Retina 15098 Update Issue - 2880x1800 still scaled ?

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Pioneer77

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I'm using the 15098 build on a new retina Macbook Pro with a Windows 7 guest OS.

It runs fine at 1440x900 resolution full screen but of course its scaling the 1440x900 desktop to the 2880x1800 display.

At times I want to run Windows in full screen 2880x1800 mode for Photoshop
but if I change the resolution to 2880x1800 it does not scale correctly 1:1 as it should.

Images and text show scaling artifacts.

Here's a good test image with single pixel text to show the issue.
If it is downloaded and viewed in OSX using Preview on a retina Macbook Pro in Best for Retina display it looks very crisp and clear as pixels are mapping 1:1,
but when viewed in Parallels 15098 under Windows 7 at 2880x1800 it is soft and is clearly being scaled.

SinglePixelText.PNG


No scaling should be done as the retina screen is 2880x1800 and windows is running full screen at 2880x1800?
 
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Yeah... it's definitely broken overall. Parallels should simply display at the native resolution (no idea how you get the Mac to accept that), and then you should set the DPI in Windows to 125% of 150% if you so desire. Right now, Windows is just outright fuzzy and hideous.

I can get close to OK text quality if I set OS X to "more room" and Windows in the VM to 125%, but it's far from ideal. I know this isn't the only thread complaining about it.
 
jeffyjones said:
I wouldn't call that a solution when it leaves everything in OS X super tiny.
Click to expand...

I agree with my eyes 2880 model in OSX is impossible.

If I have to get some Photoshop work done in windows at 2880 , at least it display pixels 1:1.
Hopefully Parallels will correct the issue in 1440 OSX mode.
 
Got my new MBPr yesterday and installed the Parallels upgrade. Windows still looks godawful. Considering I am forced to do a lot of development in Windows VMs, this is disappointing. Using Windows Server 2008 R2 - perhaps that's part of the problem.
 
fails also using QuartzDebug HiDPI

i set my display to use HiDPI using Quartz Debug 4.2 on the HOST system.

however, when i put parallels on that screen, the content is NOT scaled, see pic 1

so i thought i should also set HiDPI on the GUEST system, but that just makes it super DUPER big, not HiDPI, see pic 2

seems like it just doesn't work.
 
Agreed

This is an issue that can be improved by Parallels. A simple implementation that serves the needs of rMBP users would be:
- Implement an option to choose whether the window is 'Scaled by Mac OS X (default)' or 'Native'

With the 'Native' setting, Parallels would expose the vm window at exact pixels to the user. I believe this can be done with the new APIs on Mac OS X.

Windows users who wanted to choose this option could then run a higher DPI setting in the Windows VM to achieve a great experience without any scaling at all.

Pete
 
Agreed - current update still makes Windows look horrible. Would be good to tell the Mac NOT to pixel-double the output and thereby remove the artifacts.

Cheers,
 
New update

I found with this week's update, I can now choose the native resolution in Windows wheras I previously could not.

However, choosing this resolution still results in very very poor rendering. It's unusable. It looks like the whole image window is being scaled down to 1440, then doubling up again. Therefore, on our 2880 screens, we're seeing a 1440 pixel-wide representation of 2880 pixels!

They might as well have removed every other pixel... that's what it's doing at 2880 pixel width.
 
Same problem here. Running the 15104 build it is possible to select the 2880x1800 resolution but the screen shows 1440x900 with every other pixel doubled/missing.
 
I use FreeRez to set the OSX resolution to 2880 x 1800 and then use the DPI settings in Windows. This will enable full retina support for Windows. The downside is that I need to hit the switch resolution setting when switching between the Windows to avoid small text in Mac applications.
 
Everyone gets that you can do that... but it's not a solution. The whole point of Parallels is to use the guest and host OS at the same time.
 
Hi guys,
Excuse my ignorance but I see a very bad quality with win7.

I tried all possible resolutions with both windows and mac combined.

Any ideas?

I just want a decent resolution to be displayed decently (1980*1020 and higher) but now I can't read small texts because it's very blurry as well as other graphics in windows.

Thanks in advance I really appreciate any assistance
 
ElishaE said:
Hi guys,
Excuse my ignorance but I see a very bad quality with win7.

I tried all possible resolutions with both windows and mac combined.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a workaround.

The problem
Parallels does not support the retina display yet. I have no idea why the company has announced that it now supports it. Parallels is simply not giving Windows access to the increased DPI. As you can do this yourself quite easily, I guess they were pressed for time.

Running on the Retina Macbook Pro makes Parallels and Windows look worse rather than better. As the 2 by 2 pixels compatibility mode of the Retina display creates very sharp (jaggy) pixels compared to a regular display, Apple does some blurring in the upscaling. This makes text very blurry and is very hard on your eyes.

The solution
The correct solution is for Parallels to give Windows native resolution and use the DPI setting in Windows 7 or Windows 8. This is rather simple using Apples APIs for most programs, but as Parallels dealing with graphics is anything but bread and butter code, things probably becomes trickier. For most programs, you simply announce that you are Retina compatible and you're given the full resolution. You can forgive Parallels for not having had the time to add Retina support, but it is not acceptable to issue a press release to say you have. This tricks us into buying a product under false pretense.

The workaround
There is a way to run Retina Windows using Parallels (with manual switching and no coherence, which is very annoying). The way to get high DPI windows today is to manually switch resolution between 2880x1800 (Windows) and one of the scaled settings (Mac) when you move your eyes or desktop between Windows and OSX. Download one of the free programs to do this (for example FreeRez). It will allow you to set native resolution which allow Windows to be as good at Retina as is the Mac. Don't forget to set the DPI in the Windows display settings (right click on desktop and choose "Screen resolution"). This is called "Make text and other items larger or smaller". 200% is a good default setting (personally I use 150%, but I like a lot of room). By automating the resolution switching process, you can make the switch with a single keystroke.

The good news
The good news is that Windows looks great in Retina mode. Super sharp!
 
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I just bought Parallels for my new rMBP, and needless to say, I'm disappointed.
Fullscreen mode should ALWAYS use the native 2880x1800 or dynamically switch resolutions if OSX will allow that.
Windowed should provide a zoom in/out option so that we can use the full resolution without guests looking too tiny if they don't support high DPI.

No one cares about non-pixelated icons, (at least not at this stage in the game), and adding them does not constitute "Retina support" for such an application.
 
C'mon Parallels. Say something! Do something! Or just say you're doing something! Stop being Apple with all the silence and secrecy...give us an update!
 
This is rather frustrating. I bought an upgrade to Parallels 8 because I would get decent looking guest VMs on my rMBP. After all, it claimed "Retina Support." Guess I should have actually looked into it further. VMs still look wretched.
 
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