M1 MacBook External Display Scaling I just purchased an M1 MacBook Air that I would like to attach to an external display. When I do so, the video quality is pretty terrible. It almost looks like the the output is being slightly scaled. However, I've verified from my monitor's OSD that it is outputting to the correct resolution as well as from MacOS. There isn't any oversampling or other scaling effects from the monitor (it's outputting 1:1). Just as a sanity check, I took a screenshot and it outputs the correct resolution and looks beautiful on another computer attached to the same display. I've tried various output cables (USB-C to DP and HDMI) and this doesn't seem to have any effect. I've read elsewhere that there can be some colorspace issues on Dell monitors in particular, but this isn't a Dell monitor and it really doesn't appear to be the issue.
This problem has been there for a while and it is because of the PPI.
I believe Retina displays just don't work well with Full HD resolutions. Try a 4k resolution external monitor and it should work fine.