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theorist9

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,757
2,892
IMO it was Yosemite through High Sierra that were the worst looking MacOS versions on a non-Retina display. When the full system-wide dark mode came about that actually got it looking better, at least to my eyes.
The fact that your non-Retina display was much more tolerable on dark mode suggests it may have been a display calibration issue. High Sierra did look great on my 4k 27" Dell, but only after doing a custom calibration using my xRite i1 Display Pro spectrophotometer. Indeed, I've found all non-Apple displays need to be calibrated to look good on any version of MacOS, and that Apple displays benefit from this as well (though the difference with them is not as striking).

Also, High Sierra did require ≈160 ppi (=4k @ 27") to look good. The last OS on which a low-dpi (~100 ppi) display looked good was Snow Leopard. They changed something after SL to require a higher resolution (forcing me to upgrade to the 4k 27"), and then changed things again after HS to require a higher resolution still (forcing me to upgrade to a 27 5k).
 
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MacHeritage

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2022
238
235
British Columbia, Canada
I would say the end of that era really came with High Sierra, which was the OS prior to Mojave. It was the last OS to support native subpixel text rendering, and thus the last OS on which text looked great with commonly-available commodity-priced displays ($500 for a 27" 4k). For every OS after that, one needed a Retina monitor (5k for 27") to get pleasingly sharp text. To me, that's a pretty significant breakpoint.

You could reimplement it Mojave using a Terminal command, but it didn't look as good (perhaps because HS was designed to use it, while Mojave was not).
I remember this very well since I am on the 30" Cinema Display. I stayed on HS as long as possible because of this. Text has never looked the same since.
 

saudor

macrumors 68000
Jul 18, 2011
1,510
2,112
They changed something after SL to require a higher resolution (forcing me to upgrade to the 4k 27"), and then changed things again after HS to require a higher resolution still (forcing me to upgrade to a 27 5k).
They did something again in Monterey, which now requires 120 Hz displays or the cursor movement gets slight delays. Can see this behavior myself and been using big sur as the daily driver to get around it.
 

theorist9

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,757
2,892
They did something again in Monterey, which now requires 120 Hz displays or the cursor movement gets slight delays. Can see this behavior myself and been using big sur as the daily driver to get around it.
I don't experience that on my system. I'm using a wired Logitech G502 gaming mouse on a 2019 i9 iMac running Monterey 12.7.2, and my mouse cursor is super-responsive, with no perceptible lag.

Your signature says you're using a Hackintosh. Could that be the issue? You also didn't mention if you're using a wired or BT mouse. Did you test this with a different brand of wired mouse?
 
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saudor

macrumors 68000
Jul 18, 2011
1,510
2,112
I don't experience that on my system. I'm using a wired Logitech G502 gaming mouse on a 2019 i9 iMac running Monterey 12.7.2, and my mouse cursor is super-responsive, with no perceptible lag.

Your signature says you're using a Hackintosh. Could that be the issue? You also didn't mention if you're using a wired or BT mouse. Did you test this with a different brand of wired mouse?
It works fine (or at least way less noticeable) with my logitech mx master mouse either through USB or Bluetooth, which is the weird bit. I mostly see it on the magic mouse 2 and it seems the folks complaining are using the trackpad or the magic mouse.

But yeah, I used to dismiss it as a hackintosh problem (even though Im using an apple broadcom chip mounted on a PCIe card) but not so sure anymore since trying out the apple store computers felt different from the 2019 MBP I had before.
 

MarkC426

macrumors 68040
May 14, 2008
3,627
2,053
UK
They did something again in Monterey, which now requires 120 Hz displays or the cursor movement gets slight delays. Can see this behavior myself and been using big sur as the daily driver to get around it.
I have 2 Dell QHD (2560x1440) 27" monitors.
Ventura looks amazing in light or dark mode (just changed to dark recently, and love it).....:p

High Dpi (or Retina) is just an urban myth.
Non-Retina displays DO look great also....

Mouse movement is normal also.
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,655
6,111
there
Yes. (AFAIK it still works in El Capitan.) ...not that I recommend using any OEM ecosystem trap-apps. Get your mail, music, messages, and pictures out of Apple's clutch.
thanks<
Yep, icloud is horrible! i think my storage is under 173MB of data, from under 50GB this year!
i was wondering for email cheeking purposes and just the leniency of !
 

MacHeritage

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2022
238
235
British Columbia, Canada
Yes, I can also confirm that iCloud does work under El Capitan, last time I checked. And is a full work horse under Mojave.

Another tidbit is that you can also use macOS Mail if you don't have 2FA on your iCloud account and is supported even on Monterey. But third party apps like Postbox require 2FA in order to use iCloud Mail. So my iCloud email is in Mail only, while everything else is in Postbox.
 
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Minghold

macrumors 6502
Oct 21, 2022
287
136
Look here, shows all app requirements ;)

Sonoma? <laff> ...Apple "recommends" that you buy a new computer after every paycheck.

This is why I add a -"apple.com" tag to every Boolean search for information. The censorship-by-omission over there is extreme.

Hey, you guys knew that Apple is a skinsuit for intelligence entities, right?
...In 2013, as part of the Snowden revelations, The Washington Post and The Guardian reported on leaked NSA documents which showed that iCloud was part of the NSA's PRISM surveillance program, along with other cloud services. According to the documents, the NSA could access emails, chats, photos and videos, and stored files. The documents specifically stated that the data was collected through "equipment installed at company-controlled locations".[57][58] The Washington Post further stated that Apple, like the other companies, was aware of the program and was a willing participant. Apple denied having ever heard of the program....
Refrain: Get your mail, music, messages, and pictures out of Apple's clutch.
 

MacHeritage

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2022
238
235
British Columbia, Canada
Sonoma? <laff> ...Apple "recommends" that you buy a new computer after every paycheck.

This is why I add a -"apple.com" tag to every Boolean search for information. The censorship-by-omission over there is extreme.

Hey, you guys knew that Apple is a skinsuit for intelligence entities, right?
Refrain: Get your mail, music, messages, and pictures out of Apple's clutch.
They all are. Apple is the only tech company that tried to fight against this in the secret FISA court but they lost and have no say in the matter after that. The other tech companies just said OK and didn't even try to stop it.
 
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MarkC426

macrumors 68040
May 14, 2008
3,627
2,053
UK
Sonoma? <laff> ...Apple "recommends" that you buy a new computer after every paycheck.
Did you not read the whole document….?

Common services work with much older Mac OS versions.
Calendar, Contacts, Mail, FaceTime, iCloud Drive all work in 10.11
 

Minghold

macrumors 6502
Oct 21, 2022
287
136
Did you not read the whole document….?

Common services work with much older Mac OS versions.
Calendar, Contacts, Mail, FaceTime, iCloud Drive all work in 10.11
I know. But it's not "recommended". (And whether those features continue working is entirely at the server-side's discretion; e.g., iCloud used to work on Mountain Lion, etc. I suspect it won't be more than a year or two that Apple decides to starve out everyone below Catalina. Their mandate to harvest as much data as possible is I suspect the only reason they haven't succumbed to their obvious inclinations already.)
 
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