Hi Conrad. Thanks for the reply! If you want the non-dumbed-down version, try holding down the Option key while clicking Scaled. [Edit: I'm not sure if that works on the built-in display.] Which version of Lightroom are you using? The current version should show a normally scaled UI on a Retina display. The UI in older versions might appear too small. Yes the option key does work on the built in display as well. I'm using the latest iteration of Lightroom CC...whatever that is. Also, if this is your first Retina Mac, you should understand how a Retina display is supposed to work. While the hardware resolution of the 5K iMac is 5120 x 2880 pixels, you do not want to set it to that number. The additional pixels are not there to provide more working area, they're there to provide more detail per inch — just like print. The default working resolution of the 5K iMac is 2560 x 1440 at 2x; in other words, twice as much detail as a non-Retina 2560 x 1440 display. ...now I think your getting to heart of my question. Can you tell me why you wouldn't want to run you monitor at it's maximum resolution? Doesn't running it at lower resolutions defeat the purpose? To your point, if I want the maximum detail per inch (DPI) when editing /reviewing pictures in lightroom, why would I want to run the monitor 2560 x 1440 v 5120 x 2880? If you adjust the resolution in the Displays preference, what you're doing is deciding on how much you want to trade off having more working area versus seeing finer detail. OK. So "scaling" is the thing that's confusing me. The "dumbed down" option in display preferences are not scaling the program interface, they are simply reducing/increasing screen resolution correct? I would think, in an ideal universe, you'd want to be able to run your display at it's maximum resolution but "scale" the OS and application interfaces to the desires relative amount of real estate/readability. If I understand you correct... that's not what's happening when you adjust Apple's "scaling" options.
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