Mac OS X 10.7.3 graphics fuel rumors of high-DPI Mac screens
updated 09:00 pm EST, Mon February 6, 2012
Lion update includes sharper art assets
Skulking in Apple's Mac OS X 10.7.3 update has raised possibilities that Apple's on-again, off-again high-DPI support may be more established in the final version. Art assets found for mouse pointers by Marc Edwards both look different and scale to large sizes without the usual pixelated look. One claim had a Mac mini using HDMI kick into the normally hidden HiDPI mode after 10.7.3 was installed.
Whether or not there's any intentional hardware preparation isn't clear. It may be just to accommodate the existing zoom functions in Mac OS X, most of all Universal Access.
The upgrade still coincides with rumors of high-resolution Mac displays. While unconfirmed, they have included a 2880x1440 MacBook Pro and would represent four times the resolution. Apple would need higher resolution art across much of the entire interface for these screens to have similar proportions but still show a visible improvement over existing screens.
Any proof wouldn't come until spring at best for most Macs, since Apple will be waiting on Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture before it can update most systems. [via Daring Fireball]
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Joined: Aug 2001
Older users
If I might take a moment to speak on behalf of all the older users of Mac products: the company REALLY needs to come up with a way to keep the resolution sharp at more than just the native resolution. Older eyes are already strained to deal with today's resolutions, making everything tinier and harder to read isn't going to help. One reason the iPad has done so remarkably well is that seniors and those with less-than-perfect eyesight love it's 1024x768 screen.
We're not all gamers out here, and some of us like reading on the computer. I don't begrudge higher resolution at all, but the industry (as a whole) needs to find a resolution-independent solution that lets us set resolutions "lower" while keep the sharpness like we could with CRT screens (their one saving grace).