The Apple world woke up to a few nice surprises Tuesday with new iPads, iPad Pro models, and the latest generation of the Apple TV 4K set-top streaming box.
Most notably, the new Apple TV 4K ushers in a much lower starting price paired paired with more storage. While the previous Apple TV 4K started at $179 for 32GB of storage, this new version starts at only $129 and boasts 64GB.
If you feel you need a bit more storage, or you plan on connecting the box via Ethernet, the new $149 model offers 128GB of storage and support for Gigabit Ethernet. (The cheaper $129 model has had its Ethernet port removed entirely.) Another advantage of the $149 model is support for Thread mesh networking for your smart home accessories.
Another nice upgrade with these new boxes is with the included Siri Remote. Apple has made a small, but very welcome change here, removing the Lightning port on the remote in favor of USB-C.
Both versions of the new Apple TV 4K are powered by the more powerful A15 Bionic, the same chip powering the new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The previous models were powered by the A12 Bioninc. Apple says the implementation of the more powerful A15 Bionic brings CPU performance improvements of up to 50 percent and GPU performance improvements of up to 30 percent.
And while Dolby Vision and HDR10 were supported on past models, Apple has added support for HDR10+
The new Apple TVs are available for order now at Apple.com for $129 and $149. The boxes will start shipping and hit stores Friday, October 21.
I am a bit confused by the “new support for Gigabit ethernet” mentioned in this article. The Apple TV 4K always (5 years now) supported 1Gb ethernet, it was the non-4K Apple TV which had 10/100 ethernet. To what is “new support for Gigabit ethernet” referring?
Regardless, I will be getting one as my Plex application has been getting more and more quirky and perhaps the additional horsepower will help.
Derek,
You are correct. I was mistaken about Gigabit support on the previous 4K models. I’ve updated the article to reflect that.
Wayne
Would the more expensive model help me with my streaming glitch problems, even though I won’t be able to connect it via the Ethernet port/cable? My iMac and router are in one room of the house, and my TV, A/V monitor and current 4K AppleTV (1st generation 4K) are in another room. I don’t seem to have glitches/buffering issues with Netflix or Peacock, but often experience issues when streaming via the AppleTV.
Hi Michele,
Apple didn’t mention any changes to Wi-Fi, so I would imagine if you’ll be using the new model over Wi-Fi, you could expect similar performance. Thanks for reading!
Wayne
I don’t play games through Apple TV but hopefully the additional storage and faster processor included with the ethernet version will help get rid of streaming glitches. I’m on a fiber gigabit network hardwired to my router so I shouldn’t have any problems but tvOS streaming apps aren’t necessarily written to make use to higher end products like the Apple TV. youtube always blacks out for two seconds after starting a video and regularly has issues syncing to the speed of my network. I really don’t have problems with the other ones.
Peter,
The new Ethernet port should help a great deal. I’ve got gigabit internet as well and it’s always been frustrating that the Apple TV’s Ethernet port has been such a limiting factor. because that port was limited to 100MBps, the fastest connection you could get on past models was through Wi-Fi. Depending on your router’s capabilities, if you have gig speed internet, you could get 500-700 MBps down via Wi-Fi on the previous gen, but hardwiring it through the ethernet port would always only yield 90-100MBps. This should definitely change that. You should be able to take full advantage of your connection with the Ethernet port model.
Thanks for leaving a comment!
Wayne
I don’t know which Apple TV you’ve been using but mine has a gigabit ethernet port on it. I just ran a speedtest and it produced these results:
942 Mbps down, 941 Mbps up. I am directly connected to my router’s LAN ports.
Oh you’re right. I didn’t realize they had updated the latest model to Gigabit. Thanks for the catch. I’ve updated the article to reflect that.
Wayne
I’m just curious is this compatible with my M1 iMac. Meaning could this new TV be used as my computer screen?
Richard,
Thanks for the question! The Apple TV devices are just set-top boxes. They are streaming devices meant to be connected to a TV screen or other monitor. So to answer your question, it can’t be used as a screen because there isn’t a screen. Hope that clears things up! Thanks for reading.
Wayne