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Why do some keep VERY OLD Apple TV’s?

Yes... the pace of development and new standards are so fast in this field so in order for a bi-yearly upgrade to make sense you possibly also need to upgrade your tv and sound system. And even though everyone are in their full right to do so I can see how the world will run out of resources if everyone had to do that.

So no... it's perfectly fine to hang on to an old Apple TV. Our 4K 1st gen is all fine.
 
The newer generation has Thread. Although apple did another classic money-grab move by including it only in the 128Gb edition of the latest (I have never had the need for more than 32 GB so why Apple? 2TB would make sense, but that's another story)

Upgrading might make sense if I ever start collecting smart devices that has Thread.
 
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ninecows said:
Yes... the pace of development and new standards are so fast in this field so in order for a bi-yearly upgrade to make sense you possibly also need to upgrade your tv and sound system. And even though everyone are in their full right to do so I can see how the world will run out of resources if everyone had to do that.

So no... it's perfectly fine to hang on to an old Apple TV. Our 4K 1st gen is all fine.
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In my OP I stated that the AppleTV 3rd Gen and lower are the ancient ones.
 
We have one of these in the bedroom. Works fine. If we hadn’t upgraded our 10 year old TV to a larger 4K model we would still be using that as primary streaming device. And it’s actually a bit overkill since most things we watch is only HD.
 
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jwolf6589 said:
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?
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I really don't understand the question.
Are you actually appalled that people are still using tech that old?
Or are you just questioning how it can still meet their needs? The answer to that I guess is, well, it just does.

There was a post on here from someone last year who said his friends won't talk to him because his Apple Watch is old. My response was (which he ignored), choose better friends.
 
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oldmacs said:
I'm an IT professional and moderate power user and my main machine is a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro!
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Well, you know what they say about the shoemaker's shoes... 😁
Joking aside, those 2012 MBPs were awesome. If my memory serves, in 2012 they still had integrated CD/DVD units, Ethernet ports... Everything you needed was built in. And upgradable to boot. Really nice machines. I had an Air at the time and was longing for a Pro.
 
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Vlad Soare said:
Well, you know what they say about the shoemaker's shoes... 😁
Joking aside, those 2012 MBPs were awesome. If my memory serves, in 2012 they still had integrated CD/DVD units, Ethernet ports... Everything you needed was built in. And upgradable to boot. Really nice machines. I had an Air at the time and was longing for a Pro.
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I had a 2012 MBP in early 2020 until I upgraded. It was heavy due to the built in DVD player. These days I weekly use my external USB DVD player with my 2020 MBP. It's better that its external.
 
I kept my atv HD for years because it had perfect sound (better than the newer 4K one, fire tv, fire tv 4K, sky receiver and even blue ray players). It’s Video was very good full HD and with perfect sound I actually prefer it to normal 4K + normal sound (only for movies with great sound though).
So I kept using mine for 10 years because I probably won the silicon lottery and got the one with zero defects and therefore still has the best sound out of all my devices.
 
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MacProFCP said:
How many average homeowners have surround sound? Regarding the pictures and music, the older Apple TVs do that too; along with computers or iPad / iPhone.

Plus, with smart TVs many of the features you mentioned are built in already negating the need for a special streaming box.
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I know those other devices do music and pictures too. The point is you said all an AppleTV does is stream to a TV implying that it is only used for movies and tv shows/series. I think they're a lot more people that have surround sound than you realize. Even a simple sound bar and subwoofer provides much higher quality surround sound than stereo speakers, much less TV speakers. Most smart TV apps are nowhere near the quality of the apps on a streaming device such as the AppleTV. The apps on the smart TV are also not supported anywhere near as long as they will be on an AppleTV.
 
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jwolf6589 said:
Works great for me.
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Works great for me too. It's quite surprising to see so many ignorant responses about the AppleTV's usefulness, regardless of generation. I still have my 3rd gen and 1st gen 4K AppleTV which both I don't use anymore. I almost always just hand my older AppleTVs and other devices to family members that don't have one.

I do agree it is irresponsible to just throw old tech in the trash. There are many free recycling centers, including Apple, where the old tech can be dropped off and dealt with appropriately and responsibly.
 
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MacManiac76 said:
Works great for me too. It's quite surprising to see so many ignorant responses about the AppleTV's usefulness, regardless of generation. I still have my 3rd gen and 1st gen 4K AppleTV which both I don't use anymore. I almost always just hand my older AppleTVs and other devices to family members that don't have one.

I do agree it is irresponsible to just throw old tech in the trash. There are many free recycling centers, including Apple, where the old tech can be dropped off and dealt with appropriately and responsibly.
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I’d argue that ATV 3rd gen and lower be given to others and a person upgrade to a newer model.
 
I use my Apple 3rd gen as an auxiliary device if I want to setup another, older model TV for having multiple sporting events going on simultaneously and AirPlay from my TV streaming provider (DirecTV Stream) on my iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV. Unless it’s an NFL Thursday Night Football game on Amazon, then I will use the native TV app, which is one of the few remaining apps for sports left on the 3rd gen box.

I’d rather keep it for this use then trying to make $20 USD from the Apple TV and $25 for my 32" Sony TV from 2010.
 
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jwolf6589 said:
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
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You threw out perfectly good working equipment twice? Do you live in the 1950s and still think generating loads of unnecessary ewaste is a good idea? When you turn everything else you own on and the hardware still works just as well as it always did every day, do you think, I should throw this in the trash and buy another one?

And you think other people need to explain themselves?
 
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dmr727 said:
I keep an older Apple TV because it has an optical out, and that allows me to AirPlay music to a receiver for my stereo.
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That's a very good idea. I have ye olden golden Airport express from the stone age of >5 years ago running in my workshop, and wish I had another one for my office. ...and an Atv3 on my desk that I'd just bought as a replacement for a previous one for what, a hundred bucks last year at the apple store & has been recently kneecapped with fine precision over the holidays (just in time for the big family holiday party, who were not impressed whatsoever by all the non-working apple crap).

Looking at it, I'll use that final AppleTV purchase as an airplay receiver, and probably back to a local media server running on an old Macbook pro (with two removable drives!) which costs aboot a couple hundred clams, the same amount as an AppleTV but holds 8TB of data, has a useful remote that doesn't suck, fiber optic out, and still operates as a public computer for the kids the rest of the time. New Apple can't compete with Old Apple lol
 
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ThunderSkunk said:
New Apple can't compete with Old Apple lol
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Old apple design products that you can own for a very long time. New Apple design products that you cannot own much longer beyond standard warranty period, through crippling the device in software.
 
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