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Apple TV 4K -- 64GB or 128GB?

J

jamesmcnee

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2007
54
3
Hey folks,

Looking to buy a new Apple TV (the box not the service).

There seem to be two variables

-- Wi-Fi vs Wi-Fi + Ethernet (I can figure that one out)

-- 64 GB vs 128 GB

price difference is twenty bucks for the 128

What is the advantage of more storage?

I'll just use it to stream from NetFlix etc and I don't have a fancy TV

Thoughts?

Thanks
 
The storage is not likely an issue if you are using it for just streaming. Streaming apps don't use very much space. The difference is really down to ethernet and thread support in the 128gb version. Also, there are rumors they will announce a new version this month so it might be worth it to wait a few weeks.
 
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you wont need the storage unless you want to download games, and well, there arent any games worth downloading...

as for networking. seriously consider ethernet if its your only home hub and you intend to try out homekit
 
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bozzykid said:
The storage is not likely an issue if you are using it for just streaming. Streaming apps don't use very much space. The difference is really down to ethernet and thread support in the 128gb version. Also, there are rumors they will announce a new version this month so it might be worth it to wait a few weeks.
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You might think that, but those screen savers take up so much space. I've lost count of the number of times Infuse deletes it's metadata/cover art cache on my 32 GB 2021 model despite the fact that, the storage section in settings tells me I've only used a couple of GB.
 
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128GB version for sure. Ethernet alone is worth the $20 difference. You may never use all of the SSD storage, but you will never have to wonder if the extra storage would have helped you out in some way in the future. I have the 128GB version and have it connected to my router using ethernet instead of wi-fi and don't have any connectivity issues. Of course this is assuming your Apple TV 4K will be in the same room as your router.
 
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erihp said:
back in my day games were (often much) smaller than 1MB. are these bloated multi-gigabyte games any good? do you actually play them?
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We play a few old school games from Atari and Sega. A couple of strategy games. Nothing over the top. Its not a gaming console.
 
Even though we have fast wifi, we went with a 128 version for its stable ethernet. However, I have also found having the 128 gig storage to be usefull on occasion. Now and then the Apple TV seems to be slowing down so I press and hold the home button and delete all the open apps and I’m always surprised how many apps are open and using storage. This always seems to help and I suspect I would have to do that much more often if we only had the 64 gig version.
 
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Dc2006ster said:
Even though we have fast wifi, we went with a 128 version for its stable ethernet. However, I have also found having the 128 gig storage to be usefull on occasion. Now and then the Apple TV seems to be slowing down so I press and hold the home button and delete all the open apps and I’m always surprised how many apps are open and using storage. This always seems to help and I suspect I would have to do that much more often if we only had the 64 gig version.
Click to expand...
What you are describing is a function of Random Access Memory, not internal flash storage.

All applications running on the system persist in RAM so its code and assets load quickly when you use or switch between apps. Force quitting them all, or rebooting the device frees the RAM and will allow only the running code to persist while you use it. As you open more apps for multitasking or individual apps load more content, this RAM is allocated until full, and then requires swapping out old/lesser used data.

Internal storage (64GB/128GB) refers to the amount of non-volatile storage that retains the data the system requires to function. the operating system files, any games or apps you download, or photos you store locally. When you reboot, this data does not get cleared out, and is intended as long term storage.

What you are describing will happen in the exact same way on both the 64GB/128GB internal storage models because both have the same amount of RAM, 4GB. A 128GB model will be able to install more apps and games, but the systems will perform and run them identically otherwise.

That said, the Ethernet is a nice to have!
 
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erihp said:
What you are describing is a function of Random Access Memory, not internal flash storage.

All applications running on the system persist in RAM so its code and assets load quickly when you use or switch between apps. Force quitting them all, or rebooting the device frees the RAM and will allow only the running code to persist while you use it. As you open more apps for multitasking or individual apps load more content, this RAM is allocated until full, and then requires swapping out old/lesser used data.

Internal storage (64GB/128GB) refers to the amount of non-volatile storage that retains the data the system requires to function. the operating system files, any games or apps you download, or photos you store locally. When you reboot, this data does not get cleared out, and is intended as long term storage.

What you are describing will happen in the exact same way on both the 64GB/128GB internal storage models because both have the same amount of RAM, 4GB. A 128GB model will be able to install more apps and games, but the systems will perform and run them identically otherwise.

That said, the Ethernet is a nice to have!
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. We live and learn.
 
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