External monitors - scaling issues

[Heath]

I'm a new Surface Book owner and generally love it, but I have one problem that is driving me bonkers. I've googled and researched and read through posts here, but I can't find any mention of anybody else having this problem.

I have the Surface Dock and two Dell U2412M (24", 1920x1200) monitors, daisy chained from the dock. Everything generally works great, but there are certain dialog boxes and windows that are scaled HUGE.

For instance, Chrome is scaled correctly (sometimes the scroll bar is "fat" sometimes it's not), but if I open a Save dialog box from Chrome, The borders and text and buttons are all ginormous. If I open a Save dialog box from Edge, it's scaled correctly.

The Windows Snipping Tool window is scaled huge.

I use Putty a lot, and the window and dialogues are all normal size, but the font in the terminal window is huge, even though it's not configured to be so.

This behavior ONLY happens when connected to the dock and external monitors (I don't use the screen on the SB). These wrongly scaled dialog boxes and windows are all normal when disconnected from the dock and only using the SB's screen.

I've dug through all the settings, I've done some googling, but I can't find anything. Any ideas? If my searching skills are just weak, a friendly pointer in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

[Heath]

I've attached a screen grab that shows the problem. On the left is Edge with the Save As dialog normal sized. On the right is Chrome with the Save As dialog oversized. This scaling problem effects different dialogs and windows other than Save As. Sometimes it's just an annoyance, sometimes it is a real hindrance.

 

[Heath]

I found this page, but none of the solutions help: Fix desktop app display issues on Microsoft Surface | Display scaling

Solution 1: Windows already is fully up to date.
Solution 2: Just made things worse.
Solution 3: Scaling is already set to 100%. Scaling higher makes it worse.
Solution 4: The left display already is the primary. Changing which was primary didn't change any scaling behavior.

 

[slevitus]

Not 100 % sure but I think this is a problem with a lot of apps Adobe Reader and Acrobat for addl examples that just aren't designed to work with hi res monitors yet. I have same issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LuckyL]

I have the same problem with a 2 monitor setup. It's even worse when docking/undocking without signing out and in again.

The sad truth is: Windows ability to scale correctly is very limited, to put it politely, and the results may vary greatly depending on what API a program uses. Also, some programs don't scale well on 4K monitors. And don't get me started on Hyper-V VMConnect and MSTSC issues.

I recently saw how a Mac Book handled these scenarios - Windows is years behind and I might switch back to Apple for this very issue. Microsoft seem simply unable to get this right.

 

[sharpuser]

Apple apps force compliance. Rule of law. Maybe Microsoft should enforce similarly.