I just (yesterday) got a 2017 5k 27" iMac,… and the screen is AWESOME…
but… was wondering if there was a way to “turn off” the Retina… specifically to test Xojo software for “legacy” machines
or am I going to have to transfer things to a true non-retina computer to validate visual results?
You don’t need to turn off Retina on the whole system, just disable “Supports Hi-DPI” in your build settings to see the low-resolution view. It will look extra ugly on your display, but it looks fine on non-Retina screens. For apps that aren’t yours you can use the Finder > Get Info window to set the “Open in Low Resolution” checkbox.
If you connect a non-Retina external monitor you can just drag the window you’d like to test over to the non-Retina screen. This is a good way to test things because poor Picture-storing design can make things exponentially worse if you drag back and forth between both screens multiple times (which could occur normally with a user).
Or you can use the tool Thom posted to change your entire system.
The “looks ugly” is what I do not want… I am looking for a way for the Retina screen to act like its NON-Retina counterpart… so bascially what I would see it what a non-Retina user would see. Ie. it chooses the @1x icons as opposed to the @2x ones etc.
Turning off HiDPI in build settings or changing the resolution are the only options. The content will be rendered as 1x exactly like a “normal” screen, but pixel doubled to match the physical pixels on your screen.
It looks ugly because it chooses the @1x and stretches it to fill the space. The pixels on your Retina screen are closer together than non-Retina screens, so you will see it stands out as rougher than the rest of the system (which is what I referred to as “looks ugly”)
Disabling Hi-DPI in the build settings, or launching an app in Low Resolution mode will select the @1x images.
run the application(s) on your previous iMac (old computer) ?
Got this iMac recently, too. In System Preferences’ Monitor setting, you can even do an Option-click onto “Scaled” setting to get a list of possible resolutions, up to 5120 x 2880 pixels.
In this setting, usually five buttons will be displayed only, from “Larger Text” to “More area”.
[quote=347050:@Detlef Kahner]Got this iMac recently, too. In System Preferences’ Monitor setting, you can even do an Option-click onto “Scaled” setting to get a list of possible resolutions, up to 5120 x 2880 pixels.
In this setting, usually five buttons will be displayed only, from “Larger Text” to “More area”.[/quote]
but do any of those “ACT” like non-retina… thats the issue
No, and you run the chance that they’re going to do the opposite of what you want.
The monitor may still identify as Hi-DPI and you’d get the @2x images. Just disable Hi-DPI support in Build Settings to test low resolution.
[quote=346960:@Dave S]I just (yesterday) got a 2017 5k 27" iMac,… and the screen is AWESOME…
but… was wondering if there was a way to “turn off” the Retina… specifically to test Xojo software for “legacy” machines
or am I going to have to transfer things to a true non-retina computer to validate visual results?[/quote]
Have a second monitor thats non-retina.
The only option you have is what Greg proposed. Get a cheap second monitor with HDMI connector. Works fine for doing tests.
I did read some users have issues with this tool (hardware malfunction). Not sure it is (very) safe to use.
Hardware malfunction? Seriously? I don’t believe that for a second.
True. I think that’s the better solution.