Google Chrome Display Resolution vs IE11

[kristalsoldier]

I actually kicked Chrome to the curb and started using Firefox for my secondary browser. Firefox looks really good on the SP3 and my my external monitor.

Chrome apparently chews up the battery. How is the battery experience (and RAM) with Firefox?

 

[malberttoo]

Chrome apparently chews up the battery...

I was surprised to read that in a different thread, but tested it out later with the SP3 unplugged and only using IE. I definitely noticed a difference in battery consumption. I have been using Chrome exclusively up to this point, and frequently unplugged, so I do have a good baseline or "feeling" for how the battery is used. Definitely a difference for the better, when using IE.

 

[EthanDavis]

Bad news... I installed Firefox and it, too, is blown up compared to IE11! And selecting "Disable Display Scaling on High Res Devices" doesn't fix it! Why is IE11 the only sharp and high res browser?!

IE11 (left) vs. Firefox (right)

IE11 (left) vs. Firefox (right)

How can I fix this??

 

[malberttoo]

Why is IE11 the only sharp and high res browser?!

IE11 works awesomely on the SP3 because it is Microsoft's product, and they have worked on it to make it optimized for use on the SP3.

The problems you're having with Chrome and Firefox are issues with those browsers; they don't render properly on high-dpi displays, and therefore must be fixed by Chrome and Firefox.

 

[EthanDavis]

It's a shame; Chrome syncs my tabs, my bookmarks, has millions of extensions, supports HTML5 for gaming... It's the leading browser in almost every aspect. There must be some way to hack this to display webpages small and sharp like IE11. Has anyone else tried?

Please check, and tell me if you also experience this phenomenon when you run Chrome Canary or Chrome Dev 64-bit vs. IE11 on your Surface, and if any of the fixes I mentioned in earlier posts work (they don't for me). Please write back, thanks...!

 

[Kif]

I just downloaded Canary and it doesn't render as well as IE 11 on my SP3. So I think you're out of luck right now. Welcome to the bleeding edge of technology. The SP3 is a completely brand new unit with a unique screen resolution. It will be eventually sorted out (hopefully) but I don't think anyone here can give you a timeline. If you read reviews about the SP3 many reviewers complained about how messy scaling is in Windows 8.1 The Mac world isn't much better since Apple just uniformly upscale everything 4x.

 

[erikiksaz]

I've tried two things in combination and I think they might have improved things:

1) apply the registry update from one of the threads on there
2) go to chrome://flags and set "Directwrite" to enabled.

 

[Kif]

Did you try this secret code:
↑↑↓↓←→←→BA

 

[EthanDavis]

Sorry guys. The fix is completely trivial. Right click on the desktop > Screen Resolution > Make text and other items larger or smaller > slide the slider left. Fixed. Chrome webpages are small, sharp, and high resolution, just the way I like it. Works in the Stable Release and on the new 64 bit Chrome Canary version as well.