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Can you please tell me how can I find out the screen resolution and dpi for the screen on my Macbook Pro? (I got it last year, 2009.)

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6 Answers 6

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18

This depends on the model of Macbook Pro (i.e. the screen size - 13.3", 15.4" or 17") you purchased, but the resolution and DPI (or PPI), for the 2009 unibody models, is provided by Wikipedia (here and here).

However, given the resolution and display size, you can easily calculate the PPI. In summary:

MacBook Pro 13.3":  1440x900 (127.68 PPI)
MacBook Pro 15.4":  1440x900 (110.27 PPI)
MacBook Pro 15.4":  1680x1050 (128 PPI)
MacBook Pro 17":    1920x1200 (133.19 PPI)
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  • Thanks. Is resolution and display size are the only factor depends on how good? So a MacBook Pro 15" 1440x900 should look the same as 15" 1440x800 laptop? But why for some reason MacBook Pro always look better, picture seems finer/sharper?
    – michael
    Apr 16, 2010 at 20:35
  • So dum that they don't print that to the display settings. Now, we have to find out what model we have...
    – Soerendip
    Apr 18, 2021 at 22:27
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Open the Apple menu at the very top-left of the screen and click on About This Mac. Click on the More Info button, which will open up a window with lots of categories of information. The Graphics/Displays category will tell you your screen resolution.

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    Note: On Yosemite (10.10.x) there's no need to press More Info, as the Displays tab is directly accessible from About This Mac
    – Stan Kurdziel
    Jan 6, 2015 at 23:29
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If you like terminal, then you can get via below command

system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType |grep Resolution

For example

>system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType |grep Resolution
          Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
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    good one, thanks for the cli option - here's the output on my ~2011 macbook air: Resolution: 1440 x 900 (Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array Plus)
    – kjones
    Feb 11, 2019 at 3:04
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Or to view and change the resolution: Open the Apple menu at the very top-left of the screen and click on System Preferences..., then Displays. This will show a list of available resolutions with the current one highlighted.

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  • This doesn't work well on Yosemite (OS X 10.10). The Displays preference panel doesn't show the resolutions - it just has a radio button "Best for display" or "Scaled". If you check "Scaled" it will show the resolution for an external display, but not for the retina laptop display. @jwaddell's answer does work though.
    – Stan Kurdziel
    Jan 6, 2015 at 23:20
  • To calculate the DPI you do not need the (simulated) resolution but the number of (actual) pixels, I think. The latter is a fixed value (defined by the hardware); the former, though, depends on the mentioned MacBook's Display setting.
    – einjohn
    May 24, 2023 at 15:33
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Open Terminal app and run this command: system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType. You will see output that looks like this:

$ system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType

Graphics/Displays:

    Intel Iris Graphics 6100:

      Chipset Model: Intel Iris Graphics 6100
      Type: GPU
      Bus: Built-In
      VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB
      Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
      Device ID: 0x162b
      Revision ID: 0x0009
      Displays:
        Color LCD:
          Display Type: Retina LCD
          Resolution: 2560 x 1600 Retina
          Retina: Yes
          Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
          Main Display: Yes
          Mirror: Off
          Online: Yes
          Built-In: Yes
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  • Any solution without the command line?
    – Soerendip
    Apr 18, 2021 at 22:32
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All these answers are good but the fastest way to find the mac resolution is to do SHIFT + COMMAND + 4 (screenshot shortcut). Move the cursor to the bottom right to get the coordinates.

Press SHIFT + COMMAND + 4 with the cursor in the bottom right corner

Source: Computer Science student at Chapel Hill

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  • The text is black and tiny and I cannot read it when the cursor is in the corner.
    – Soerendip
    Apr 18, 2021 at 22:31
  • To calculate the DPI you do not need the (simulated) resolution but the number of (actual) pixels, I think. The latter is a fixed value (defined by the hardware); the former, though, depends on the MacBook's Display's Font Size setting.
    – einjohn
    May 24, 2023 at 15:31

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