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View Full Version : Resolution not good after Windows 8.1 upgrade

ronnyl
01-17-2014, 10:58 AM
We are a Dell reseller, and one of our customers bought Dell xps 13 computer, Dell 27" monitor and USB 3.0 docking. Readabillity was ok when running Windows 8, but after upgrading to Windows 8.1 text output is clearly reduced. Images appear to be quite ok, but text appear somewhat smeary and is difficult to read in lenghts of time.

Our customer have 3 identical sets of computer/monitor/docking. Both that have been upgraded to Windows 8.1 have the excact same issues, but the one still running on Windows 8 is ok.

For the record, the computers are updated, all drivers seems to be updated as well, and running the latest software from DisplayLink.

Please help!

Edit! I have posted the same question in the Windows group, as this group is not monitored, according to one of the other posts here...
tboggs13
02-16-2014, 03:47 PM
The problem may not be with DisplayLink. Microsoft introduced display scaling with Windows 8.1, which is designed to address the issues of high resolution monitors. Unfortunately is doesn't work consistently when hot docking. Does the text and images look better when you attach to the dock and reboot?

Microsoft explanation of this feature here:
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/extremewindows/archive/2013/07/15/windows-8-1-dpi-scaling-enhancements.aspx

In the past, you would select a scaling of screen elements based on a percentage. That scaling would be applied across all monitors, which would make the screen element very small on a high resolution monitor.

With the new display scaling feature, you select between small, large and a couple of ticks in between. Then if you have a low resolution monitor next to a high resolution monitor, the screen element are roughly the same size based on the pixels per inch.

Unfortunately, display scaling only adjusts properly when you logout and back in. So if you hot swap monitors - something you would typically do when docking - you get inconsistent results. Fuzzy text, buttons that are too large or too small, icon spacing that is way off.