Macbook Air M1 with Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49" monitor

[lucaazalim]

Hi,

First of all, congratulations on the fantastic work with BetterDisplay—it seems like an incredibly useful application!

I'm new to both BetterDisplay and the super ultrawide monitor experience. I have a MacBook Air M1 running macOS Sequoia 15.2, and I’ve recently started using it with a Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49" monitor (5120x1440, model LS49CG930SLXZD). I'm using a USB-C/DisplayPort cable.

Without BetterDisplay, the default resolution available is 3840x1080, where everything appears blurry. When I select the 5120x1440 (low resolution) option, the image becomes sharper, but the UI elements are so small that they’re difficult to read.

I’ve tested BetterDisplay for several hours today, but I couldn’t significantly improve this experience, even after adding a custom HiDPI resolution of 3072x855.

I also reviewed discussions from similar use cases but couldn’t determine the exact solution:

• HiDPI for 5120x1440 #56
• How to add HiDPI resolution? #678

From the comments I’ve read in these discussions, it seems that the MacBook Air M1 may struggle to provide an optimal experience with super ultrawide monitors. In this case, would upgrading to a MacBook Air M3 offer a noticeable improvement in terms of resolution scaling and image sharpness?

Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

[jcallahan526]

I had an 13" M1 Pro and recently switched to a 15" M3 Air. I also have a Samsung G9 and ran/run BetterDisplay without issue on both.

I cannot speak to the M1 Air, but I had no issue with the M1 Pro. The only reason I switched was for the larger laptop screen. I thought about getting the M3 Pro which from what I understand can natively support the Ultrawide. However it was another $1k for 16" Pro and it is heavy. For me it would be like buying a Ferrari to go to the grocery store. At this point if I need to upgrade I would just buy an M4 Mini for $500. (I bought one for my Mom and set it up on my Ultrawide - I was close to keeping it)

I am Streaming to a 4096 x 1152 Virtual Display. I have my main Display set at 3008 x 846. The setup works great! The image is as good as the Mac laptop screen and there is no lag. I only get disconnects when I create screenshots. I was able to find a workaround using BetterTouch Tool - here.

[lucaazalim]

Thank you for your response, @jcallahan526. Unfortunately, I’m still unsure how to fix my setup to enable HiDPI.

@waydabber, could you clarify if achieving HiDPI on a 3840x1080 resolution is possible with my setup? I’d greatly appreciate your insights on this.

[jcallahan526]

Here is a screenshot of my settings for the physical Monitor, C49RG9x and the Virtual Screen, Virtual ultraWide.
In the Appe Display Settings for the Physical Monitor I set the resolution to a small value (3008 x 846) which I believe supports HiDiPi. In the previous MacOS I believe there used to be a switch and/or indicator that that the resolution was HiDpi. Now all I see is High Dyanic range which I do not think is the same. Regardless I enabled HiDiPi in better Display for the Physical
On the Virtual I set my desired resolution and also enabled HiDiPi in Better Display.
I am then using the Steam Functionality (asa opposed to Mirror) to Stream the Physical to my Virtual

[waydabber]

on this Mac you can't have 3840px HiDPI natively, only via mirroring or streaming a virtual screen. If you stream, it is best to configure your real display to 5120x1440 LoDPI and set your virtual screen to the desired HiDPI resolution. This is to avoid double-scaling and get a cleaner image. Generally mirroring might work better (especially with the latest internal pre-release as that fixes mouse issues) except for sleep problems for mirrored virtual screens.

[lucaazalim]

I believe I’ve figured it out! I’ve attached some screenshots of the setup that worked best for me. Following your guidance, I configured the real display to 5120x1440 LoDPI and created a virtual screen with a resolution that best suits my needs (4096x1152). Finally, I streamed the virtual screen to the real display. This setup allowed me to achieve HiDPI at 120Hz.

Thank you guys very much for the help.