Windows font smoothing will force me to switch. Any Alternatives?

[magoood]

Hi,

I'm a loyal Windows user (currently using Windows 7 x64) but something about the OSX operating systems that teases me a lot which is their font smoothing technology which, for my eyes, looks fantastic (sharp, crisp, & clear). I've got this taste using Apple Safari browser on Windows (which is almost dead now as apple seems not willing to update it any longer).

For me switching to MAC just for the font smoothing technology is a BIG hassle in terms of huge money spent on hardware and software as well.

I tried projects like Gdipp but they have their own glitches and it seems like the project is dead (no new release since Sep 2010) (Downloads - gdipp - Customizable Windows text renderers - Google Project Hosting)

Is there anyway to have that clear sharp text possessed by OSX everywhere in Windows 7 someway or the other? (not only the browser)? For example, is there any laptops with dense displays that can compensate the poor looking of Windows fonts? Is there any hope in Windows 9 to cure that issue? (I can wait for it if it will do something about this issue).

 

[kado897]

Have you been through the ClearType setup routine...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/337-cleartype-text-tuner.html

 

[magoood]

Definitely! I used it and tried to tweak it to get the most out of it but as I expected, the results still pale in comparison to what fonts generally looks on a mac (whether in a browser or throughout the OS in general). It's just the technology offered by Microsoft is not up to the same offer from apple (in fact it even sucks more on Windows 8 as many users have reported).

 

[Indianatone]

Get a better monitor. I have 3 LG's 22" model L227WTG and they are very sharp and clear. You are probably seeing a "better image" on the Mac due to the higher spec screen. It is that old adage. You get what you pay for. Considering how much time people spend on the rest of their systems the 2 things they cut corners on are the PSU and the monitor. Both will pay you back handsomely if you choose carefully and tweak and calibrate the monitor. Windows 8 does look worse than 7 on my monitors, the graphics and desktop wallpapers are washed out in comparison to 7.
Take a look at some mid priced monitors in stores. I was all set to buy Samsung monitors but saw these LG's and they looked superb so I bought 3 of them (over time 2 new and one broken but I stuck new caps in the PSU and a new TCON cabe.)

 

[OvenMaster]

I feel your pain. No matter what I did to adjust my LCD monitor, Win 7 looks like crap compared to XP with any font smoothing on and gives me a splitting headache. I ended up turning all font smoothing off. Some fonts look a bit jaggy now, but at least they're sharp as a pin... and readable.

 

[Brink]

Hello Magoood,

You might see if this may help any.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/127337-smooth-edges-screen-fonts-enable-disable.html