It’s finally getting close to beach weather here in the States. But wouldn’t you like to be able to experience the sandy beaches, palm trees, and the sound of the gently lapping waves year ’round? Well, with Sandy Beach 3D you can.
Overview
Sandy Beach 3D is a combination animated wallpaper/screensaver app that gives you the sights and sound of a day at the beach all year long on your Mac desktop.
After installing Sandy Beach 3D on your Mac, you can experience the beautiful 3D view of a beautiful ocean, water lapping on the white sandy beach, palm trees swaying in the breeze. If you wish, you can have island themed music play in the background as you listen to the tropical breezes blow gently through the palm trees.
I enjoyed the island view, although after awhile, I turned off the music, preferring just the sound of the breeze through the trees, and gentle crashing of the waves on the shore. All sounds and music can be muted if you wish, or just set to play in either wallpaper or screen saver modes.
I was concerned that there might be a slow down in some of the graphics applications I use daily while the Sandy Beach app was running, but I experienced no such slow down. Everything ran smoothly on my early 2011 MacBook Pro.
One caveat, before buying Sandy Beach 3D, be sure it will run properly on the graphics card in your rig. The app will not run on GMA 950 video card (Mac Mini (2006, 2007), iMac (2006), MacBook (2006, 2007)) It ran great with the Radeon HD 6490M 256 MB card in my MacBook Pro.
While I was unable to test this feature, the app is compatible with the MacBook Pro with Retina display. I’m betting it’s especially beautiful on those devices.
I especially liked the ability for the animated wallpaper to run on multiple monitors for those that have that setup. It can be setup in either clone, or span mode. In clone mode, both monitors show the same scene. In span mode, the scene stretches out across the monitors.
Verdict
If you enjoy the island life, then Sandy Beach 3D is for you. The animation of the ocean scenery is relaxing and enjoyable to look at, but also does well as a soothing background while you work. The animation didn’t slow down the operation of my Mac, and it didn’t play tricks with my eyes when i was trying to find an icon on my desktop.
As an introductory offer, Sandy Beach 3D is available for a price of $0.99. Definitely a bargain.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear an ocean breeze calling my name…
Rating: 4/5[rating:4.0]
Price: $0.99 (For a limited time only, normally $1.99.) Available for OS X in the Mac App Store. [DIRECT LINK]
Pros:
- Beautiful scenery, smooth animation.
- Multi-monitor support.
- Simple setup and options.
Cons:
- I couldn’t take my shoes off and wade into the cool island waters.
