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mr_mas
Participant
November 4, 2013
Question

Using Photoshop CC on Macbook Pro retina

  • November 4, 2013
  • 11 replies
  • 73361 views

Hi, I am a web designer and I am trying to find a way forward in using Photoshop CC on my Macbook Pro (late 2013).  I have found posts that say you can open photoshop CS6 in "Low Resolution" however I cannot find the same option in Photoshop CC.  Zooming my design comps by 200% surely is not the answer.

Thanks for any advice anyone can give.

- Michael

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    11 replies

    A
    auxiliaryjoel
    Inspiring
    June 2, 2017

    it's really disgusting that Adobe are still not acknowledging this as flaw. Photoshop is now unusable to me. I've been using it for almost 20years and now I have to jump ship because of this ridiculous bug.

      A
      Anthony Bilmes
      Participant
      October 23, 2021

      This might be too late but I'm giving up and switching to Windows Is that crazy?

      Conrad_C
      Community Expert
      Conrad_CCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 23, 2021
      @Anthony Bilmes wrote:

      This might be too late but I'm giving up and switching to Windows Is that crazy?

       

      It might be crazy if it’s based on the assumption that this is only a Mac problem. Because you are also going to run into it in Windows. The picture below is of an image in Windows 10 on a HiDPI display, shown in Photoshop on the left, and in the Microsoft Edge web browser on the right, both at the magnification that each application defines as 100%. And you can see that the browser version is blown up 2x, just as it is on the Mac. In fact, just as it is in any web browser on macOS or Windows.

       

       

      The confusion started when Apple began using higher pixel density displays, which they branded Retina, and are 2x pixel density on the desktop (higher on mobile). Having a more detailed, less jaggy screen display was such a good and appealing idea that Windows and Android did the same thing. They also started using 2x or higher pixel density, which they call HiDPI displays. Retina and HiDPI are basically the same concept. In both, as display pixel density increases, pixel sizes get smaller, so images at 100% display smaller and smaller in any software defining 100% as “one image pixel equals one display pixel.” To avoid images looking too small on 2x displays, desktop web browsers hack around it by assuming 2x (and so applying a 2x upscale) on Retina/HiDPI displays, for images where the page code doesn’t declare a pixel density.

       

      So you won’t escape the problem by switching away from Photoshop, or switching away from the Mac. No matter where you turn, you will still face the necessity of understanding why web browsers apply a 2x or higher upscale to images on Retina/HiDPI displays, when the web page code doesn’t specify a pixel density. And it will still be beneficial to learn how to design web graphics for different and multiple pixel densities. Because the issue is independent of Photoshop or Mac/Windows.

        C
        cyrill31530626
        Participant
        January 21, 2016

        I still have this issue. What's up Adobe ? Come on !

          ProDesignTools
          Community Expert
          ProDesignToolsCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          February 5, 2016

          Would suggest checking out this discussion:

          https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/support-for-retina-and-high-resolution-displays-on-mac-especially-when-designing-at-72dpi-for-web

          (That's the official site for Photoshop Feedback – whereas here, it's more of a general user forum.)

          H
          harrisonb65993768
          Participant
          October 29, 2015

          Hey Guys -

          This worked for me, recently got an iMac 27" 5k retina. I went into the PS preferences and set the 'New Document Preset Resolutions' to match my PPI of the display, in this case it was 218ppi. Default is 72ppi. This link has all the retina display ppi's - Retina Display - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

          Not sure if this is the correct way, but it seems to work for me.

            N
            nicolaselhani
            Participant
            November 5, 2015

            I tried that on my MacBook Pro Retina that has a resolution of 220 ppi but no difference.

            The way Photoshop behaves is quite simple (though unintuitive):

            No matter how we cut it, my MacBook Pro Retina 15'' has exactly 2880 x 1800 pixels on screen.

            For the sake of visibility and clarity you can go into Settings -> Display and adjust your viewing ratio relative to the 2880 x 1800.

            The Mac automatically adjusts the Retina display to exactly half the length and half the width to 1440 x 900. Which leads to whatever youre seeing on screen to be blown up 4 times (1/2 length and 1/2 of width = 1/4 of display hence 4x) than if you'd be seeing 2880 x 1800 natively. Which means that if you were running everything natively, (which apple doesn't even give you the option of doing - the most pixels it allows you to display on your screen at once is 1920 x 1200)- but let's assume that you could run everything at 2880 x 1800, everything would look 4 times smaller.

            What the photoshop engine is doing it seems is assuming that you are running a system 4 times smaller than what the OS is translating to you with all 2880 x 1800 pixels on screen displaying the system. This is why things are 4 times smaller within Photoshop than when you open them in the Finder. Because the finder assumes you're running things at 1440 x 900. Photoshop assumes you're running things at 2880 x 1800.

            Opening Photoshop in Low res mode basically tells photoshop to look at the resolution of your screen determined by the OS rather than the actual amount of pixels on screen. So it goes back to assuming your screen's actual amount of pixels is 1440 x 900.

            So if you open a file that is 2880 x 1800 in normal PS mode regardless of the PPI you set it at, it will fill exactly 100% of your screen.

            If you open a file that is 1440 x 900 in low-res mode this time regardless of the PPI you set it at, it will also then fill exactly 100% of your screen.

            I don't use illustrator, though hearing users of illustrator being in a seamless environment sounds lovely, and I wish Photoshop would make the jump.

            Basically Adobe can point the PS engine to run in low-res mode but by keeping the UI and fonts etc. in normal retina or hi-res mode.

            It's pretty crazy when you stop to think about it... this is still an issue.

              T
              theCena
              Participant
              January 14, 2016

              and we are now in 2016 and still nothing on this issue..

              T
              Terramar111
              Participant
              August 27, 2015

              I have been looking everywhere for a good solution to this problem. There isn't one. Yes, you can open Photoshop in low resolution mode. But as a designer, everything looks like crap. I'm amazed that Adobe would let this happen. There is another forum post on the same subject from 2013! It's been two years and Adobe has yet to fix the problem.

                J
                jamessk12
                Inspiring
                June 17, 2015

                Photoshop CC 2015 came out yesterday. Is there still no other fix around this other than "Opening in Low Resolution" - Photoshop looks rubbish this way. When working with a client they think the artwork is blurry, and do you know how hard it is to explain the reason why to a client?! They struggle to fully understand.

                Adobe really need to fix this.

                  E
                  Exciting_operator0B35
                  Participating Frequently
                  June 24, 2015

                  My thoughts: When designing for mobile screens you used to design for the iPhone standard of 320px wide. That was it. Then with retina phone displays, you had two choices: design for 320 and scale up the view on phone, increasing pixilation, or start designing at a 640 canvas for a 1x1 view. Seems that the same rules apply here on MacBook Pro Retinas, although there are other options using display scale within system preferences and also PS Low Resolution mode, which I haven't explored all of the combination of options around. When I'm stuck on my laptop in an older design, the best option seems to be scaled up 1 step in OS X display prefs, and 200% view in Photoshop. I use vector art throughout, and bitmaps are smart objects, so things are not blurry or pixelated, though.

                  Here is some detail on that process, where you can scale in image size from 2x to 1x and back without any image degradation.

                  http://bjango.com/articles/appdesignworkflow/‌

                  thenewbeatTO
                  thenewbeatTO
                  Participating Frequently
                  August 6, 2015

                  The only workaround I've now had the time to adjust to is creating documents at twice the resolution:

                  • My computer setup: 15" Retina + external 1920x1200
                  • Create documents at 2880 x 1800, fiting the 15" Macbook Pro Retina perfectly
                  • On the 1920 x 1200 I'll zoom out to 66.67% and it fits perfectly the 1920x1200 monitor perfectly
                  • Zooming out to 50% (on the 1920 monitor) simulates a 15" laptop screen at 1440 x 900, leaving enough room to the right and left of the canvas my toolbars and layer panels.
                  • Exporting SVG's and JPG/PNGs from this document can be done by Right Clicking a layer and selecting Export As. Then you can adjust the image size to be 50% if you want to save out for non-retina, or leave it at 100% for 2x images.

                  Hope this helps any of you web designers!

                    safetybear
                    safetybear
                    Participant
                    March 14, 2015

                    Exactly! Thank you dxjoel.

                    I'm having the same problem... I've been combing the web for a solution and nothing in site. I'm on MacBookPro Retina 15" running CS6 13.0.6.

                    Why can't Adobe PS render at same size as every other program? As a designer, 'lo-res mode' is not an option.

                    I'm attaching a screenshot of he SAME 480x480 IMAGE in photoshop, chrome and safari.

                    Can you imagine, as a web designer, how it's hard to work like this? There is no longer the 1:1 ratio that I get from CS6 on my iMac or PC.

                    Here's a screenshot of the SAME IMAGE on CS6 (at 200%) and Chrome (at 100%)... Pretty close!, but upon close examination, there's pixelation in CS6 side that's not there in the actual image. So, not comfortable with that workflow. I have relied on Photoshop as a pixel-perfect product for ~20yrs... now I can't use it on this machine.

                    I mean, even when I go to Help > Update ... the PS program's dialogue text is pixelated! Something is very 'off' here. Is this issue fixed in the CC version?

                    Need some answers, or it's time to look for new options.

                    Thanks!

                    David

                      jmvdigital
                      jmvdigital
                      Known Participant
                      March 25, 2015

                      It's a bummer this thread was marked as "answered." It's clearly not. I'm having the same issues/questions after recently upgrading to a retina MBP.

                        T
                        tammyl21170412
                        Participant
                        April 3, 2015

                        same here

                        S
                        spieler360
                        Participant
                        November 6, 2014

                        For an industry standard product like PS it should be easy to make the best experience for pros.

                        N
                        nexuscan
                        Participant
                        October 26, 2014

                        as I now, normal 72dpi you have to use. but for retina display on MBP should be 144dpi (Resolution).

                        Im working like that.

                        _Petroff
                        _Petroff
                        Participant
                        February 7, 2015

                        I am at 300dpi and have the same problem. The dpi is not the answer. At 100% its not pixeled, but its too small. We have to zoom to 200% for normal(web) size and all go blurry. Retina fail for web design...

                          skykyu
                          skykyu
                          Participant
                          July 7, 2014

                          Looking for a solution for this if anyone has any new info.

                            thenewbeatTO
                            thenewbeatTO
                            Participating Frequently
                            June 9, 2014

                            I'm having the same issue. Launching in low DPI mode is not the answer; everything looks horrible and the size doesn't feel accurate.

                            Anyone have an actual work around? I too am using an external for the time being, and using SVGs where I can to cater to our new retina audience.

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