>I wonder how their high DPI support will compare with other Linux distros.
To the best of my knowledge and experience [0] the scaling isn't any different across any of the major GTK-centric DEs (GNOME, Unity, Cinnamon, Pantheon): You get integer scaling factors for the entire UI, and a separate text scaling setting, both which work as expected, with a possible exception of a few multiple-versions-old Qt applications that might respect neither setting. They are rare in my experience.
I find that on a 13-14" laptop at 1440p this is insufficient. No scaling (1x) is too small for my poor eyesight, but 2x scaling is too large and wastes screen space. I forget where and how long ago I encountered a Linux environment with 1.5x scaling. Maybe I dreamt it, but 1.5x was just about perfect.
My current strategy (14" Thinkpad, 1440p) is to keep UI scaling at 1x, font scaling at 1.5x. This works for most applications except for web browsers (where the font rendering size is not dependent on the system font settings). In browsers, I will use a plugin that sets the default zoom to 1.5x, basically bringing everything up to the same experience.
I can imagine that a 15" laptop with thin-bezeled 4K screen might have the same challenges as 14" at 1440p (i.e. a 1.5x scaling would be ideal, but does not exist). However, this is only a guess, based on my trying a full 2x scaling on a 13" 4K display. It was actually nice, at 15" 4K it might be sit in the awkward zone of 13" 1440p: too small at 1x, too large at 2x, with no single setting for a 1.5x sweet spot.
[0] I install new versions of GNOME, Unity and MATE at least once a year to see if one has surpassed the experience of my current preference (Cinnamon).
I forget the details of how it's implemented but Ubuntu 16.04 gives me a choice of 1.0,1.12,1.25,1.38,1.5 (plus many others outside that range). For my 1440 T460s' 14" screen the 1.5 setting is about right for me and I've been using it for a few months with no issues.
I believe that setting adjusts the same two scale factors mentioned above — integers for GTK+ and decimal font scaling — plus fractional scaling for the Compiz window decorations and the new QML Ubuntu toolkit apps.
Note that a few apps are still a bit weird with scaling factors. For example: Sublime Text, which scales the text correctly but not the tabs or side panel.
To the best of my knowledge and experience [0] the scaling isn't any different across any of the major GTK-centric DEs (GNOME, Unity, Cinnamon, Pantheon): You get integer scaling factors for the entire UI, and a separate text scaling setting, both which work as expected, with a possible exception of a few multiple-versions-old Qt applications that might respect neither setting. They are rare in my experience.
I find that on a 13-14" laptop at 1440p this is insufficient. No scaling (1x) is too small for my poor eyesight, but 2x scaling is too large and wastes screen space. I forget where and how long ago I encountered a Linux environment with 1.5x scaling. Maybe I dreamt it, but 1.5x was just about perfect.
My current strategy (14" Thinkpad, 1440p) is to keep UI scaling at 1x, font scaling at 1.5x. This works for most applications except for web browsers (where the font rendering size is not dependent on the system font settings). In browsers, I will use a plugin that sets the default zoom to 1.5x, basically bringing everything up to the same experience.
I can imagine that a 15" laptop with thin-bezeled 4K screen might have the same challenges as 14" at 1440p (i.e. a 1.5x scaling would be ideal, but does not exist). However, this is only a guess, based on my trying a full 2x scaling on a 13" 4K display. It was actually nice, at 15" 4K it might be sit in the awkward zone of 13" 1440p: too small at 1x, too large at 2x, with no single setting for a 1.5x sweet spot.
[0] I install new versions of GNOME, Unity and MATE at least once a year to see if one has surpassed the experience of my current preference (Cinnamon).