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Why does text look better in OS X than win10?

H

HaukSwe

Member
I figured mac users would be more likely to understand/answer this issue.

When browsing the internet using Chrome in Windows vs Mac, the text looks way better on the mac for some reason. The Windows text is far less legible and just.. not as smooth. Why and how do i fix it?

Anyone else recognise this issue?

(Dualbooting and same issue irrespective of monitor etc).
 
I actually see the opposite. And Chrome is notorious for crap text. Try a different browser. Edge on Windows 10 looks amazing to me.
 
what resolution are you running at? Apple does a better job with scaling at super high rez

and yes chrome has bad txt rendering, one of the main reasons I don't use it on the PC
 
Google seems to only hire people that hate MS (it is a general silicon valley problem IMO), so they code crap software for Windows (not sure if it is just incompetence, apathy or malice). Don't use chrome in Windows if you can manage it. Not just font rendering, battery life and scrolling is terrible in chrome on Windows.
 
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Win 10 text looks terrible. I don't know what they do, but I find it's too fuzzy and not as crisp as any other system I've used such as older version of Windows or Linux.
 
probably its a perk of paying around a grand for the cheapest laptop. But I do agree, the text is a lot clearer on mac, even when I'm writing I'm starting to notice a little.
 
Some (if not most) of this may be difficult to avoid.

A lot of it has to do with the inherent approaches to font smoothing. Apple uses sub-pixel rendering and is fussy about what font info it deems relevant, so it looks clean and relatively pixel-free.

Windows 8 and 10 actually took a step backwards in font rendering versus 7, purportedly to better accommodate mobile devices. They're using grayscale rendering that produces the "fuzzy" look people don't like. Combine that with Windows' apps tendency to scale poorly at high DPI and you end up with something fairly messy.
 
Commodus said:
Windows 8 and 10 actually took a step backwards in font rendering versus 7, purportedly to better accommodate mobile devices. They're using grayscale rendering that produces the "fuzzy" look people don't like. Combine that with Windows' apps tendency to scale poorly at high DPI and you end up with something fairly messy.
Click to expand...

Windows 10 still uses clear type, which is sub pixel rendering. The issue is that the scaling API was changed. Anything that is not updated will use greyscale if I am understanding correctly. So a lot of older apps will look odd. Edge and a multitude of newer apps look beautiful on all the systems I have used it on at various scaling settings.
 
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Commodus said:
Some (if not most) of this may be difficult to avoid.

A lot of it has to do with the inherent approaches to font smoothing. Apple uses sub-pixel rendering and is fussy about what font info it deems relevant, so it looks clean and relatively pixel-free.

Windows 8 and 10 actually took a step backwards in font rendering versus 7, purportedly to better accommodate mobile devices. They're using grayscale rendering that produces the "fuzzy" look people don't like. Combine that with Windows' apps tendency to scale poorly at high DPI and you end up with something fairly messy.
Click to expand...

This. Apple actually spends an unbelievable amount of resources on their fonts and making them look good, so much so that they tout it as a feature when they release a new OS update. El Capitan was the most recent.
 
quikah said:
Google seems to only hire people that hate MS (it is a general silicon valley problem IMO), so they code crap software for Windows (not sure if it is just incompetence, apathy or malice). Don't use chrome in Windows if you can manage it. Not just font rendering, battery life and scrolling is terrible in chrome on Windows.
Click to expand...

That's funny. Chrome is terrible on macs because of the power usage.
 
I've noticed this also. For example, on my Dell 25 inch 1440p monitor I set the scaling to 125% in Windows 10 and it has mixed results. Some apps look great but some look blurry and unsightly. Yet if I hook up my MB Pro to it, it looks a lot better. Microsoft just do a poor job with scaling, they really need to give more priority to this.
 
x26 said:
Everything with Apple is "Magic"
Click to expand...

And what isn't 'magic' is 'smart'. However, they do tend to actually care about certain things that other companies ignore, and all that little stuff adds up.
 
quikah said:
Google seems to only hire people that hate MS (it is a general silicon valley problem IMO), so they code crap software for Windows (not sure if it is just incompetence, apathy or malice). Don't use chrome in Windows if you can manage it. Not just font rendering, battery life and scrolling is terrible in chrome on Windows.
Click to expand...

Tinfoil hat time?

Simply put Chrome uses the native text renderer and macOS renderer is better.

Open the same page with Safari and Edge.
 
NEDM64 said:
Tinfoil hat time?

Simply put Chrome uses the native text renderer and macOS renderer is better.

Open the same page with Safari and Edge.
Click to expand...

That would be a trick since neither runs on the opposite OS. OK, I RDP from my iPad to my Win10 system. Edge and Safari look pretty much identical to me. Chrome on the Win10 system looks like a**..
 
It depends on the hardware. Prior to "Retina" display, OS X's anti-aliasing looked quite terrible.
 
Actually, this is on my 2011 macbook air connected to a 1080p dell IPS display, so there. So not even a Retina issue.

You folks are right regarding Chrome on Windows. Firefox works a lot better on Win, and the text is a bit better as well.
 
There is a program called mactype that supposedly give mac like font rendering in windows.

https://github.com/snowie2000/mactype/releases

There is a discussion on reddit, didn't realize what you were talking about re mac font rendering. Now I see you are all crazy, mac font rendering looks terrible. 🙂 think it is personal preference, I like the way windows renders, very sharp and clean. Macs looks sort of blurry to me.

Regardless chrome is a trainwreck on windows.
 
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