Images looking different in different software

[MattPRG]

I have recently got a new mac and updated to all the latest adobe cc software, however one thing I have noticed is that images look a lot smaller in photoshop compared to illustrator and google chrome, quite significantly so!

I've include two screen shots to show comparisons at actual size, any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

[davescm]

It sounds like you have a hi pixel density screen.

Most browers scale the image on those screens. Photoshop does not. 100% zoom in Photoshop maps exactly 1 image pixel to 1 screen pixel. It does that so that the image is seen with no scaling whatsoever, which is essential for a professional pixel editor (scaling can introduce artifacts).  On a high pixel density screen that can make the image look small in comparison to an application such as a browser which does scale the image.

Illustrator is a vector editor so is not limited to that 1 to 1 screen mapping.

Dave