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-BigMac-

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 15, 2011
2,492
2,859
Melbourne, Australia
I believe, there should be more focus on Default Apple wallpapers. Hear me out.

Firstly.. Leopard and Snow Leopard OS's- those had some nice new wallpapers, for that time.
Look, not everyone loved them, but they were at least fresh.

But now.. half the desktop wallpapers are from 2-4 years ago, and most of them not updated for Retina which is majority of Apples current computer range..

zydReDL.png


Now, Apple is a company who prides themselves on aesthetic appeal and quality of hardware (especially of late - monitor specifications). This is the big selling point, the screens.

How can they not have high resolution, optimised wallpapers in 2016 to show that hardware off?

Sure, they have one or two high resolution wallpapers of Yosemite.. but a quick google search will bring up amateur photos of Yosemite, at same angles, which are clearer and look much more appealing than the Apple ones.

I mean, get some DSLR's out into the wild, take some creative photos, touch them up. The Default wallpapers take up 95% of the monitor real estate in stores.. get some incredible photos out there!! Show off those screens!

I know what some of you might say, well... once home, download your own wallpapers.
Yes, I can. But thats completely beside the point.

People love Apple wallpapers, for a lot of consumers the default wallpaper is all they will ever have on their desktop, because they enjoy having the default, the full Apple experience.
There is power users out there who only use the default wallpapers, just check the Picture Gallery desktop threads, its not only for the stores.

Apple has the resources and money to pay a professional photographer for a month every year, not a problem.

This is an easy, cost effective way, to bring about a fresher look, and optimise the look of their hyped up new retina screens.

Doesn't it make sense for them to focus more on this??

Interested to hear what people think:)
 
I agree, however I haven't found any of the wallpapers to not be Retina grade? The Mac OS X ones don't bother me to much. They have added a handful with each release and only removed a few but I am disappointed in iOS 9's wallpapers. It's the first time I haven't liked any of the default wallpapers and they removed the old ones that I really liked. I understand space is a premium on iOS devices but maybe if they started at a base of 32 GB it wouldn't be an issue.
 
I agree, however I haven't found any of the wallpapers to not be Retina grade? The Mac OS X ones don't bother me to much. They have added a handful with each release and only removed a few but I am disappointed in iOS 9's wallpapers. It's the first time I haven't liked any of the default wallpapers and they removed the old ones that I really liked. I understand space is a premium on iOS devices but maybe if they started at a base of 32 GB it wouldn't be an issue.
I completely agree with the iOS wallpapers also.
With "retina grade", i am referring to providing the optimal clarify, contrast and colour for the Apple retina monitors (including the iMac 5k).

Below i have selected the most obvious of the Apple desktop wallpapers, some of which have blatantly just been upscaled to 'retina resolution'. They look stretched and are definitely not what one would consider 'sharp'. If i remember correctly, a couple of these even originally came out as 2560x1600.

gKLA4bZ.png


Try some of them out yourself, see if you can see what i'm talking about. I can also link some similar photos which simply smash these Apple wallpapers out of the ball park for you to compare, if you would like? :)
 
So with this in mind, can anyone suggest some wallpapers of comparable quality? I've got my lovely big wallpapers folder in my dropbox but I'd love to have some suggestions.
 
I have to agree with this. Attention to this type of detail is part of what makes Apple who they are. I'd really like to see beautiful new wallpapers with the next OSX and iOS.

The screensavers for the new Apple TV are beautiful and I'd like that type of quality for wallpapers on the Mac.
 
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So with this in mind, can anyone suggest some wallpapers of comparable quality? I've got my lovely big wallpapers folder in my dropbox but I'd love to have some suggestions.

http://interfacelift.com has some really nice photos... over 1200 at 2880x1800 resolution (15" rMBP) and nearly 250 at 5120x2880 resolution (27" 5K iMac).

I have also been known to troll Flickr and DeviantArt for wallpapers.
 
I agree, however I haven't found any of the wallpapers to not be Retina grade? The Mac OS X ones don't bother me to much. They have added a handful with each release and only removed a few but I am disappointed in iOS 9's wallpapers. It's the first time I haven't liked any of the default wallpapers and they removed the old ones that I really liked. I understand space is a premium on iOS devices but maybe if they started at a base of 32 GB it wouldn't be an issue.
They have got the iPad pro which has the resolution of 2732x2048. The old nebula wallpapers would likely to be stretched and upscaled like somebody has complained here.
 
How much time do you all spend looking at wallpapers? When I'm at my computer I have so many windows up that I cannot even see the wallpaper.

Besides do you really want high resolution wallpapers taking up resources that could be used by your software?
 
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You're incorrect about the images not being updated for Retina. The default wallpaper images are mostly 5120 x 3200, plenty for 4k (or even 5k) resolution monitors.
 
Tbh, I've never thought about it. They're generic wallpapers but once I get my Mac, I use my own images.

I'm not worked up one way or another.
 
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