Resolution Weirdness

I think the problem is that Windows still (even in 2016) doesn't deal with display resolution at all well, it shouldn't even be something the user should ever have to think about. You never worry about it with your phone, so why is it still a problem for PCs?

I have exactly the same setup, and have had it for almost a year now.

I use scaling on the UHD display set at 200% (not 250%) - that way 2 pixels map to one, and the display looks great; very, very sharp. But some legacy parts of Windows (like the old, old Device Manager window) don't ever look as sharp as the new apps do; is just something we have to live with.

Some programs are unusable on either display - parts of the UI are microscopic, on either display; the only work around is to set the UHD display to FHD, which seems a waste. If I use Resolve across both displays, the UHD display looks fine, but the parts of the UI on the external display are pretty big. If I set both displays to FHD, everything works at the right size, but the laptop display looks fuzzy (it actually isn't, it is just the comparison with and becoming so used to 4K - the UHD display is absolutely superb when run at 4K).

The method of connection won't affect the braindead way that Windows deals with resolution; it's a mess.

Its annoying, but I'm just living with it. Til I get a 4K monitor...:-)

Thanks Hindesite - tell me, what do you mean by setting it to FHD? How do you do that? And also, what does "resolve across both displays" mean? I'd like to fool around with those settings...

Thanks Again!

If Im correct the Resolve across both displays (ALL DISPLAYS?) is a setting in Nvidia Control Panel

in SLI / 3d set up.

This works with some applications:  surfaceproartist.com/.../hack-makes-photoshop-and-illustrator-readable-on-surface-pro

Do I use FHD simply by lowering the resolution?

This is to enlarge apps that are too small....I'm having the opposite problem. Some apps are gigantic on the non-laptop display.

If Im correct the Resolve across both displays (ALL DISPLAYS?) is a setting in Nvidia Control Panel   in SLI / 3d set up.

sorry, you are incorrect; Resolve is a video editor/colour grading application, not a setting.

Do I use FHD simply by lowering the resolution?

Yes, just set try setting the laptop display to 1920x1080; you won't initially like it, because you've got used to the 4K resolution, but it is about the same as any other FHD laptop display.

You might need to revisit windows scaling settings, and the icon size settings.

Thanks Hindesite - tell me, what do you mean by setting it to FHD? How do you do that? And also, what does "resolve across both displays" mean? I'd like to fool around with those settings...   Thanks Again!

By FHD, I mean set the 4K display resolution to 1920x1080, or FHD. Use the advanced display settings to do this, or directly from the desktop context menu.

Resolve is the name of a video editor/colour grading program, I was using it as an example of an application that used both displays and the shortcomings of this. It isn't a setting.

This works with some applications:  surfaceproartist.com/.../hack-makes-photoshop-and-illustrator-readable-on-surface-pro

Brilliant, thanks for posting that - really useful information. Although the OP is only at the moment concerned with minor things like the large desktop items, sooner or later they will run into the other problem of UI components being rendered to small to read.