Mac screen display size changes, content too large

Users groused and groused about Apple not saving ANY previous display settings, and that for multiple displays, that caused some issues.

Apple responded. They put in some memory of previous displays. But that made other problems worse.

Sometimes the old information about what displays are attached is retained for too long. I expect that is what is happening to you.

The Mac does not rely on Windows-like side-loaded "Drivers" which are actually packages of resolutions and settings for a specific display. Instead, it goes straight to the immutable source -- it asks the display itself.

To get a Mac display to become active, you need the Mac to query the display, and the display to answer with its name and capabilities. Otherwise, the display will not be shown as present, and no data will be sent to the display. "No signal detected" is generated by the DISPLAY, not by the Mac.

This query is only sent at certain times:

• at startup

• at wake from sleep — so momentarily sleeping and waking your Mac may work

• at insertion of the Mac-end of the display-cable, provided everything on that cable is ready-to-go

• hold the Option key while you click on the (Detect Display) button that will appear in Displays preferences (from another display)

so try doing some of those things and see if the displays straighten out their settings and fly right. comes alive.

<< The display setting is set at 1800x1169. >>

In general, the manual resolution settings are for extreme special cases.

Apple expected you to use Scaled resolutions, which set the display to its natural size, then adjust the size of the scaled text:

When you use Scaled, text is drawn at larger size into an off-screen buffer, then scaled back to the selected size for the display. This enhances the fine details. Scaled text is especially nice with no stair-stepping on diagonals and very crisp.