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Take 1 and Take 2 Hardware Differences
- Thread starter secondcup
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Confirmed, NO. There is no hardware difference between the ATV or ATV2.
(EDIT: Oh, the box...Well, I don't know.)
(EDIT: Oh, the box...Well, I don't know.)
Take 2 is a software update designed to run on the original Apple TV, of which Apple undoubtedly didn't sell as many as they hoped. Many of those units are still in distribution. As the original box can handle all the Take 2 requirements and play HD downloads and considering it has a built in N chip and the prices came down $70 per unit it is extremely doubtful that they would do all that and update any of the hardware. There is no reason to. Not to mention they would have to sell the previous model at a discount. There is still no confirmation that units available at most stores are preloaded with Take 2. Now at this point I don't know of any site that has purchased a Take 2 preloaded unit and dissected it to compare the internal parts to the original, but I would make a healthy wager they were the same.
Cool, thanks for the info. I was hoping that was the case. I just bought the 40gig at WalMart yesterday and it was loaded with 1.0 software. The update went flawlessly, and I'm very happy with it. I don't know why I didn't buy one sooner!
EDIT: By box, I meant the hardware...sorry for the confusion.
EDIT: By box, I meant the hardware...sorry for the confusion.
I mean the machine - I haven't seen anyone confirm for sure that the machine is the same - seen lots of speculation, but nobody can say for sure.
I would have been inclined to agree with you, but there's a fellow who actually works on the Apple TV team on the forums who posted that "when it ships, all new hardware will ship with it in a new box":
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4839406#post4839406
So until I've seen confirmation otherwise, I'm holding off a week or two to pull the trigger to make sure I get a new box...just in case there are some minor differences under the hood that future-proof it a bit more.
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4839406#post4839406
So until I've seen confirmation otherwise, I'm holding off a week or two to pull the trigger to make sure I get a new box...just in case there are some minor differences under the hood that future-proof it a bit more.
I notice your follow up question asking for clarification was never answered. Interesting!
I notice your follow up question asking for clarification was never answered. Interesting!
Yup - I found that interesting as well.
If I was a betting man, I'd guess that there may be some minor internal hardware updates (that guy works on the actual Apple TV team, so there must be some substance to what he said)...but probably nothing substantial. As it's not major, Apple may not want to publicize the fact that there are updates, otherwise they wouldn't clear out the existing inventory...
I'm wondering. There could possibly be a difference but it would be software only.
I got a new 160 the other day and it has 1.1 on it.
As I understand it the HDD inside the Apple TV has a 'restore' partition. On this partition resides the ATV 1.1 software and OS. This way if the Apple TV goes funky you can do a Factory Restore.
Now ( this I know from doing ) if you update to Apple TV 2.0 and have to do a Restore, it will go back to the Restore partition and install Apple TV 1.1. Then if you want 2.0 you will have to redownload and reinstall.
I would imagine that at some point the ATV's will come off the line with ATV 2.0 installed on the Restore Partition and these units will be in the new box.
The new one I picked up was in the old box.
So if my guess is correct having one in the old box will give you the ability to go back to ATV 1.1 if you wanted to.
But the hardware will be the same.
I got a new 160 the other day and it has 1.1 on it.
As I understand it the HDD inside the Apple TV has a 'restore' partition. On this partition resides the ATV 1.1 software and OS. This way if the Apple TV goes funky you can do a Factory Restore.
Now ( this I know from doing ) if you update to Apple TV 2.0 and have to do a Restore, it will go back to the Restore partition and install Apple TV 1.1. Then if you want 2.0 you will have to redownload and reinstall.
I would imagine that at some point the ATV's will come off the line with ATV 2.0 installed on the Restore Partition and these units will be in the new box.
The new one I picked up was in the old box.
So if my guess is correct having one in the old box will give you the ability to go back to ATV 1.1 if you wanted to.
But the hardware will be the same.
I read on another thread that somone with a new 2.0 unit checked and the restore is in fact to 2.0...but again, everyone is speculating that the hardware is the same, but nobody actually knows (this person didn't know how to check the components, and wasn't about to crack his new toy open).
I understand wanting a new ATV if there is new hardware associated with it. But if so, the differences will be so minor that "future-proofing" it is a moot point. I doubt Apple will announce in the future ATV 3.0 but say that the software upgrade is only available for those who have 2.0 on their recovery partition because of some newer components used with ATV 2.0. The ATV is a year old, so I hope they use newer components, but its the exact same specs...
Anything Apple does that will remotely upgrade the hardware will be announced or will be quietly updated in the specs.
They dropped the price to entice people to get them so they could sell rentals. Also why they are doing weekly $.99 rental specials. Just like when iTunes has a free single of the day that turned into a single of the week. But all that said, they are trying to sell more units. The Apple TV was not very profitable when they came out in terms of parts costs vs. sales price not even taking r and d and software development into account. Now that they dropped the price I bet part of the reason is that the components came down in price. I would be absolutely shocked if they upgraded them at the same time. Newer specs tend to cost more.
Anyone who says they are an engineer or work on some team at Apple, and then give up information that has not been announced officially by Apple is lying. Apple has a very strict "shut the hell up" policy and if they find out that someone is talking about stuff they shouldn't... they will be fired on the spot. I wouldn't put too much into statements like that. The only way to know for sure is to wait and find out when it is released.
Kevin's been a good source of info, but I'm not entirely certain that what he said really means there's a revision to the ATV.
That's not how it generally works with consumer electronics.
Apple's margins on ATV sucked. Margins are a big deal to Apple. I would be very surprised if there haven't been a few ATV hardware revisions since its release. That's how consumer electronics businesses usually work--new products are built with lower margins, but as time goes on not only do component prices come down. In addition to that, the devices are revised to take advantage of engineering changes that can lower costs.
With a device like ATV, there are likely to be several hardware revisions out there. The important thing to understand is that they all support the same baseline functionality.
FWIW, there's more than enough info easily available to backup his claim of what he says he does for a living.
And as far as Kevin goes, from what I can tell he seems to be a great source of help and information for people - I'm sure Apple has sold a lot more Apple TVs because of him. They should be happy they have people working for them that are that enthusiastic.
I don't think what he said in the thread was giving up information or crossing any line - I'm sure it was a harmless comment, and I may very well be taking it out of context. What he said may not have meant anything - but it's enough to make me wait a week to make sure I get a new box, just in case.
What the heck, Apple's getting my money anyway...