Mac OSX Leopard to fix resolution independence
Iljitsch van Beijnum of Ars Technica is running an article on why the Leopard delay is a big deal and why we should all care. Besides touting increased functionality and full 64-bit support, Leopard is going to fix one of the very ills that have irritated OSX users to this very day even with Tiger.
Sure 64-bit support is great and all which will no doubt lead to increased speed with applications that support it and that is certainly a feature worth waiting for but another well worth waiting for is the fix to resolution independence. Apple has confirmed that Leopard will be resolution independent.
Apple has produced 100 pixels per inch on their displays which was bumped up recently claiming this resolution was all that was needed. Apple, thinking for their customers, I thought that was well within the realm of another company. Oh well, at least it is going to be fixed.
Current Macs offer about 110 pixels per inch, a slight step up but they still have a way to go if they want to compete with PC laptops. Apple can’t go any higher on the pixel density because most software thinks displays still have 72 pixels per inch, leading to the problem that documents shown actual size are smaller on the display. Part of the problem in Tiger can be viewed at Answers.com.
Tiger has basic support for resolution independence but it is nowhere near what can be expected in Leopard. One could also supposition that with Leopard the displays on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros will get a bump up in pixels per inch and any increase will be welcome.
This is yet another reason to add to the “don’t buy a Mac now” list and I’m sure it will continue to grow. Even if you did buy a Mac now and if Apple introduced some kind of free or discounted upgrade to Leopard, you’d still have to buy a new Mac (in the case of laptops) to get the advantage of a sharper display. Wow.
The sharper displays may not make their debut with the release of Leopard but since claims of Quad Core MacBook Pros have been floating around, why not slap a sharper display on them? Maybe it is wishful thinking but it is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Better Living through Technology says Microsoft attempted to support rudimentary resolution independence in Vista, some elements of it are, but the program must be written to take advantage of it. It does have a highly adjustable DPI setting that is far superior to XP. Vista has about the same resolution independence as OSX Tiger. Apple will be ahead in this field when Leopard releases (as if they don’t have enough leads already).
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April 17th, 2007
“if Apple introduced some kind of free or discounted upgrade to Leopard, you’d still have to buy a new Mac ” FUD
What are you smooking dude. MacBook Pros and MacBooks look fantastic as is and with Leopard they will look even better especially hooked up to a 20 or 30 inch display.
April 17th, 2007
That was in reference to the display technology, if you know, you’re into that kind of thing. I want the sharpest, best display possible and IF Apple does introduce new displays with greater pixel density then you will be sorry you made your purchase (but only if you could see them side by side).
I would still wait until Leopard comes out, if just to save me the cost of buying the OS. You’ll get no argument from me that the Cinema displays are beautiful.
May 15th, 2008
[...] osx leopard to fix resolution independence … Mac osx leopard educational discount: 69, not 116 …http://mac.blorge.com/2007/04/17/mac-osx-leopard-to-fix-resolution-independence/OS Follies – Windows Vista, Linux GNU/Ubuntu and Mac OS XOS Follies – Windows Vista, Linux [...]