Why do some keep VERY OLD Apple TV’s?

[ninecows]

imagine something 5-10 years old still being functional. throw it in the trash!

Keeping something that long is close to terrorism! You need to keep spending money, if you want to support the free world and our way of living so we all can become richer. If you don’t have the money, be a good citizen and take a loan.




...sorry. Couldn't resist ;-)

I would actually wish Apple could make something smarter here. Allowing you to attach an ssd to the apple tv. I have a massive movie and tv-series collection from the DVD/Blu-ray days that I have ripped. Only about 5-10% of them are on the classic streaming services (netflix, HBO, disney+) and they come and go. So we can be watching a tv-series and midway through a season that streaming service will just remove it.

Not gonna pay to buy them again from Apple (that wasn't even a possibility when I bought them back then). If they made some kind of Movie-match like they have on music (even though its not great) I might consider it.

So I can either cough up more money to even more streaming services or as I do: Have a NAS and access that with infuse from the Apple TV. But just having that one running costs around 10$/month in electricity. In addition infuse keeps pushing me to pay 1$/month.

So all in all there is a use-case for the very old apple tv's with harddrives. Especially if the hard drives were in TB size.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Some are using ancient ancient dinosaur appletv’s like older than the HD model and expect it to still work. I don’t get it. I started with the AppleTV 3 in 2016 and have upgraded twice since then. I would not keep the 3 unit and expect it to still work, so why do some people?

OK, I'll bite. Why would you expect it not to work anymore? What's consummable about it?

 

[ninecows]

… but that being said the best business case for Apple is to provide a minimum streaming box thingy like they do today. As cheap and easy to use as possible, giving people access to buy stuff and subscriptions through App Store. Money grabbing machine attached to people’s tv’s.

 

[East India Company]

My 2002 MBP 12” still works perfectly fine and with its 4:3 screen aspect ratio it almost feels like it has more screen space than my M1 MBA! Old is good!

 

[Powerbooky]

Wait until OP finds out people are still using their 2012 MBPs

Uhm... I'm typing this on a MBP 2011!!! Ok, its AMD GPU is fried, but is does run MacOS Big Sur with a little help from OCLP. It does its job perfectly for now and supports the iServices I use.

Some will say that the ATV 4K 2017 is old too, but it works perfectly on a more recent 4K TV with all current services. Until it breaks down, there's no need for a newer model. Next to my first Mac, the ATV 4K is one of the best things I bought and is in use for a very long time.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

Some are using ancient ancient dinosaur appletv’s like older than the HD model and expect it to still work. I don’t get it. I started with the AppleTV 3 in 2016 and have upgraded twice since then. I would not keep the 3 unit and expect it to still work, so why do some people? Why do some keep the first model?

Feels like a bit of a strawman argument. Are you saying these people "expect it to still work" despite evidece that it doesn't work? Or that they expect it to work and it still is working? My answer to the question "why do people keep them" would be "because they still do the job they were bought for."

If you're claiming there are significant numbers of people who are keeping old tech and complaining because it doesn't work like new tech, well, we'd need to hear from these people to understand why they're doing that.

 

[Powerbooky]

… but that being said the best business case for Apple is to provide a minimum streaming box thingy like they do today. As cheap and easy to use as possible, giving people access to buy stuff and subscriptions through App Store. Money grabbing machine attached to people’s tv’s.

Yeah... that's one way to look at it. Before this box most of us had a (not so cheap) cable subscription, so basically not much has changed other than the way the entertainment gets to the TV. For our family, ditching cable and moving to the ATV and streaming services made it all cheaper (DSL cost included)

 

[ninecows]

Yeah... that's one way to look at it. Before this box most of us had a (not so cheap) cable subscription, so basically not much has changed other than the way the entertainment gets to the TV. For our family, ditching cable and moving to the ATV and streaming services made it all cheaper (DSL cost included)

Yes. It’s not an extra cost as such. But it is annoying not to have easy access to the movies/tv shows you already bought 1-2 decades ago. And my argument was just that apple has zero interest in giving you that access even though it’s just a usb port and a bit of software.

Unless you want boxes of dvd’s/blu-rays everywhere and a Blu-ray player then the route is some computer/nas with all the files on, always on.

Not that eco-friendly after all, are we Apple?

 

[CooperBox]

imagine something 5-10 years old still being functional. throw it in the trash!

An extremely irresponible and unfortunate immature comment, which future generations will surely regret when all the green fields and hills are turned into mountains of trash. It's already shocking and will get far worse.


Fwiw I have several 20 year old G4 iMacs, and also G3/G4 PowerBooks (25+ years old) from 1997-2000 (Kanga/Pismo) still in regular use which give enormous pleasure.
Also have an early Apple TV - believe a 4th gen. Still does what I bought it for.........

 

[ninecows]

An extremely irresponible and unfortunate immature comment, which future generations will surely regret when all the green fields and hills are turned into mountains of trash. It's already shocking and will get far worse.
View attachment 2150494

Fwiw I have several 20 year old G4 iMacs, and also G3/G4 PowerBooks (25+ years old) from 1997-2000 (Kanga/Pismo) still in regular use which give enormous pleasure.

I believe it was a sarcastic comment

 

[Vlad Soare]

I bought my Apple TV 4K (first gen., 2017) because I wanted access to streaming services directly on my TV, without having to fiddle with my phone and to cast from it through an intermediary device. Casting from my phone has always been slow, unreliable, and ultimately a pain in the rear to me. And smart TVs... no thanks, I have one at my holiday house, and it can be apallingly frustrating at times. A dumb TV set with an Apple TV is the perfect combination for me.
It works wonderfully. I have Netflix, Prime, Disney+ and HBO Max, plus Vimeo and YouTube, all on one device, which is connected directly to the TV and is controlled through its own remote control. Marvellous. It's exactly what I wanted, no more, no less. Whatever I need it to do, it does just fine, thank you very much. Upgrade? Why?

 

[CooperBox]

I believe it was a sarcastic comment

You may do, but many may take it at (poor) face value. If the "Throw it in the trash" comment had been accompanied by a suitable 'winking' smiley my post may not have been justified.
In fact sarcasm and irony are forms of 'humour' not recognised in many societies. Great Britain - 'The Brits' for example tend to be known for their sarcasm, and it's been said by many that it's the lowest form of wit, with others arguing that the love of facetiousness is the highest form of intelligence.
Many of my close family members totaly fail to understand sarcasm.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I also read that comment as sarcastic and liked it.
As for people who don't understand irony and sarcasm, I feel sorry for them, but I don't see why those of us who do understand and appreciate them should give them up just for the sake of some who don't. Sarcasm is considered the lowest form of wit by those who either don't understand it, or happen to be at the receiving end of it. Just like saying 'it's not funny' when you're the subject of a joke. Oh, yes, for the others it's damn funny. 😁
We shouldn't take life too seriously. We're not going to get out of it alive anyway.

 

[Wando64]

My ATV2 is connected with an optical Toslink cable to my Hi-Fi and it serves as an audio airplay interface.
Sadly the Toslink has been removed from the ATV4 onwards.

 

[Boyd01]

Use a blue Ray player in your situation.

That makes no sense at all to me. Have had a Bluray player for a long time, stopped using it around 8 or 9 years ago. Not interested in feeding disks to a player and waiting while it slowly grinds away to play one movie on one screen. The whole point was getting away from that unpleasant experience to have my whole library available instantly on all my devices. And, of course, I also use several streaming services.

 

[oldmacs]

Some are using ancient ancient dinosaur appletv’s like older than the HD model and expect it to still work. I don’t get it. I started with the AppleTV 3 in 2016 and have upgraded twice since then. I would not keep the 3 unit and expect it to still work, so why do some people? Why do some keep the first model?

Because some people try and minimise their environmental impact and would rather not unnecessarily consume?

 

[Shirasaki]

That makes no sense at all to me. Have had a Bluray player for a long time, stopped using it around 8 or 9 years ago. Not interested in feeding disks to a player and waiting while it slowly grinds away to play one movie on one screen. The whole point was getting away from that unpleasant experience to have my whole library available instantly on all my devices. And, of course, I also use several streaming services.

Which is what streaming services tries to offer, but because everyone want a slice of the pie they want customer to pay 20 streaming services each month, when in reality many people doesn’t even pay a full year of any streaming service.

Regardless, all power to those folks who enjoys such service and either don’t understand the drawback or don’t care.

 

[Shirasaki]

Exactly this!

To that point, I attempted to give my 1080p, and 1st gen 4k models away to friends/family during the pandemic, nobody wanted because they thought it too old 😳

Also, a friend had a 2011 MacBook Pro that they haven’t used in about 5 years, I offered to install Mint on it for them, and/or trade them something and I’d use it. Nope, said it was too old and dumped it at the recycler Last summer. 🤯. They didn’t want to give/barter me junk.

Your friend and family certainly cares little about planet and what they should bring to the next generation, their kids. Delaying the inevitable seems impossible. Sad days.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Wait until OP finds out people are still using their 2012 MBPs

I have a 2012 Mac Mini running Lubuntu as one of the 8 computers at my desk (I don't have a problem, why do you ask?).

#that's not counting my iPad and iPhone.

 

[oldmacs]

Wait until OP finds out people are still using their 2012 MBPs

I'm an IT professional and moderate power user and my main machine is a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro!

 

[satcomer]

This first part could be answered with many answers! Bay, loved one gave it to them, got it out of the closet or second , this or fourth version for their 4th version!

 

[indrek]

Wait until OP finds out people are still using their 2012 MBPs

And 2010 MBP-s, and 2010 MP-s...

 

[mk313]

The earlier Apple TV's also had the radio app that Apple no longer installs on the Apple TV. It is by far the best way to stream online radio station that I've ever seen I keep an Apple TV 3 in the family room just to listen to music.

 

[fwmireault]

I started with the AppleTV 3 in 2016 and have upgraded twice since then

Why do you believe this is the norm and not the exception? Changing twice an Apple TV in less than 7 years is certainly not as common. It is absolutely your right to change your devices as much as you want, but Apple TV is a device meant to last a lot longer than 2 years

 

[progx]

I have two Apple TV 4K from 2017, one Apple TV HD from 2015 and an Apple TV 3. They still work. My mom uses the Apple TV HD for her streaming and it works fine. The Apple TV 3 is in my office mainly for AirPlay. The two 4K models are primary streaming boxes and they work plenty fine. No need to upgrade if you're just streaming videos on them.