Our Verdict
Apple’s15 - inch Retina MacBook Prohas a job : OS X does n’t allow users to well take full advantage of the Retina display . Specifically , OS X does n’t provide a mere , quick way to flip between the many supported screen resolutions ; in increase , the Retina display supports higher closure than OS X provides access to . Fortunately , several developers offer package tools to define this trouble , and the one I ’ve come to favor is Inertiactive’sQuickRes .
QuickRes can seem in your Mac ’s menu bar ; a few other display utilities may declare oneself a carte prevention pick , but OS X ’s Displays system predilection does n’t , and neither does a utility I antecedently used calledChange closure . In addition to the standard five resolutions that are available in the Displays pane of System Preferences , QuickRes on the 15 - in Retina MacBook Pro get you get at 22 additional resolution setting — for a walloping entire of27available resolutions — including the native 2880 by 1800 resolution and two even - higher resolutions , 3360 - by-2100 and 3840 - by-2400 . Right - clicking the QuickRes menu - ginmill icon show you all of these resolution , letting you quickly pick out any of them .
instead , a uncomplicated click of the QuickRes icon in the menu bar cycles through available resolutions — there ’s no indigence to open an app , choose a mount , and clack a button to apply the chosen resolution . Similarly , a imperativeness of a configurable keyboard shortcut — by default , Command+Option+R — to switch resolution instead of clicking the menu bar icon .
But you do n’t have to cycle through all these selection — you could select up eight resolutions that are used for this cycling . For example , you could set up a three - setting successiveness where the first resoluteness is 1024 by 640 , the 2nd is 1440 by 900 ( or what QuickRes call Best for Retina ) , and the third is 1920 by 1200 . Whenever you clack the QuickRes carte du jour - legal profession icon or use the keyboard shortcut , you switch to the next setting in the successiveness . If the showing is at 1024 by 640 and you military press Command+Option+R , the showing switch to 1440 by 900 . Press it again , and the display switches to 1920 by 1200 . Press it again , and QuickRes goes back to the beginning of the sequence . ( you’re able to move only in one direction through the succession , however . )
you may also toggle the visibility of the QuickRes menu - bar icon by press Command+Option+Control+I. This keyboard program line is really very useful , because when QuickRes is carry , it does n’t seem in the Dock , in Recent Items , or when pressing Command+Tab .
With a steady laptop , I usually coiffe the display to the showing ’s highest screen door declaration and rarely changed it . With the Retina MacBook Pro , however , I institute myself modifying my body of work habits to take reward of the presentation , changing the screen resolution found on the labor I ’m performing . I broadly speaking use the 1920 by 1200 resolution , but when I do foresighted - form reading and editing or underage prototype redaction , I flip-flop to the Best ( Retina ) stage setting . When I need a lot of CRT screen real estate for , say , Final Cut Express , I tack to the Retina display ’s native 2880 by 1800 . With QuickRes I can switch between these setting with a few tap on the keyboard .
One issue I had with Change Resolution was that if you used it to switch from 2880 - by-1800 to 1440 - by-900 Best ( Retina ) , the image timber was n’t as nipping and clear as it normally is . QuickRes does n’t have this problem , and you see the high clarity that you wait .
other versions of QuickRes were for Retina laptops only . Version 2.2 can be used with non - Retina MacBooks , as well , offering standardised functionality . I tested QuickRes on a 17 - inch MacBook Pro , and the app offered 17 dissimilar resolution preferences , compared to just three available screen resolutions in the Displays pane of System Preferences .
The one annoyance I found with QuickRes is that when you ’re swap from a low resolution to a higher one ( for model , from 640 - by-480 to 1280 - by-720 ) , window that fill the width or height of the silver screen at the lower solving — but are not in full - screen fashion — don’t automatically plate to fill the larger covert . ( When using apps in full - screen musical mode , I was able-bodied to switch over resolutions without a hitch . )
There are other apps available that render similar characteristic , and some even offer up more customization configurations . But QuickRes has a square and no - nonsense feeler that many users ( including me ) will appreciate and prefer . It ’s a great dick for Retina MacBook Pro owners — and any other MacBook drug user — who needs to switch declaration on a regular footing .
