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New Apple TV has 2 GB RAM, included 802.11ac WiFi is faster than its Ethernet port

Screen Shot 2015-09-09 at 23.15.36

On Apple’s public specs page, it says that the new Apple TV includes an A8 chip and that’s about it in terms of the bundled SoC. However, Apple’s developer documentation goes into more detail specifically listing the hardware as having 2 GB RAM (via Steve Troughton-Smith). This means the internals are actually better than the A8 in the iPhone 6 and latest-generation iPod touch, which only have 1 GB of RAM.

These are the specs Apple lists in the developer documentation:

The new Apple TV has the following hardware specifications:

64-bit A8 processor

32GB or 64GB of storage

2GB of RAM

10/100Mbps Ethernet

WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

1080p resolution

HDMI

New Siri Remote / Apple TV Remote

The upgraded RAM will help the Apple TV with improved video caching as well as overall better performance playing games, opening apps and navigating the interface. Apple has likely made an exception to the norm and informed developers about the different RAM specifications so they don’t wrongly extrapolate assumptions from the A8 in other Apple devices.

Also, rather amusingly, the new Apple TV still lacks gigabit ethernet. Whilst the internal WiFi has been upgraded to 802.11ac, the internal Ethernet is unchanged and maxes out at 100 megabits. This means if you want the best speeds for streaming, you should actually use the latest WiFi to get connected rather than plugging in a cable. You may still want to use Ethernet as this will likely outstrip any WiFi setup in terms of latency and general connection reliability.

Interestingly, the new Apple TV has an internal identifier of 5,3. The last public Apple TV was 3,2 indicating a fair few internal revisions took place before they settled on this iteration of hardware.

Some Apple TV owners may be disappointed that Apple has removed the optical audio port in this version. Audio is now only sent over the HDMI cable along with the video. If you relied on the optical audio jack, you are now effectively out of luck if you want to buy the new model … unless you buy a splitter box that converts HDMI into HDMI and optical output.

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Comments

  1. iSRS - 9 years ago

    The lack of optical audio out is a bummer for me. That is the primary way I use my Apple TV for music and AirPlay from iTunes.

    Guess my TV will just bridge from the Apple TV to the stereo.

  2. Tony Bowens - 9 years ago

    So without the content deal they are still working out there isn’t a lot to differentiate this from it’s competitors except it costs most and has fewer ports.
    Not sure I understand what’s kept them from $100 price point here. The remote?

    • James Katt - 9 years ago

      Apple doesn’t do cheap. Apple doesn’t do Android.
      $149 for the Apple TV is INEXPENSIVE.
      If you cannot afford it, get a better job.

    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

      What products are you comparing against? How much storage is inside? The other competitors come with less storage. I typically see 8GB or 16GB, not 32GB or 64GB.

  3. Terrence Newton - 9 years ago

    I say 100 Mbps ethernet is still better than 802.11ac for this device. I think it’s safe to say most streaming video is under 15 Mbps, and most people’s internet connections are definitely under 100 Mbps. I’ve had so many bad experiences with wifi, I’ll take ethernet wherever I can get it, as long as it’s practical (i.e. stationary devices). As long as you don’t have a crappy wired network setup, like a bad power line networking connection for example (in which case you’d probably still be screwed even with gigabit ethernet), 100 Mbps is perfect for Apple TV. Apple probably designed it that way because they figured gigabit ethernet is not necessary for Apple TV, and they saved a few bucks.

    • This is dead on. Ethernet speeds are much more consistent and have lower latency. I’ve set up many streaming setups, and the wired ones are so so much better.

    • James Katt - 9 years ago

      I agree.
      Very few people have faster than 100 Mbps cable internet. So an upgrade to gigabit ethernet is totally unnecessary.

  4. “This means if you want the best reliability for streaming, you should actually use the latest WiFi to get connected rather than plugging in a cable.”

    Uhh, no. Best speed in perfect conditions, yes. Best reliability still comes from a cable. A cabled connection isn’t anywhere near remotely as affected by distance from the access point nor from number of other devices on the network the way a wifi connection is, which is why an ethernet cable still rules for reliability despite now being potentially inferior for speed.

  5. Brandon Pamplin - 9 years ago

    AppleTV’s A8 has 2gb of RAM. iPad mini 4 has A8 not A8X (even though Phil said it was the same inside as the Air). I wonder if the iPad mini 4 is using the 2gb variant of the A8 rather than the 1gb.

  6. Is it possible this device can be jailbroken and the USB-C could be utilized for lets say a external hdd?

    • With the app store, the need to JB this ATV isn’t as great as with past boxes – to a point of course. It will be interesting to see if media-playing apps on the store will have the ability to access the LAN (SMB/AFP shares in particular). That could be the single biggest reason to JB if it won’t be possible officially.

  7. Joseph Frye - 9 years ago

    No A9 processor, no gigabyte ethernet, no optical audio port and $80-$130 more… no thanks.

    • GigE is useless for a media player that does its streaming by playback, even from a LAN. If it had the ability to copy content over a LAN onto local storage that’s another matter – but it doesn’t.

      Lack of A9 or A9X is the bigger issue. It seems Apple are dipping their toes in gingerly with this hardware release, even though it’s the fourth revision of the box. I would have loved to see them make the first App-store capable ATV a serious contender, a virtual F-U to everyone else out there in the set-top and casual gaming space.

      • I still think they’ll do very well because of the App store of course. And there’s always hope they take it to the next level once they see the promise and plethora of apps pushing its limits. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft shouldn’t be worried about this box, but they should be very worried about the approaching train behind it.

      • Soluble Apps - 9 years ago

        Remember they may be able to clock it higher as the device is larger, and can deal with heat more effectively than a mobile device.

      • bhayes444 - 9 years ago

        Yeah, I was a bit worried about the A8 announcement for the Apple TV. While the 2GB of RAM is a relief, and the fact that it is 4 generations newer than my current Apple TV, I really wish they would’ve pushed something out that will be setting the bar for a couple of years at least. I think Soluble Apps is right about the thermal threshold of the design. They probably didn’t throw the A9 in there because of price, but I was hoping they could put the A8X in that thing; but that may cross the thermal limit for the device. I just don’t want to see the Apple TV5 next year with am A9 or A10 and it be vastly superior to this… but that’s the way of tech.

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      I don’t understand why they wouldn’t keep the optical audio port considering the price hike is mostly for the remote and updated software.
      A9X CPU would have been amazing; would have been 4K capable, and a serious contender in the STB market…I don’t understand this, Apple could wipe Roku, Amazon, Google, and everyone else out of the STB market with their chips and software…They have the resources, they have the components, they have the power…but they just keep on with these ho-hum TV products. Oh well, considering how long it took them to add 1080p to the ATV, I won’t hold my breath waiting for 4K.

  8. Eric S. (@InspiredCode) - 9 years ago

    Probably usb-based ethernet

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      The USB port is a target port, not a host port like on your laptop etc. — it’s used to hard flash and update firmware and for initial programming from factory, just like the previous Apple TVs. It could probably be turned into a host port with jailbreak (maybe?) but it’s certainly not for plugging in a GigE to USB adapter.

      • Brandon Pamplin - 9 years ago

        I think he means that it’s internally connected via USB (probably USB 2.0 like in other iOS devices) and therefore wouldn’t support GigE. Kinda like the keyboard in modern MacBooks are USB keyboards, internally connected.

  9. scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

    No 4K for a device that Apple spent years developing and no A9 processor (that just came out) and it won’t wipe my butt for me either. Steve wouldn’t have let this happen.

    Sarcasm, this Apple TV kicks ass. The 64gb of internal storage is 4 times more than expected also.

  10. BounouGod (@BounouGod) - 9 years ago

    Curious to see if the iPad Mini 4 uses the same CPU, makes sense since it can do side by side apps like the Air 2

  11. MurphyMac (@murphymac) - 9 years ago

    Bluetooth headphones? I’d like that.

  12. Nick Cowell - 9 years ago

    Can you still stream your local Mac iTunes library videos to it or do you have to get Films and Videos form the iTunes store etc?

  13. Nothing is perfect for everyone. I’m very excited about owning the new apple TV – it really is a big change from the previous. Comment: I’m not a head phone user and can’t say that I understand it completely – Would the headphone be attached by cable to the box? If so, I would prefer a wireless option and it’s my guess that it’s coming soon by beats and others. Apple doesn’t make major changes without a plan in place – they are probably working on the software at this very moment.

  14. telecastle - 9 years ago

    Whatever happened to the integration with Sonos? Any rumors about that? The lack of the optical audio out port may very well mean that the native integration with Sonos is coming to this Apple TV (4?). Not only Sonos supporting AirPlay but also AppleTV supporting the Sonos protocol. Will Sonos come as an app to the Apple TV? Will Apple TV be about to send audio to Sonos speakers wirelessly? If so, there will be a compelling reason to purchase both Apple TV 4 and Sonos, and then get a gorgeous display (no need for built-in TV tuner or crappy built-in speakers) to connect to Apple TV.

  15. Can someone explain the use of the on board storage. I’m assuming we’ll be able to download content (movies, TV shows, music, etc…)? I would imagine some of the storage will be for apps.

  16. So, in fact the new Apple TV is an old Apple TV. No gigabit ethernetport, no optical audioport and no A9 chip. #bummer It seems like Apple TV was ready long time ago, but Apple decided to wait until… what? Until the deals with TV-broadcasters were made? Maybe they got tired waiting and want to sell their stock before it ages even more?

  17. Charles Lee - 9 years ago

    Guys, judging from this report Apple officially states that the 4th generation Apple TV (which uses an A8 chip) has 2GB of RAM. The iPad mini 4 does support split view in addition to slide over (check the bottom of the page of iOS 9 in Apple’s website). The iPad mini 4 also uses an A8 chip and you can see that split view does require at least 2GB of RAM (look at iPad Pro and iPad Air 2) so Apple has obviously reengineered the A8 to have 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB. If Apple TV A8 chip has 2GB RAM, that could only mean the iPad mini 4 will also have 2GB of RAM (for split view), which should be an identical chip to the one in the 4th generation Apple TV.
    On the other hand, Apple won’t be that stupid to reengineer a previous generation chip to have 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB, but put only 1GB in a new generation chip. Guys, I am very certain that A9 will have 2GB of RAM, and that is a good sign for me. Just upgrading the RAM is already good enough for me to upgrade my 6 Plus to 6s Plus. My experience in iPad Air 2 is really quite superior to my iPhone 6 Plus all thanks to that extra GB of RAM. I suppose the A9X could even have 4GB of RAM (according to Adobe’s claim and Apple’s subtle ‘double the memory bandwidth of A8X’). This looks to be a great line up of hardware.

  18. James Husted - 8 years ago

    New to this thread which appears 3 months old but I had to ad that I get my 5.1 surround from a old Airport Express I had laying around. The AppleTV will dream the audio to the Airport’s optical out. Works great.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.