The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    15 R2 UHD - Blurry text issue

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Mr.Claw, Nov 25, 2015.

  1. Mr.Claw

    Mr.Claw Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    11
    Messages:
    195
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    41
    The problem is that Windows 10 does not manage text scaling perfectly.
    On most windows and dialog boxes the text is sharp and crisp. But on some dialog boxes such as Device Manager, the text is very blurred and fuzzy.
    Here's an example:
    upload_2015-11-25_15-38-10.png

    See the difference in quality of text in chrome and device manager? It's bothering me a lot. Since there are a lot of you with 4K screens here, please tell me how you are solving this problem?
     
    Mr.Claw, Nov 25, 2015
    #1
  2. suyash691

    suyash691 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    111
    Likes Received:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Reduce DPI to 100%. Windows defaults to 150 for high pixel density displays which causes blurring
     
    suyash691, Nov 26, 2015
    #2
  3. Mr.Claw

    Mr.Claw Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    11
    Messages:
    195
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    41
    My scaling is at 250%, and if I put it to 100% I won't be able to use the laptop, everything will be really tiny.
     
    Mr.Claw, Nov 27, 2015
    #3
  4. ccsasuke

    ccsasuke Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Did you try 200%? It seemed a tiny little bit better to me.
    I couldn't find a way to get rid of this scaling problem, but it seems only to occur in a handful of occasions, with device manager being the only one I can recall..
     
    ccsasuke, Nov 27, 2015
    #4
  5. kgh00007

    kgh00007 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    80
    Messages:
    464
    Likes Received:
    50
    Trophy Points:
    41
    It's just something you have to live with. It's a windows issue and the same thing happens in Win 8.1 on my 1080p screen and on my Win 10 HTPC hooked up to my 1080p TV.

    Device manager and some older applications that don't correctly scale are just zoomed in by windows and become a blurry mess, nothing wrong with your screen!
     
    kgh00007, Nov 27, 2015
    #5
  6. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    280
    Messages:
    1,699
    Likes Received:
    93
    Trophy Points:
    66
    200% scaling is best I think, should in theory best at 4:1 pixels
     
    T2050, Nov 28, 2015
    #6
  7. Mr.Claw

    Mr.Claw Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    11
    Messages:
    195
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    41
    You're right, I tried 200% and the text is much sharper. But there's too much strain on my eyes at that scaling, and I think I'll stick with 250% for the sake of my eyes for now. Still looking out for a proper solution.
     
    Mr.Claw, Nov 28, 2015
    #7
  8. john green

    john green Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    33
    Trophy Points:
    41
    I was used to larger text also, due to ancient eyeballs. I started with 250% and hated it as much as the OP. 200% is much better (and smaller), so I MOVED THE LAPTOP CLOSER. Try it!

    FWIW, Firefox has a zoom function that works well and will set a new default zoom on a site-specific basis. That takes 90% of the struggle out of looking for little words. Fiddling with ClearType will help slightly, also.

    I also think there's more to this blurriness. I notice that under very heavy proc loads dialog boxes will flash in and out of sharpness, as if that miserable Intel 530 was struggling to keep up. I don't think this blurriness issue can be solved until the BIOS allows us to use the nVidia GPU for the laptop display also., and completely lock out the Intel graphics
     
    john green, Nov 28, 2015
    #8
  9. ccsasuke

    ccsasuke Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    16
    My solution was to change to 4k 17 R3 and try 200%..
     
    ccsasuke, Nov 28, 2015
    #9