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Considering Purchasing the Apple TV HD (Am I Crazy?!)

suns93

suns93

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 21, 2017
133
168
Alright, clearly I need to provide some justification of why I am seriously considering purchasing the Apple TV HD.
But first, some background. We’re a family of 4 (2 kids under age 7) in a small apartment. We have the living room tv hooked up with the Apple TV 4K and love it. We have 1 desktop pc with dual monitors, 2 MacBooks, 3 iPads, and 2 iPhones between us. Given all those screens, there hasn’t seemed to be a need to get a tv for the office/spare bedroom/workout room.
Then we were gifted a decent Sony 1080p tv, a family member just wanting it off their hands. We put it in the office but obviously buying the Apple TV 4K for it is overkill. We considered just getting some cheap stick to use for it but we are so heavily engrained in the Apple ecosystem it seems like more of a pain than it’s worth. The top 2 uses we want for the TV are Apple Fitness (I currently just use my iPad Pro propped up in there for that but it’s not ideal) and for our older child to have a larger screen for Apple Arcade (we have no other gaming system) to use when we’re watching in the living room.
Another justification I scratched together is that we could swap the new remote that comes with the HD to our main tv and use the old remote in the office with the HD.
So, could anyone be a pal and confirm that I’m the one corner case where buying the Apple TV HD at full retail almost halfway through 2021 actually makes sense?!?
 
If you re willing to pay full retail price, get the Apple TV 4K. The internals is much better for the price difference. The Apple TV HD has been released in 2015, you could easily buy a used one for less than the retail price. You can always buy the new remote if the old one is not for you

Apple TV HD should be way less in my opinion.
 
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The A12 and 1GB more RAM in the 2021 4K ATV (if it does indeed have 3GB as the 2017 model did) will give you more speed and longevity than the A8 and 2GB RAM in the 2015/2021 HD model even if you won't be using it with a 4K television.

Was only $20 more for me to preorder the 32GB 2021 4K ATV from Costco before it went out of stock. And I'll likely make back that price difference when the next ATV model comes out I sell it down the road.
 
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I appreciate the guidance. I was too focused on the fact that the HD would adequately fit my needs and should take into account the value proposition of what the extra $30 gets you.
I’ll be getting the new 4K for our living room and bump the old 4K to the office.
But that begs the question… who in the world is actually buying the HD?! Is this some business school stuff - literally keep a SKU that barely sells just because its price point serves as anchor to make what you’re *really* selling appear to be a value? Put a 6oz steak on the menu for $20 because it makes people feel like they’re treating themselves *and* getting a deal when they order the $25 12oz steak, even though it’s the case that the 6oz is drastically overpriced not the other way around??
 
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What if the 12oz steak is just too big for my appetite, and I want to save $5? Seems like you have given a good example of selling the customer something they don't need, will create waste and cost more all in the name of getting a "better deal". 🤣

But seriouisly.... I went from two AppleTV 3's to two Apple TV HD's about a year and a half ago. Only reason I upgraded was that I had subscribed to Sling and it doesn't support the ATV3. I don't have 4k TV's and didn't want to spend a lot of money since I needed two, so I went with refurbed ATV HD's which was a significant savings over the 4k model at that time.

Frankly, I have not been very happy with the HD models. In many cases, the "enhanced" user interface seemed slower than the ATV3 and also not as uniformly "dark". I have to reboot them every few days because the Sling or Prime apps seem to have problems. These might really just be issues with the apps instead of the ATV itself, but it's something I never had to do with the ATV3. And I hate the old Siri remote, but at least Apple has gotten rid of that.

Anyway, I'd agree you should buy the new 4k model. You could check Apple's refurb store for a deal on the HD model, but am guessing it would include the old style Siri remote? Have thought about replacing one of my HD's with the new 4k model, if for nothing else than the fact that it supports gigabit ethernet (mine are hardwired) and the HD model doesn't.
 
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Boyd01 said:
What if the 12oz steak is just too big for my appetite, and I want to save $5? Seems like you have given a good example of selling the customer something they don't need, will create waste and cost more all in the name of getting a "better deal". 🤣
Click to expand...
I’ve never heard of a customer reselling a steak when they’re done with it. ATV 4K will retain it’s value when it’s time to sell it. Almost all new TVs being sold today are 4K so a prospective buyer will likely want a 4K ATV.

it will create less waste as it will receive software updates for a longer time and won’t slow down as quickly due to upgraded internals.
 
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4K Con: Has an internal fan (mechanical parts).

HD Con: The HD cannot process Dolby Atmos, should you someday upgrade your audio for the 1080p set-up.

I might add, however, despite the mechanical fan the 4K *might* last longer in terms of supporting future tvOS updates.
 
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I also recommend the purchase of the new model. You'll get far more longevity out of it at really not that much more of a price
 
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The only way it makes sense to buy the Apple TV HD now is if you can find a good deal on it, like under $100.

I think it is silly that Apple is still trying to sell them new at $150. To me that would be like them trying to sell the iPhone SE for $650 right next to the iPhone 12 mini for $700.

If they wanted to keep a $150 AppleTV Option they should have kept the old 5th Generation Apple TV 4K with the older style remote around at $150 and dropped the Apple TH HD down to $100.
 
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