Graphics issues on new W11 laptop

I received my new brand new W11 laptop yesterday. It's an Acer Aspire 3 A315-58-56GX and I have a real issue with the graphics. I know it's probably nothing to do with W11 itself but I'm hoping someone here can help me. Some apps and dialog windows are OK but most have one of the following:

1) Very small text and/or icons that make viewing a real strain on the eyes. I know I can change the text size but that has unwanted effects in some things - especially those that have nothing wrong to begin with. And I'm also aware of scaling but, due to the warning displayed in Settings, I haven't wanted to touch it.
2) Blurry text and icons. Not enough to be unreadable but enough to be annoying and a bit of a strain on the eyes.

These can apply to: all text and icons, all text but not icons, some text but not icons, or just icons. I appreciate that, in some cases, it may be down to incompatibility with (or not being updated/optimised for) W11 but it also occurs in some Microsoft/Windows stuff.

Not included in the following specs is the screen resolution which is 1920x1080 (Recommended).

Specs from Windows System Information:
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 11 Home
Version: 10.0.22000 Build 22000
Other OS Description : Not Available
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
System Name: ACERA315-58
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire A315-58
System Type: x64-based PC
System SKU: 0000000000000000
Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz, 2419 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date: Insyde Corp. V1.26, 14/03/2022
SMBIOS Version: 3.3
Embedded Controller Version: 1.26
BIOS Mode: UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer: TGL
BaseBoard Product: Camellia_TL
BaseBoard Version: V1.26
Platform Role: Mobile
Secure Boot State: On
PCR7 Configuration: Elevation Required to View
Windows Directory: C:\WINDOWS
System Directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale: United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer: Version = "10.0.22000.778"
Username: AcerA315-58\delee
Time Zone: New Zealand Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory: 7.78 GB
Available Physical Memory: 4.03 GB
Total Virtual Memory: 9.66 GB
Available Virtual Memory: 5.86 GB
Page File Space: 1.88 GB
Page File: C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection: On
Virtualisation-based security: Not enabled
Device Encryption Support: Elevation Required to View
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions: Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualisation Enabled in Firmware: Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection: Yes

What effect does holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the + or - key have on what is seen in a program's window? I like the feature put more emphasis on an image or increase text without making the window itself larger. I use a Bluetooth mouse with most of my Notebooks and the Ctrl key plus rolling the wheel does the same thing.

2) Blurry text
If they are old applications they need to be run

I know that you didn't want to mess with the scaling factor, but could you tell me what the current scaling factor is set to?

Do you have the latest display driver installed?

Any chance that you can provide a screenshot(s) illustrating the issues that you are seeing?

If the Intel driver is installed, everything should be fine.
Run Intel Graphics Command Center and see the settings.

Here's a few things you can try:
Before you do anything else make sure you are running the latest display driver. The specs of that cpu say it is Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics. Go to
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download-center/home.html Run the Intel driver support tool which will detect correct driver for your system.

In search box type 'clear type' . In search results select "adjust clear type" turn clear type on"

Settings-system-about-advanced system settings- scroll down in the list and check 'smooth edges of screen fonts'. (you can also turn off icon drop shadows her if you wish)

If none of the above help, you might play around with tweaking your scale and font size. settings-system-display. Also here make sure your refresh rate is set at
60 hz (settings-system-display-advanced)

I have very bad eyes and found that changing the system font helped me zone in with my tri-focals better. Change Default System Font in Windows 11 Tutorial

Universal apps and desktop apps will display differently as a hard-coded program's font size takes priority over the system font size.

I also found that changing the Windows default folder color from the pale yellow (that I couldn't see) to blue made a difference. Here's my old post about it, and @FreeBooter solution. Need help changing folder icons in explorer and regedit

Hope some of this helps.

Berton said:

What effect does holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the + or - key have on what is seen in a program's window? I like the feature put more emphasis on an image or increase text without making the window itself larger. I use a Bluetooth mouse with most of my Notebooks and the Ctrl key plus rolling the wheel does the same thing.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes I love Ctrl+Scroll but it only works for some apps and I do that for the ones that support it but it doesn't help for most things - like dialog windows. Some apps also allow for setting larger text or toolbar buttons and I've changed those that do. But they're the minority unfortunately. There are other great things to try that have been suggested here so I shall see how I go.

abactuon said:

2) Blurry text
If they are old applications they need to be run
View attachment 39266

Click to expand...

Oh wow, what a great suggestion. I never even thought about the compatibility option, which probably shows just how long it's been since I've had to deal with anything like that The laptop I'm replacing is 7 years old so it's been a long time.

abactuon said:

If the Intel driver is installed, everything should be fine.
Run Intel Graphics Command Center and see the settings.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much, I"ll check that out.

abactuon said:

Run Intel Graphics Command Center and see the settings.

Click to expand...

Thanks but how will I know what the settings should be, or if there's anything I should be concerned about?

hsehestedt said:

I know that you didn't want to mess with the scaling factor, but could you tell me what the current scaling factor is set to?

Click to expand...

The current scale factor in Settings is empty so I guess it's set to whatever the system default is.

hsehestedt said:

Do you have the latest display driver installed?

Click to expand...

I only got the laptop yesterday and I've done all the updates so I would assume so but I don't know much about drivers.

hsehestedt said:

Any chance that you can provide a screenshot(s) illustrating the issues that you are seeing?

Click to expand...

I can for the blurring issue but the text is a bit difficult because it's difficult to tell how small the text is without something to give it 'perspective' - if that makes sense. If I could remember which apps were giving me mixed text size I could but I can't think of any offhand. I'll be sure to when I come across them again, though.

I have NEVER seen the scaling factor blank. Hopefully we are looking at the same thing.

Go into Settings > System > Display. Look at what scale is shown. DO NOT expand this section where it will show you the option for custom scaling. Rather, there should be a small downward pointing arrow next to scale that allows you to select from several predefined scaling factors, like this...



Again, don't use the arrow pointing to the right. That will allow you to set custom scale factors which are not recommended.

hsehestedt said:

Any chance that you can provide a screenshot(s) illustrating the issues that you are seeing?

Click to expand...

Right found an old screenshot from my W10 laptop to compare with W11 and give some perspective. In the app the toolbar buttons haven't changed size (even if they look slightly different in the screenshots) but the text has.

hsehestedt said:

DO NOT expand this section

Click to expand...

Oops my bad, that's exactly what I did. The current setting is 125% (Recommended).

glasskuter said:

Run the Intel driver support tool which will detect correct driver for your system.

Click to expand...

There's an update for the graphics driver:
Intel® Graphics Driver 31.0.101.3413/31.0.101.2111 for 6th-12th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor Graphics, and related Intel Atom®, Pentium®, and Celeron® processors. Driver version varies depending on the Intel Graphics in the system.

But there are also these warning messages:
"Installing this graphics driver from Intel may remove customizations from your computer manufacturer (OEM)."
Should I be concerned about this?

"If a newer graphics driver is available from Acer, we recommend you install that driver instead."
There are no driver updates available via Settings > Windows Update. Do I check Device Manager for the current version to compare with the support tool version? If so, would it be Display Adapters > Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics? If not, can you please point me in the right direction.

glasskuter said:

turn clear type on

Click to expand...

I checked that yesterday and it's already on.

glasskuter said:

smooth edges of screen fonts

Click to expand...

That's already checked.

glasskuter said:

make sure your refresh rate is set at 60 hz

Click to expand...

It's set to 60.1 but would that 0.1 make any difference?

glasskuter said:

tweak your scale size

Click to expand...

There's warning about it being "difficult to go back to your original settings" so is it really something I should be worried about?

glasskuter said:

tweak your font size

Click to expand...

I did try that but, as I said, changing the font size then has adverse effects for things that were already displaying fine - which then kind of gives me the opposite problem :-D

kiwichick said:

If a newer graphics driver is available from Acer,

Click to expand...

I do not have an Acer but I can say that I have never found a newer graphics driver on my manufacturer site (Dell) than what I can get directly from Intel. Dell is always months behind Intel. I always use the one from Intel as well as any chipset updates they may offer.
The .1 difference in refresh rate causes no problem for me but I have a PC so I cannot say if it would make a difference., I don't believe it would.
I have never encountered a problem going back to my original font or scale size.

As I mentioned, when it comes to your desktop programs, the way they are displayed on your screen is totally independent of your settings as the fonts and font sizes they use are hard coded into the app. The only way you are able to change their appearance is if the program itself gives you an option to do so.

glasskuter said:

I always use the one from Intel

Click to expand...

So I installed the driver update and for a moment I was excited and thought the text size issue was sorted but no. When the tool uninstalled the current driver the display changed, everything looked great and I thought it was sorted but once the update finished and I restarted my laptop it was back to being small again. I shall soldier on and try some of the other suggestions and see how I get on. After all, I can always reset if it turns to custard

glasskuter said:

tweak your scale size

Click to expand...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! That worked, for both the text size and the blurriness. Not the icons but I'm not really too worried about that. That's more to do with the apps themselves, as you said. Although changing the scale was a bit confusing. It was set to the recommended of 125% (System > Display) so I thought if I entered 150% (System > Display > Customised scaling) it would add an extra 25% but it didn't. After I signed back in and checked (System > Display), it had added 50% which brought it up to 175% (System > Display). Didn't expect that but I think I get how the maths works. That was too big so I entered 125% and that fixed it but after I signed back in, thinking it would say 150% based on the previous, it said 175%. Very strange. But no worries, as long as it's fixed. I am so happy

My Windows update always loads a driver with an older version than the one on the Intel website and on my computer.
I pause Windows Update or select the driver in the device manager.
I don't know how to fix it.