I recently purchased a MacBook Air M3 13" and am encountering issues using it with an external display.
For context, I also have a MacBook Air M1 13", which I connect to my Asus VA245 (a standard 24" 1080p monitor) using an HDMI cable and the Apple USB-C to HDMI adapter. It works perfectly—everything looks sharp.
However, when I connect the new Air M3 to the same monitor with the same cable and adapter, the results are noticeably different. The most evident problem is with the dock icons: they appear blurry, both in the dock itself and when doing a CMD+Tab.
The Air M3 runs macOS Sonoma 14.6, while the M1 is still on Big Sur.
I contacted Apple Support, but their advice wasn’t very helpful. They suggested upgrading to macOS Sequoia, which felt like a generic suggestion rather than a real solution. They also recommended taking the computer to an Apple Store, but I suspect that would be a waste of time. I imagine they’ll claim everything works fine on their displays, and even if I bring my monitor or a screenshot, I doubt they’ll see the issue the way I do. (For me, the difference is huge, but I know others might find it minor.)
Does anyone have any ideas? Could upgrading to Sequoia actually help with how things are rendered on this external display? I’ve been hesitant to upgrade because, in my experience, newer macOS versions often worsen things for those of us with high eye sensitivity. (The support rep did mention that others have complained about this trend.)
Thanks in advance for any insights!