Ars Technica in-depth review: Apple TV ‘impressed all those who touched it’

“We’re approaching the Apple TV from a slightly different perspective than most of Apple’s prospective customers. We’ve had a Mac mini hooked up to our TV ever since the mini’s launch in 2005 and acting as an HTPC-like device for all of our non-live-TV needs. Our mini, which we upgraded to a Mac mini core solo last year, is able to stream music and video content through iTunes from other Macs and PCs in the house—just as the Apple TV can—but it can also play a wide variety of other files. The mini acts as a DVD player, and it can function as a DVR with the use of an Elgato eyeTV. It is a full-fledged computer, after all, with the TV as its monitor,” Jacqui Cheng and Clint Ecker report for Ars Technica.

“So what does the Apple TV have to offer us—people who have been slightly spoiled with the use of a seemingly more versatile device for years now? We tried to examine both how the Apple TV would fare among my family members who are intimidated by even the slightest hint of technology, but also how it would fare among fellow geeks,” Cheng and Ecker report. “To do this, we decided to spend some quality time using our Apple TVs before reviewing it, and we seeded our staff with a few units to get feedback from both PC and Mac users, from both HD videophiles and standard definition users. This probably isn’t the first Apple TV review you’ve read, but we also spent much more time going over everything than was possible last week.”

“We’d almost like to give the Apple TV two scores: one for our audience, and one for everybody else. Geeks are more likely than anyone else to hate the Apple TV out of the box… However, almost everyone else who witnessed the Apple TV in action in our presence fell in love with it instantaneously (about half of which were not Mac users). The look and feel of both the device itself and its functionality impressed all those who touched it. We would not worry whatsoever about our technophobic parents’ ability to set up the Apple TV and use it on a daily basis.”

Full review – recommended reading if you’re interested in Apple TV – here.

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