as an equivalent 1080p screen, but will still look much smoother because it is actually using the proper resolution for rendering.
KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
Why would I want that? I literally got a bigger screen for more real estate and more text, why would I get a 4k screen and turn it into a smoother 1080p screen?
It slike people who buy 24"+ 1080p screens, they look like dogwater, why would you want that.
michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Scaling does NOT turn your 4K screen into a smoother 1080p screen. Fonts are the perfect example modern fonts aren’t pixels they are resolution independent descriptions of shapes. One could draw an S as small as it appears as one you see in this comment or as big as your screen. As its drawn bigger and bigger the curve is drawn with more and more pixels and the letter has the same form and shape at any size.
Whereas monitors range from 68-360 dpi you probably CAN read a 12 pt font at around 6mm on a monitor 12-18 inches away but probably CAN’T read it at 1mm because your eyes just can’t resolve or can’t comfortably resolve shapes below a certain size even with infinite pixels. It is possible you can read slightly smaller text which you can achieve by slightly tweaking font size in addition to scaling.
EG you scale your 4K monitor at 2x but decrease font size from 12 -> 10 pt or whatever combination produces a pleasant usable experience for you.
Similarly graphics aren’t degraded. Your 4K video isn’t scaled down to 1080p because you are scaled at 2x. Your environment gives your video player a rectangle to fill with pixels. The controls drawn by the app are scaled the contents are the contents of the video file as decoded. The same is true of graphics but because graphics aren’t resolution independent it depends on high enough resolution assets being available. Your browser given a 400x400 space to draw an image linstead of a 200x200 will draw a nicer image if one is available.
TLDR: Scaling makes high dpi displays look nicer not shittier. Integer scaling is nicer and simpler but fractional scaling is needed for some less common resolution and size combos. Setting scaling and then tweak font size to taste.
SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Because if you buy a laptop or something that has a 16 inch 4k screen the text will be nearly unreadable. Or some people have poor eyesight so want larger text while still being able to watch movies/play games in a higher res. It has tons of use cases, just because they don’t apply to you doesn’t mean it is useless.
KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
Oh sorry, you’re not the person who was being rude to me above, my bad.
Yes, for sure, those are all valid. In my case it’s a 28" desktop monitor, so I prefer everything to be small.
michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’m 99% certain that the following is true
You said buying a 24+ 1080p screen looks like shit so you didn’t buy one.
4K with 100% scale AND 80% browser zoom at 4K would be microscopic.
Logically you have a 2K monitor. Basically you don’t understand the need for scaling for an obvious reason
1080p 24" monitor from 2008 = 92 DPI 2560x1440 28" “2K” monitor = 104 DPI
Meanwhile 24" 4K monitor = 184 DPI 14" 4K laptop = 315 DPI
What you use is barely different and scaling doesn’t make sense.
High DPI monitors are useless without scaling.