Default sans-serif for T1

Question

When using \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}, my understanding was that the fonts were pretty much the same as the defaults, except that they carried native accentuated characters. Now, I use sans-serif in my document, and the difference is really important between T1 and the default. Here is the result (top is default, bottom is T1):

Question: How can I have the regular sans-serif fonts with a document using T1? Note; I only need the accents in the main, serifed text.

Thanks!

Answer 1

It is a big difference. It depends on the tastes of Jörg Knappen who designed the European Modern fonts and apparently liked less heavy sans serif fonts.

With \usepackage{lmodern} you'll get the same weight.