I've been a professional programmer for over 20 years and I have tried many, many different screen resolutions. I have a 2015 Macbook Pro right here next to my Acer E5-575G with 15.6" Full HD (1080p) screen.
Comparing them directly - I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Fonts, images and the UI look just as good if not better. I'll say better since I think the Mac UI is hideous.
You're right though - it's definitely not about screen real-estate because with Retina/2k/4k the OS typically has to scale everything up so you basically lose any real-estate that would have been gained in the first place. That's ridiculous IMO.
The only place I use Retina/2k/4k is for gaming and movies and I definitely am not doing either of those activities on a lowly laptop.
Comparing them directly - I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Fonts, images and the UI look just as good if not better. I'll say better since I think the Mac UI is hideous.
You're right though - it's definitely not about screen real-estate because with Retina/2k/4k the OS typically has to scale everything up so you basically lose any real-estate that would have been gained in the first place. That's ridiculous IMO.
The only place I use Retina/2k/4k is for gaming and movies and I definitely am not doing either of those activities on a lowly laptop.