KAkalleboo·Mar 30, 2026
There are third party tools like BetterDisplay that unlock it as an option https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
In New Apple Silicon M4 and M5 HiDPI Limitation on 4K External Displayswaydabber
BetterDisplay
Learning & Reference2021–2026
waydabber / BetterDisplay
BetterDisplay
Unlock your displays on your Mac. Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, image adjustments, PIP/streaming, EDID override. More info - betterdisplay.pro/guide
36Distinct people
42Mentions
2Explicit recommenders
34.5KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Unlock your displays on your Mac. Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, image adjustments, PIP/streaming, EDID override. More info - betterdisplay.pro/guide
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
I've been using 42" 4K TVs as my monitor for like 10 years now. 2 years ago I upgraded to an OLED LG A1 and it has been amazing. https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/a1-oled…
m_ke used a recommendation phrase. 2 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
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Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year42 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-11-01 08:30:54 UTC to 2026-03-30 13:54:50 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 3 | 8 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
What Hacker News says
42 sourcesIf you actually care about this stuff you are going to run something like https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay which easily allows for HiDPI @ 4K resolution, it does not "look bizarre" or "require fractional scaling". This is what the OP is about. I do the same thing, I run native res w/ HiDPI on a 27" 4K screen as my only monitor, works great.
In New Apple Silicon M4 and M5 HiDPI Limitation on 4K External DisplaysM4 and M5 Macs cannot run 4k screens in HiDPI mode – limited to 3.3k
8 points · Open discussionI have the 27" from that series. In my experience, after I fixed the RGB issue, I also fixed the flickering issue. And to fix the RGB issue, I used BetterDisplay[1], controlled by a Hammerspoon[2] script[3] that calls its CLI on the appropriate display events.
The free version of BetterDisplay is sufficient, I really don't use any of its other features.
The flickering seems to be gamma related, and is triggered by Nightshift or Flux for me.
[1] https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme
[2] https://www.hammerspoon.org/
[3] https://github.com/wlonkly/dotfiles/blob/master/home/.hammer...
In Dell UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub MonitorMy 30-inch 2560x1440 external monitor looked fuzzy/blurry on MacOS until I forced HiDPI. (Mac mini)
MacOS only offers HiDPI for certain resolutions. There is a free OSS program that unlocks HiDPI for other resolutions: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
I just tried disabling HiDPI at 2560x1440, and it looks quite bad! With HiDPI, I'd say it looks similar (if not better) than Windows.
In Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?Shout out to Better Display, I find it helps with Lo DPI blurriness in general on macOS
https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
In Zed: High-performance AI Code EditorI wish it weren't necessary, but BetterDisplay has been helpful with these types of issues in my experience. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
In Mac Mini M4 Pro Display ResolutionsBetterDisplay: Extra Configuration Options for macOS
23 points · Open discussionI've been using 42" 4K TVs as my monitor for like 10 years now. 2 years ago I upgraded to an OLED LG A1 and it has been amazing.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/a1-oled
For anyone using a TV I recommend using https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay to properly scale the display.
In Using an 8K TV as a MonitorI’ve been using https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay for this purpose. Does something similar and more. Works great!
In DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharingBetterDisplay HiDPI feature (available on the free version) much improves font rendering on external displays: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
This helped me a lot, I was about to ditch my external monitor because of blurriness.
In No more blurry fonts in Linux (2023)Interesting, I've never seen a big Github project with only a `README.md` before. It looks like they moved the open source part to a new branch[1], before halting the open development completely (I don't mind, just observing).
1. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/tree/opensource
In macOS Sequoia is available todayI realize it's a very Apple ecosystem thing to shore up gaps in macOS with 3rd party apps, but BetterDisplay can do this for you: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
(Run non-retina displays at 2X frame buffer for proper anti-aliasing)
In macOS Sequoia is available todayBetterDisplay for macOS: Flexible HiDPI scaling and more
2 points · Open discussionBetterDisplay[0] can even change the display mode to just use the display area below the notch (which is the same 16:10 that older MacBooks had). Probably noticeable on a MacBook Air, but on a MacBook Pro, the local dimming makes the unused area look exactly like the bezel.
[0]: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
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