How well does Windows 7 scale at large resolutions?

orangecat · May 30, 2013

I know on a Mac you can set lets say 1440x900 and it runs at native resolution but the UI elements scale down to that resolution. it looks like 1440x900 but with the detail of whatever the native resolution is. With 4K monitors coming out I don't see why anyone would want to buy one for a desktop because the damn task bar will be so small and everything will look miniature. How would Windows look on a 4K monitor I want one but i don't know if I will have a good experience with Windows.

GoodBytes · May 31, 2013

Since Windows XP, Windows support the ability to increase the DPI settings of the OS and programs.

It was vastly improved in Vista, and in Modern UI apps in Windows 8.

The problem with increasing the DPI, is that while Windows looks awesome, Office looks awesome, and many latest version of Microsoft software, the great majority of applications we use today, aren't even tested or even looked at by the developer(s). You usually have text or elements that is cut or blurry, or higher definition of icons on tool bars and such don't exist, so it looks very awful, and some program are unable to draw their interface properly, also you can have text appear huge in program, but the elements where the text is on (buttons, menu, drop down list, etc..) aren't scaled properly. This is huge problem for high resolution Windows 8 Pro tablets.

For Apple, it was easy. Most Apple users uses Apple specific apps, which are updated, and the library of applications is really small. In Windows, that is simply not the case.

You can give it a try for yourself, and see how your programs (at least current version) will look. Right-click on your desktop, and select screen resolution. Then click on Make test and other items larger or smaller link.

Pick your DPI scale value, hit Apply, and log-off and log back into your account, and you'll see how your programs will look.

Oh and the way Apple works, is that on a retina display, when you pick 1440x900, is simply sets to native default DPI, and every pixels are x2. So every 4 pixels is "1 pixel" on your screen.

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PBaines · May 31, 2013

When I got my 30" (2.3K)monitor the task bar was tiny and even my bookmarks in Chrome were tiny and annoying to navigate too.

Setting the scaler to "Large" was awesome and didn't make it look crap.

Though with 4K I think it would be pretty average. Though I am sure that there will be a windows update released and will scale it properly if you are using a larger res or something