Dell S2721DGF PPI - Windows font appears pixelated

[Ralfi]

I’m just wondering if the poorly detailed font I’m seeing on this monitor is to be expected?

 

I haven’t used it much lately - a new work laptop that I mostly use has MUCH smoother fonts, so it’s probably fooled me into thinking this 1+ year old monitor, for its price, should be displaying better font detail. As you can see below, the font’s pixelated (ignore the third icon, as it’s a poor resolution icon).
 

Actually, the font appears ‘smoother’ than it actually is in this screengrab, due to compression…

 

Clear type is on, & I’ve tried to select the smoothest font when performing the troubleshooter. Scale is also at 100%, & both my GPU/Windows drivers are up to date (GPU is 6700XT, CPU 5600x, 16GB DDR4 3600).

 

Fonts in webpages are fine. It’s only within Windows itself (desktop icon font, & font within Windows Explorer).

 

Looking up the PPI for this monitor, I found this…

 

Moving on, the Dell S2721DGF monitor features the WQHD resolution with 2560×1440 pixels, which results in a high pixel density of ~109 PPI (pixels per inch).

As a result, you get crisp details and text as well as plenty of screen real estate without any scaling necessary. For most users, it’s the pixel density sweet spot.

- https://www.displayninja.com/dell-s2721dgf-review/

 

It’s saying 109 PPI is a sweet spot for 1440 displays, but from what I’m looking at (in Windows anyway), it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Can anyone else with this monitor confirm that this is its shortfall, so I can stop worrying about it please?!

 

[Latvian Video]

Try adjusting the cleartype text on windows

[Kid.Lazer]

Looks like normal Windows text to me.

[Ralfi]

Just now, Latvian Video said:

Try adjusting the cleartype text on windows

Yeah that's what I mentioned i'd done a couple of times already.

 

Here's another example of the pixelated fonts in Explorer... (Damn, they look smoother than that actually again...apologies)...From my end, you can clearly see the pixels & rough edges...

 

[Ralfi]

1 minute ago, Kid.Lazer said:

Looks like normal Windows text to me.

Yeah, it does when viewing it in this forum. I'll need to upload a screenshot at full resolution somehow...Gotto go out now, so i'll update the thread later on.

 

Thanks for the quick replies.

[Kid.Lazer]

I have a very similar display, Dell S2719DGF. Basically the same thing, only it's TN and 155hz. It's my preferred pixel density, and I have not noticed anything unusual.

 

Perhaps check your Radeon settings? Just a shot in the dark, but maybe it's doing something silly, like driver-level scaling.

[Ralfi]

6 hours ago, Kid.Lazer said:

Perhaps check your Radeon settings? Just a shot in the dark, but maybe it's doing something silly, like driver-level scaling.

Just checked my Radeon setting & all the Scaling related settings are disabled.

 

Maybe this monitor just doesn't do text as well as my 1080p 13" laptop?

[rijzen]

6 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

Just checked my Radeon setting & all the Scaling related settings are disabled.

 

Maybe this monitor just doesn't do text as well as my 1080p 13" laptop?

a 13 inch 1080p laptop is 169 ppi so it is going to look much smoother than a 27 inch 1440p display at 109 ppi

[Ralfi]

26 minutes ago, rijzen said:

a 13 inch 1080p laptop is 169 ppi so it is going to look much smoother than a 27 inch 1440p display at 109 ppi

Yeah I was going to look up the specs of the laptop to compare as I thought it had a higher PPI. & that makes sense 169 v 109. I just thought the monitor would handle text better. I'l try to tweak the ClearType settings...

[Andrewtst]

13 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

I'l try to tweak the ClearType setting

It will not change much.

 

You need to get 4K monitor for very smooth text output.

 

1440p in 27" is normally very OK in normal viewing distance, but if closed up look then you will seen as what you post. 

[Ralfi]

49 minutes ago, Andrewtst said:

It will not change much.

 

I think I managed to make it look slightly better by not selecting the boldest selections in the ClearType settings. 

 

Oh well at least I know to not expect much better out of my 27" 1440p monitor. I should've known, but as mentioned, I hadn't used this monitor in a while & couldn't recall if it always looked like this.

 

Just comparing PPI to phones, my iPhone 13 is a whopping 460PPI, so no wonder it's so clear. Starting to get an idea of PPI across multiple devices - something I hadn't really thought of before.

 

Thanks for the insights everyone.