Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Latest macOS Sonoma Beta Adds 100+ New Video Wallpapers and Screensavers

bunty said:
I find desktop pictures really distracting, I can't imagine how distracting an animated or changing one would be. I rarely use the desktop for anything, usually there's no icons other than a HD on my desktop anyway. I actually hardly ever even see my desktop now that I think about it.
Click to expand...
They only move when they're in screensaver mode. As a desktop, they quickly slow to a stop.
 
Eric_WVGG said:
All this crap to delete to recover space. So cool. Much wow.
Click to expand...
Don't worry, one day Apple will put this behind SIP/SSV along with the rest of the undeletable crap that bloats macOS nowadays under the guise of security. It's definitely not a ploy to get you to run out of space and buy a new Mac (what a waste) with more storage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AAPLGeek and biziclop
wyrdness said:
Why's it sad? Screensavers were originally for CRT monitors that suffered from screen burn when displaying the same image for a long time. The idea was to display a moving image when the computer wasn't being used, so that the screen wasn't damaged.

Modern LCD screens don't suffer from screen burn, so screensavers aren't required any more. And since they're generally displayed when you're away from the computer, you're not likely to spend much time actually looking at them. So, apart from being a bit of occasional eye-candy, they're not actually much use anymore.
Click to expand...
Why is it sad? Honestly, because they’re just fun. The common standard for screens now is just to turn off (understandable for laptops obviously). Sometimes it’s cool to have that screen sitting over there in the corner doing its own little thing. Lightens the place up. And if the screensavers are like the ones talked about in this article, then you have a little portal into a world outside the boring office. Like I said, they’re fun.
 
  • Like
Reactions: srbNYC
gleepskip said:
I've had failures with SSDs, just as I had failures with rust drives. Two anecdotes walk into a bar... 😉
Click to expand...

Given that Apple is selling a LOT of 8GB machines on to which Sonoma will be installed, I doubt they would be shipping these wallpaper/screensavers if it could lead to a ton of SSD failures. (I can't even convince myself that it might be a conspiracy where they ship software that ruins the SSD out of warranty forcing expensive repairs or new Mac sales...)

I guess must be lucky. I bought my first SSD in ~2008 and have had dozens of them since then and not one failure. Certainly none were 'worn out' by software and excessive swap memory usage.

I'm not dismissing your anecdote or experience. Just saying that while I hear of SSD failures due to swap and wear on these forums, I have never come across one in the real world.
 
v0lume4 said:
Why is it sad? Honestly, because they’re just fun. The common standard for screens now is just to turn off (understandable for laptops obviously). Sometimes it’s cool to have that screen sitting over there in the corner doing its own little thing. Lightens the place up. And if the screensavers are like the ones talked about in this article, then you have a little portal into a world outside the boring office. Like I said, they’re fun.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more! Then again, perhaps I'm showing my age. I remember when we used to have to BUY screensaver software. Anyone else remember 'After Dark'? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Dark_(software)

I've actually been running https://aerialscreensaver.github.io/ for a while now because it's gorgeous. It's nice to see this getting built-in to the OS along with the nifty wallpaper function.
 
  • Like
Reactions: v0lume4 and Camerondonal
These superfluous additions are clearly aimed at casual users who mostly do nothing except spend time staring at their desktops, tinkering with pointless UI customizations.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: srbNYC
bunty said:
I find desktop pictures really distracting, I can't imagine how distracting an animated or changing one would be. I rarely use the desktop for anything, usually there's no icons other than a HD on my desktop anyway. I actually hardly ever even see my desktop now that I think about it.
Click to expand...
Same! The HD is the only thing on mine unless I’m using it to temporarily organize some things.

You’d be surprised though, some people just leave their computer on, no screen saver, on the desktop, essentially 24/7 like it’s part of the decor of the room. My ex did this, on OLED monitors at that 🙄
 
  • Like
Reactions: AAPLGeek
patearrings said:
I'm afraid i have to completely disagree. When they come to a stop, they are blurred (on a 4k monitor at least).

Worse than that, they take up an inordinate amount of space, before todays additions, if you wanted all of them enabled, you would already have been using 11gb of space, so who knows what they take up now, probably north of 20gb.

Most people using apple silicon have only 256gb ssds, and even at 512gb, who is realistically going to use 5% of their ssd space for some screensavers. Granted, you could just use one but that gets dull pretty fast.
Click to expand...
Wow, your optionally downloaded wallpapers are taking up space??! 😧
 
  • Like
Reactions: iOS Geek
midkay said:
Incredible feature, just so well executed.
Click to expand...

They think we’re gonna love it.

And actually they’re right this time. I got into the Mac kind of late and miss the (what at the time seemed) epic wallpapers the Mac came with compared to Windows. Sure I can go find some wallpaper but coming with nice high resolution ones vs the ugliness Windows had at the time was a nice touch.

And now with Windows 11 they have painted a Mac flavored coating over the pile of hot garbage that is Windows, so at least in this area Apple feels a little competition again it seems.
 
New Yosemite Wallpaper meets macOS Sonoma 🏔️

IMG_2074.jpeg
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: elementalwingma, SFjohn, svish and 1 other person
CalMin said:
Given that Apple is selling a LOT of 8GB machines on to which Sonoma will be installed, I doubt they would be shipping these wallpaper/screensavers if it could lead to a ton of SSD failures. (I can't even convince myself that it might be a conspiracy where they ship software that ruins the SSD out of warranty forcing expensive repairs or new Mac sales...)

I guess must be lucky. I bought my first SSD in ~2008 and have had dozens of them since then and not one failure. Certainly none were 'worn out' by software and excessive swap memory usage.

I'm not dismissing your anecdote or experience. Just saying that while I hear of SSD failures due to swap and wear on these forums, I have never come across one in the real world.
Click to expand...

The idea that any normal use will cause SSD failures is complete and utter bunk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CalMin
No idea if anyone is still reading this thread, but do you know if there's a way to randomize these wallpapers? I only see a way to select one at a time.
 
You can set it to shuffle through different collections of aerials or the entire collection.
ersan191 said:
No idea if anyone is still reading this thread, but do you know if there's a way to randomize these wallpapers? I only see a way to select one at a time.
Click to expand...
 
bunty said:
I may be the only person who still has a dark gray solid color desktop background. I've done this for many years.
Click to expand...
This is what I have. As a designer and photographer I don't need distracting images on my desktop that could alter my perception. Also it's a good way to keep tabs on the condition of my LCD screens and if any of them need recalibration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back