When I go to About This Mac –> Displays, it shows I have a Built-in Retina Display with 2560 × 1600 display. However, when I try to take a screenshot with command + shift + 3, the dimensions for that picture turns into 2880 × 1800. However, if I use command + shift+ 4 and drag the mouse all the way to the bottom right, the dimensions show 1440 × 900, but it turns into 2880 × 1800 if I save it. Which one is the actual size of my screen/screenshot?
MacOS – Screenshot Dimension
displaymacosscreen capture
Related Solutions
There are all sorts of high end specialized displays that have this resolution for the medical, government imagery, and engineering markets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_display_resolutions
You can see any Hyper XGA display exceeds 2880 by 1800 (but are not shipping as single monitors yet) and most Quad XGA displays (shipping since 2001) exceed the "15 inch retina" in terms of sheer pixels on one display panel/monitor.
Here is the most convenient solution (Taken from http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-get-my-retina-Mac-to-not-take-screenshots-that-are-too-big and modified a bit)
Use OsX embedded Automator to downsize screenshots automatically after they taken.
- Open /Applications/Automator
- Create a "Folder Action"
- At the top of the window, where it says "Folder Action receives file and folders added to", select "Desktop"
- From the panel on the left, select "Files & Folders" and drag the item "Filter Finder Items" to the right panel.
- Add the following conditions to the Filter Finder Items action: Name begins with "Screen Shot"; Kind is image.
- (Optional step: if you want to keep copy of originals) - From the Actions list on the left, find "Copy Finder Items" and drag it to the panel on the right. Set the destination folder for the image copy (for example: "To: Pictures")
- In the Actions library on the left, click on "Photos" and drag the "Scale Images" action to the right panel.
- In the Scale Images action, select "By Percentage" from the drop-down and set the value to 50.
- Select File > Save and give the Folder Action a snappy name like "Smaller Screenshot Copy"
Here is saved workflow file
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Best Answer
Your screen may be a physical size unrelated to the numbers above.
Your screenshot size is easily checked in Preview app - open the saved file and get info.
Your on screen pixel approximation is controlled by the displays system preferences. What you choose there affects the retina size vs rendered size vs reported size.
Based on how much reading and programming you do these links may be more or less technical than desired. Hopefully it helps set the stage for more leaning if needed.