Blurry In Windows 7 on Macbook Retina

[benben]

Using latest version of Parallels 8 on Macbook 15" Retina, running Windows 7 VM.

It doesn't matter what view mode I'm in, all of the windows 7 screens are slightly blurry when compared with native mac display, where everything is crystal clear. Looking at the text, its very sharp and clear in native mac, then when look at a window in the Win7 VM, the text is pixelated and blurry.

I've tried every resolution combination between native mac resolution settings, Parallels VM resolution settings, and Windows 7 resolution settings within the VM. The best I can get is with Highest Resolution on the mac, Best for Retina on Parallels settings, and leaving the Windows 7 resolution settings alone.

I took the following screen shots of a complete window using the mac Grab app. Download see what you think.

Win 7 Screenshot:
http://foffm.com/parallelsimages/Win7Img.tiff

Native Mac Screenshot:
http://foffm.com/parallelsimages/NativeMacImg.tiff

Thanks for your time.
Ben

 

[serv]

What resolution was set in Windows when you took the screenshot?
Does fonts in Windows explorer look as blurry as in Chrome?

 

[benben]

Hi, the resolution was at 1920x1200 in windows.

yeah it looks the same in windows explorer.

 

[serv]

Then I guess VM Configuration > Hardware > Video > Resolution is set to Scaled. Try setting it to Best for retina and restart Windows -- fonts in Windows Explorer should improve. I'm not sure whether Chrome supports DPI scaling, so it may still be blurry.

 

[benben]

I did that and it makes text and things much clearer yes... but everything is awkwardly proportioned.. it automatically sets the size of "text and other items on the screen" to 200%.. its in Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display. You don't even want to know what ITunes or Chrome looks like when its like that. And I can't get it to go to back to 100%... Whenever I try to do that it automatically goes back to 200%. Also, even if I did... that's too small for me. Shouldn't there be a way to make it clear at the resolution I had it at?

 

[serv]

Setting ... > Video > Resolution to More space allows you to do just that: enable retina resolution and reset DPI to 100% (this can be tuned manually). Things will be really tiny, this should explain why Parallels defaults to 199% DPI.
As for iTunes and Chrome, these apps are among those that don't support DPI scaling. But you're better off using their OS X versions anyway.