Just wanted to leave some praise here for BetterDummy GitHub - waydabber/BetterDummy: Software Dummy Display Adapter for Apple Silicon/Intel Macs to Have Custom HiDPI Resolutions.. When I’m travelling I will often take my M1 MBA and a magic keyboard & mouse with me. I’ll set the laptop up on a folding stand so that it’s at eye level and work from the wireless peripherals (which I often rest on either a bookshelf (standing desk)) or on my lap on top of a plastic chopping board.
Anyway, the laptop has a maximum scaled resolution of 1680x1050 which isn’t super high, or a native resolution of 2560x1600 which is great for productivity (bearing in mind that the screen is about 30cm / 12 inches from my face so I can mostly read things ok). I developed this workflow with my old 15" retina which could do 1920x1200 scaled and was workable, but I tend to use the MBA in native res in order to achieve actual work.
Here comes BetterDummy to the rescue. I tried it out in anticipation of potentially getting a 4k external monitor in a few months and wondering what scaled resolutions I might be able to achieve. Then I discovered to my delight that I can scale my M1 MBA screen to any resolution I want now as well!
So I’m now working from my 13" device with a scaled resolution of 1952x1220 because 1920x1200 is just about perfect, but I can get a few more pixels and I have the option, so why not get it right in the sweet spot?!
This is wonderful. And frustrating that Apple doesn’t just include this by default given that it appears to work seamlessly (yes, I know, technically I am using BetterDummy to create a second display which seems super hacky and probably makes some Apple engineer weep, but you wouldn’t know just looking at this now).