Higher than Native Resolution on a MacBook Air
Ever since I bought my first computer, an original Tangerine iBook with an 800 x 600 display, I wanted to be able to simulate a higher resolution to fit more on the screen.
I’ve been reading articles talking about Apple moving toward resolution independence since shortly after I got that first iBook.
Retina displays now let you run at several scaled resolutions. The scaled resolutions let you fit more on the screen at a lower sharpness than true Retina, but are not pixel-for-pixel to the native display resolution. This is a great feature for Retina displays, but it didn’t help me on my current MacBook Air since that doesn’t have a Retina display.
The Solution
The solution I’ve found is a Mac app called SwitchResX.
This app makes it easy to simulate higher resolutions than your display supports, so you can fit more on the screen. The trade-off is sharpness, but the quality is not that bad on non-Retina displays. On Retina displays SwitchResX supports more resolutions than the scaled options Apple offers, including one that’s pixel-for-pixel.
My Favorite Settings
When using my MacBook Air without an external monitor, I’ve found that 1680 x 1050 is pretty comfortable blend between sharpness and screen real estate for general use.
When I’m doing web or iOS development that could use even more space, 1920 x 1200 is the setting I prefer. With anything higher than this, the text becomes much harder to read.
I hope this post helps other people who have always wanted a solution like this, but never found one. If you find this useful, please hit the Recommend button!
This post originally appeared on my personal blog.
