I was one of the fortunate ones over Black Friday weekend this year where I was able to get the 128GB Apple TV 4K with Ethernet.
This purchase was made in large part thanks to Apple’s Black Friday Holiday Shopping Weekend it had at the time.
For the sake of this article, due to the fact that I do not have a 4K TV, I will not be able to comment on the 4K video quality from the Apple TV 4K. What I will be talking about more so is the speediness of the device and the other good and bad qualities about it.
The first thing that I came to like about this device was the easy setup process. I had a concern when I first bought this Apple TV that it was going to be an issue getting it onto my home WiFi network since I had that changed to a different provider a couple of months ago, but in order to get on to it, you have to sign into the network with a QR code that is on the router.
Thankfully, Apple makes it so when you are turning it on and setting it up for the first time, you can set it up through your iPhone, which then connects it to your home WiFi that way.
With that said though, the main reason I purchased this version of the Apple TV 4K was so I can use the Ethernet port on it, which is what I did install into it after I got the device set up.
When it comes to using tvOS 17 on it, it is much improved. Granted, you have to factor in that I was coming from using an Apple TV HD that I have been using for several years. Yes, it had lasted me up to this point, but there is only so much those older devices can do and handle after so much time.
Another positive addition to this Apple TV is the fact that the Siri Remote charges via USB-C, whereas the previous one charged with a Lightning cable. This is beneficial to me since I actually have a USB-C cable that is attached to my couch via an embedded USB port it has, so it makes for easy charging and it is the same cable that my iPhone 15 Plus and iPad Air fifth generation charge with, therefore, there is no confusion.
If I had to say one issue with the Apple TV 4K third generation, in terms of design, it is the lack of the Apple TV logo on it. Previous models always had the Apple TV logo on top of it but now it is a simple Apple logo.
Even though this is not the worst change in Apple’s product history, it is an issue to me since if I were to have someone over and they were to see the Apple TV, they may not know that it is an Apple TV. The company doesn’t have to put the exact generation on it, but by putting “ TV” on top of the product is not too much to ask for.
Heck, even my iPad Air says on the back of it that it is an “iPad Air” and was released the same year as this Apple TV 4K third generation.
I know that getting rid of the full wording across the top could have been a way for Apple to make the third generation Apple TV slimmer, but I’d argue that there could have still been room to add the “TV” on top of the box.
Other than that, the product works and looks as it should.
With everything said here, the Apple TV 4K with Ethernet third generation gets 3.5/4 stars from me. It loses 0.5 due to the lack of full Apple TV wording on top of the box.
The Apple TV 4K itself should be able to fit your streaming wants and needs, and then some.
Stay tuned in 2024 for my review of this Apple TV 4K again, but hopefully with an actual 4K TV to test it on.
Rating: 3.5/4 stars
