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Apple TV 4K next gen
- Thread starter philpalmiero
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FreakinEurekan
macrumors G3
To what end? It's used just for streaming; why would it need faster Ethernet?
curnalpanic
macrumors 6502a
If/when the economics of scale make it worthwhile to use a 2.5g ethernet PHY Apple will likely just firmware lock it to 1000base-t for power consumption, thermals and other hardware bottlenecks. Since Broadcom keeps doesnt release the data sheet on customer products we wouldn't even know.
On digikey and mouser a 2.5g ethernet transceiver is less than a dollar more than a 1g transceiver if you buy in bulk. That's my price, Apple pays significantly less.
On digikey and mouser a 2.5g ethernet transceiver is less than a dollar more than a 1g transceiver if you buy in bulk. That's my price, Apple pays significantly less.
I wouldn’t put it past Apple to come out with a single Ethernet-less SKU in order to sell/require a USB/thunderbolt ethernet adapter if you want wired connectivity.
As others pointed out, I see no really real or benefit to a 2.5gbit port on the AppleTV.
As others pointed out, I see no really real or benefit to a 2.5gbit port on the AppleTV.
0ceans
macrumors member
It seems very unlikely. There's basically zero benefit to multigig ethernet on an Apple TV. Even if you're streaming the highest-bitrate 4K Blu Ray source material you can get your hands on, we're talking about something in the 100mbit range (45GB/hour). Gigabit ethernet has ample headroom for media playback, and it's essentially impossible to saturate outside of getting faster downloads - and how often are you actually downloading something on an ATV?
The only scenario where I could see this happen is if Apple were to include a couple TB of storage on the device and have it be a combo ATV + Time Capsule. An always-connected network device just passively storing backups of your network's Apple Devices, while also serving as a media center device, would be a dream - but I'm not sure there would be a decent enough market for what this would cost vs. a Mac Mini.
The only scenario where I could see this happen is if Apple were to include a couple TB of storage on the device and have it be a combo ATV + Time Capsule. An always-connected network device just passively storing backups of your network's Apple Devices, while also serving as a media center device, would be a dream - but I'm not sure there would be a decent enough market for what this would cost vs. a Mac Mini.