Text looks pixelated when viewing on external display on MacBook Air M1

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Withers99

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#324078 25-Feb-2026 08:34

Hello,

I recently purchased a new MacBook Air M1, this is my first Apple device so I am still figuring some things out. I connected it to my BenQ 1080p 24 inch external monitor for the first time today, initially I noticed that the text was too small. So I went into the display settings and changed the resolution, this made the text and interface a nice size. But the menu bar and smaller text (such as the address bar in Vivaldi or the search in spotlight), is pixelated and hard to read. The text is the right size, but so pixelated it's basically impossible to read.

I have read some articles about this, and have installed and tried Better Display, but I couldn't seem to get it to work, I aren't sure if I am doing something wrong, but some guidance or an alternative method would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

RunningMan

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#3464716 25-Feb-2026 14:18

What did you set the resolution to - the same as the monitor's native res?

gzt

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#3464720 25-Feb-2026 14:26

How do you connect? Monitor socket is Hdmi, displayport, or usb?

Withers99

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#3464852 25-Feb-2026 20:37

The monitors default resolution MacOS set is 1920x1080, but I found the text was too small to read, so I lowered it to 1600x900, which made the size correct, but made it pixelated. I wasn't able to find a better way to do this, like scaling on Windows.

I am connected to the monitor using a HDMI cable, connected to the HDMI port on the monitor and a USB-C hub to the MacBook.

shk292

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#3464855 25-Feb-2026 21:02

Reducing resolution is never going to give you a nice result, especially as 1080 is already not very high res for that screen size

Does apple not give you the per-screen scaling options that Windows does?

richms

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#3464856 25-Feb-2026 21:10

1080 on a 24 shouldn't have been too small tho? When I have had to endure a mac there was a resolution option that just seemed to change the text scaling, the actual signal was still what the monitor wanted so it looked ok. Then somewhere else there was the physical output resolution that would actually output a low res signal. It was a weird way of choosing the scaling and I recall it was either a little too small or a little too big with nothing in the middle.

Richard rich.ms

Withers99

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#3464860 25-Feb-2026 21:28

shk292:

Reducing resolution is never going to give you a nice result, especially as 1080 is already not very high res for that screen size

Does apple not give you the per-screen scaling options that Windows does?

Apple gives you options to adjust text size without issues on Apple displays, which I have done for the built-in display, but for external displays, you have to manually adjust the resolution, which causes pixelation.

Dyson

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Withers99

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#3464862 25-Feb-2026 21:32

Withers99:

1080 on a 24 shouldn't have been too small tho? When I have had to endure a mac there was a resolution option that just seemed to change the text scaling, the actual signal was still what the monitor wanted so it looked ok. Then somewhere else there was the physical output resolution that would actually output a low res signal. It was a weird way of choosing the scaling and I recall it was either a little too small or a little too big with nothing in the middle.

For me I personally did find the interface and text too small, if you see my post above, I explained that there is an option for adjusting the size for Apple displays, but not external non-Apple displays.

Withers99

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#3465052 26-Feb-2026 08:31

Hi there,

I was doing some more playing around in Better Display today, and I thought I would try adding a virtual display. I am pleased to say that buy adding a virtual display, mirrored to my BenQ, I seem to have been able to resolve this issue.

I aren't sure why, but using the virtual display, seems to enable the MacOS scaling options that are available for only Apple displays, which doesn't cause the pixelation.