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PSA: macOS Big Sur 11.3 Includes Colorful New Wallpapers Designed for M1 iMac

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Apple in macOS Big Sur 11.3 introduced a series of colorful wallpapers that are designed specifically for the M1 iMac, but you can unearth them and download them on any Mac with a few quick instructions.

imac m1 blue isolated 16x9 500k
These are the wallpapers that have been used in Apple's marketing materials for the 24-inch ‌iMac‌, with different colored lines and patterns available for each ‌iMac‌ color. To get to these wallpapers, follow these steps:

  1. Open the System Preferences app.
  2. Click on Desktop & Screen Saver.
  3. Double click on "Desktop Pictures" on the left side to open the Desktop Pictures folder.
  4. Click into this folder when it opens up (alternatively, go to System > Library > Desktop Pictures).
  5. Scroll down to find the images labeled "Hello."
  6. Drag the image that you want to use onto your desktop.
  7. Right click on an image and select "Set Desktop Picture" or choose the image from the Desktop & Screensaver interface.

To get these images, you need to be running macOS Big Sur 11.3 or later, and it appears that they may not be available in the macOS Big Sur 11.4 beta. Apple has also released a new "Hello" screensaver for the iMacs, which you can also get from any Mac running macOS Big Sur 11.3.


These new wallpapers will be available by default on new iMacs, which are set to begin arriving to customers in the second half of May, starting on May 21.

Related Forum: macOS Big Sur

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Top Rated Comments

thedocbwarren Avatar
thedocbwarren
64 months ago
These really scream OS 9 Platinum to me. I guess it's intended to revisit the iMac era.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tomtendo Avatar
tomtendo
63 months ago
These wallpapers are atrocious. So plain and too bright
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wolframite Avatar
Wolframite
64 months ago

how about the fact that they're square? Why are they no longer wide screen? Is MacOS coming to some device that would need wallpapers in portrait? Perhaps at WWDC? Perhaps a square device running M1? Perhaps that's why the new control center GUI makes so much more sense on a touch device?
My guess is that they're square to accommodate any orientation (portrait or landscape), particularly for the Pro XDR display, to ensure no warping or sacrificing of image quality.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jwhite9185 Avatar
jwhite9185
64 months ago
I'm more interested in the two new dynamic wallpapers in the Tweet above. I don't see those...

Attachment Image
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmichaelb Avatar
cmichaelb
63 months ago

Can someone drag the blue one from system preferences to desktop and upload it?
Would like the blue one on my m1 air (not on 11.3 yet)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iifq4nvkkojalwd/Blue.png?dl=0
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
KoolAid-Drink
64 months ago

On 11.3.0 and they are there.

This really feels like a throwback. Definite feels from some of the original OS X 10.0 desktop pictures. And the colors does kinda give me the nostalgia for my old Bondi Blue. I'll have to pull it out of its box. It's been a bit.
It does! From an old Snow Leopard installation I used to have, I pulled all the classic desktops from SL and have kept it to this day, and this folder includes all the Mac OS X 10.0 wallpapers. I even managed to find an archive of Mac OS 8 and 9 desktop wallpapers, so you could say I got the entire library.

Nostalgia, indeed. I particularly liked the ~10.3-era brown/grey wallpaper that had a macro zoom of stones. So soothing. Those new iMac wallpapers definitely screams 2001 all over again (which, ironically, is 20 years ago!).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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