I have a Late 2011 Macbook Pro 17" (native resolution of 1920X1200). I purchased, based on review, the Dell U2415 which gives me the same experience I was trying to overcome - which is pixelated text, images and graphics, but more importantly (due to my aging eyes), I have zoom every webpage, document - everything in it's native resolution - or make it 1280x720 (think those are the numbers).
So, I have been researching for 3 days straight now and I need some understanding. My logic thinking was - "get a 4K monitor and downscale it to 1080p" so everything on the screen will be larger with more screen fill and because it's a 4K screen and all the those pixels, the texts will be sharp and smooth. Then I found a YouTube video that showed that side by side and apparently native resolution is what to shoot for. The monitor I was eyeing was the Dell P2715Q. My graphics card is the 6770 1GB that I believe supports 2560X1440 (again, guessing those numbers), but basically 2K in the 16:10 ratio.
The best 2K monitor according to my research (not a gamer) is the Dell 2716D (I hope I'm getting all these numbers correct). That's a 2K in the 16:9 aspect ratio.
My question is - if I downsample that monitor to 1080p (which I think is equivalent to zooming in a litle bit and it won't give me the screen fill I need) - I'm concerned if that downscaling - not being a matched relationship - will actually make things look pixelated, unsmooth.
My goal is first, I don't want to zoom in everything. The second is I want very sharp text that is smooth and unpixelated, and I want the videos on YouTube or whatever and images at least to look as good as my Plasma HD screen (back from the day) at 1080p from a distance - it looks beautiful. The monitor is just an arm's reach away from me.
The 1920X1200 native is too small for me to read, so I either have to go to 1280X720 or click the option button and hit the + sign 4 times so things like Facebook will fill the screen nicely and I can see the left content, the right chat box and the middle stuff. At native there's space everywhere and text is too small.
I hope I didn't put anybody sleep and I really pray someone will have knowledge of this issue I'm having and tell me what's the best direction to accomplish my goal. There is a Dell 30" monitor at 16:10 ratio but it's 1000. dollars and doesn't make economic sense and doesn't have the best reviews - but still, I think I'm going to have the same issue with all the blank space and I'm going to have to zoom in.
Thank you for your help.