I'm going to buy a new laptop, mainly looking at the Dell XPS 15 with INFINITY EDGE(!)
The thing i'm unsure about is the 4k screen.
I hear about the scaling sucking ass on Windows, mainly older programs etc. But it is very hard to find good information on this.
Can anyone comment on 4k scaling in Windows (10)?
The reason i want the XPS 15 is because i want some kind of dedicated GPU (going abroad for half a year so some light gaming would be nice).
I DO NOT want to buy a MSI gayming laptop made to look like a childs toy. The Dell looks very nice and has great specs, there is basically no equivalent.
>>51387885
well, I have the same question, so I'll bump your thread, OP.
and yes, for that price, there's no equivalent. it's probably the first laptop to beat the 15" rMBP (yes, it's one of the best options out there, /g/; it doesn't matter how much you hate it), even though we have to wait for battery life, which was incredibly poor in the previous generation of 15" XPS.
sadly, the scaling, like you said, is just fucking bad on Windows, but as a potential buyer of that laptop too I'm interested in how it works on W10.
I'll wait for answers.
>>51387885
Install OSX.
>>51387885
4k is the most over rated thing on planet earth
>>51388093
Especially on a tiny screen like that.
>>51387885
Even Photoshop and Sony Vegas pro have problems with scaling.
>>51387885
OP, have a look at the Dell Latitude e5550-7638. Much better value for money, imo
>>51387885
I just tried setting Windows 10 to 200% scaling for keks and science. The desktop is fine, as are web browsers, etc. Text looks pretty nice in Windows for once.
Older Windows software, including parts of the system's control panel, are either shown with every pixel scaled to 2x2 or have messy text and widget spacing. Usable but even uglier than before.
Third party software is a mess. Audacity gets the 2x2 treatment and is very hard to use because its custom cursors are not scaled at all. Steam too. You'd think they'd at least bother handling DPI properly if they're going to write their own UI from scratch. Samsung's Magician drive tool (typical skinned hardware manufacturer app) didn't scale at all, must be lying to the OS about DPI support or something. Many applications that mostly scaled ok had some unscaled widgets that might be annoying to click at super high DPI. Qt applications were generally fine except for a few widget scaling issues.
4k looks very nice when done properly, but I'd give this a 6/10.
I recently received a X250 from work with the high-res display (1080p on a 1366*768 screen) and a lot of old programs and even some of MS' own products can't into high-dpi. It just looks blurry and annoys the fuck out of me.
>>51388125
150% scaling master race
>>51387885
It's fine. The good thing about laptops with 3200x1800 panels is that it's twice 1600x900, so you can set your scaling to 200% and programs that don't support HiDPI will be scaled up nice and crisp, rather than the bilinear crap you get with non-integral scaling levels. The only trouble you'll have is with programs that mark themselves as supporting HiDPI when they don't do any scaling. They will be almost unusably tiny, but in my experience, only shit programs do this.
>>51388093
Not really. Text looks amazing. Once you go HiDPI, you can't go back.
>>51388140
Good luck with that on 4k/15"
>>51388156
I wish it would be that consistent. It really is not. You'll run into problem with scaling all the time on Windows.
>>51388135
>>51388156
Any screenshots to show good/bad scaling? That is the main problem, there are written experiences but no screenshots.
Maybe screenshot don't do it justice, because at pixel level it looks fine?
>>51388140
>150% scaling
everyone knows that scaling by an integer is better than scaling between integers. calling 150% "master race" is particularly naive.
>>51387885
I used to have a Razer Blade QHD+, it was a god dam nightmare. Even Skype doesn't scale correctly. It looks months for After effects to release a version with ultra high resolution support. Maybe some time in the future it will be a good option, but for now regular QHD does the job fine. I now have a Carbon X1, its a sweet laptop, and the screen is actually really good once your remove the crappy anti glare visor.
>>51388213
Mh, new X1 Carbon in February '16. I might wait until then. Problem is the X1 has integrated graphics only.
>>51388201
The problem is, that you won't see anything on a screenshot. The resolution will be 1920*1080 despite just being a 1366*768 screen. I guess I could take a photo of the screen to show the differences. Hold on, anon.
>>51388185
Honestly, I only had trouble with programs that were shit anyway. A few Java programs I had to use for uni work were not scaled.
Chrome, Firefox, Sublime Text, Command Prompt and mintty (and all text-based programs running in them,) Visual Studio and Office all work perfectly. IntelliJ and Steam don't support HiDPI, but they get scaled up.
>>51388213
>Even Skype
Case in point. Shit programs.
>>51388201
>Maybe screenshot don't do it justice, because at pixel level it looks fine?
Yeah, it's pretty much this. The bad programs are the ones that render exactly the same thing on a HiDPI panel as on a regular panel, so they'd look fine in a screenshot, but on the display, they're almost too tiny to read and you have to squint at the screen to use them. To get an idea of the size, take a screenshot of any program and scale it to 50%.
>>51388201
>>51388250
Alright, see pic attached.
You can see the differences.
>>51388269
Either I can make full use of literally the only advantage Windows has over Linux (proprietary support), or I won't use it at all. Until they fix that, I will stay the hell away from the combination of high dpi and Windows. Can't be bothered with stuff that only works sometimes without any means to fix it myself.
I use a GL771J and upscale to 4K on a monitor. The laptop screen is only 1080i, but better value IMO.
>>51388328
>blurry mess
This does not happen with 200% scaling (on 3200x1800) panels. The scaling is crisp.
>>51387885
What's the point of 4K on a 15.6" laptop?
>>51388375
It's a bigger number and retarded people will think that's a great selling point.
>>51388373
I did not tinker with any scaling settings. This machine is as vanilla as you can get. And quite honestly, I don't feel like fixing this shit for each app.
>>51388390
It's not "for each app." All upscaled apps will be crisp at 200% scaling. That's how integral ratios work.
>>51388384
>>51387885
Honestly, 1080p is plenty for a 15 inch display. You're just going to have to piss about with GUI scaling and run games at half resolution anyway- there's no point. You might as well get a 1080p display and run everything in your native resolution.
>>51388399
But what happens to the other apps that run just fine? Won't they be scaled too? Won't that make the already tiny buttons in i.e. Outlook even tinier?
>>51388415
Apps that scale properly will scale properly to 200%, which is the correct ratio for a 3200x1800 display and looks fine.
>Won't that make the already tiny buttons in i.e. Outlook even tinier?
Do you not have the latest version of Outlook? It scales perfectly. You would expect Microsoft's flagship programs to scale properly when they ship HiDPI devices themselves.
>>51388438
>You would expect Microsoft's flagship programs to scale properly
Which is exactly why Microsoft's Skype is proving they don't give a fuck. They advertise Skype for businesses as a better and cheaper alternative to Cisco's Webex like there's no tomorrow.
But anyway, I might try scaling tomorrow evening. Thanks senpai.
>>51388467
Skype has always had a pretty awful UI. It seems like Microsoft's acquisition didn't change that. If you want a version that scales nicely, you could try the Windows Store version.
Skype for Business has a totally different UI (it's Lync by another name.) I'll admit I haven't tried it on a HiDPI device.
>>51388497
Isn't Skype for Windows still written in some old version of Delphi? It's fucking amazing it has worked this long.
It seems to scale better at 200% than 150% btw.
Everything looks too small at 125% scaling. I'm using a 12.5" laptop at 1080p
![KVcijDb[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/wl19Ow8.png "KVcijDb[1].png")
>>51388328
tick this box and restart it
>>51388156
Under rated post.
Lots of software companies are releasing hi-DPI versions of their software; but they only function at 200% scaling. Adobe, for example.
>>51387885
You'll find most software is fine at either 100% or 200% and doesn't exist at anything else - find out if the software you plan on using on it supports hi-DPI modes anon, if it doesn't it's going to be shitty, if it does there's no going back.
>honestly though, I'd just buy a rMPB if I was going to get a hi-DPI laptop - sadly, it does actually just work.
The reason why i am even considering 4k is because it just looks damn sexy when it works.
And it should also give some usable extra screen estate when coding.
Macbook Pro next to me and it looks really good. I considered a Macbook but i'll have to make the switch to OSX.
Gaming also isn't really an option on the Mac, especially because the 2600 euro's one still has an inferior GPU to the XPS 15.
The most used programs should scale correctly. Old software like the older versions of photoshop will have a messed up UI. Editing the manifest file can most of the time fix this problem although obviously not an optimal solution.
Other old software might have blurry text and other elements like >>51388328 showed.
I expect future software to better support Hi-DPI screens, so unless you use old software specifically you'll be fine with scaling on Windows.
Pic related, Photoshop CS5 running with and without manifest edits (3200x1800 on 200% scaling)
>>51388375
>What's the point of 4K on a 15.6" laptop?
>amazing looking
>built-in GPU can drive 4K no problem
>you can attach larger 4K monitors and it wont shit itself
>>51389224
just get the xps 15, mine is out for delivery today
the only problem with it is when it's specced out from dell properly it's in the $2000-2500 range
>>51388156
If anyone has a 4k display and most of your programs are available on Linux and you don't play games, I would REALLY recommend using Ubuntu or Arch (+ infinity fonts) with gnome 3 or cinnamon. The font rendereding and amount of programs that support scaling are still nowere as good in windows as it is in Linux.
I've seen a lot of programs that looks blurry in windows that look beautiful and sharp on Linux.
>>51388777
The negative thing about the rmbps is that the 13 or 15 inch pros either scales to "1280*800" or "1440*900" which can be a little cramped.
>>51387885
>Can anyone comment on 4k scaling in Windows (10)?
Dell P2415Q user reporting in, running 200% scaling on Windows 10.
Win 7 is unusable when it comes to windows scaling
Win 8 is kinna shit
Win 8.1 got it much better
Win 10 is great.
Apart from Windows, all major programs scale just fine.
Many programs got updated with high-dpi support only recently, so make sure you keep your software up to date.
Office 2013 onwards, Chrome, Firefox, IE11, Skype, Winrar, 7zip work just fine, but there is more that I don't remember atm.
>>51388093
kill yourself
