What you see before you is the third-generation Apple TV 4K. Apple released it in 2022 and, well, it’s still here. But this Apple has a long shelf life, a lot longer than their organic, real-life counterparts that seem to go bad between the time I buy the groceries and the time when I unpack them, because the Apple TV 4K (3rd gen) hasn’t gone rotten in the three and a half years that it’s been on the market.

In fact it’s nearly as fresh as the day it fell off the Apple tree. The Apple TV 4K is still the fastest streaming device on the market, bar none.

Cough, fastest at emptying your wallet…

Apple TV 4K: What you need to know if you don’t want to read this full review

The Apple TV 4K is blisteringly fast. Of all the streaming devices I’ve ever used, it’s the fastest. It’s downright telepathic. Actions on screen seem to happen at the very instant I’d press a button on the Apple TV 4K’s beautifully sculpted bare aluminum remote. And it’s a slickly designed interface, if a bit clinically soulless and more obtuse to navigate than Roku’s. It’s a very expensive device, though, at twice what the nearly-as-fast Roku Ultra 4K costs. So how much do you love that Apple design and speed? Enough to pay over a hundred bucks for it?

how i tested

Like I did with all streaming devices I tested, I hooked the Apple TV 4K up to a TCL QM7, a 55-inch 4K TV with support for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision; it’s the immediate predecessor of the TCL QM7K. I paired it with a Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar (via the TCL’s HDMI eARC port) and Sonos Sub 4 subwoofer. The same high-speed Verizon FIOS fiber-optic internet was used for the internet connection on all devices. Then I got to watching a bunch of films and shows in 4K to see how it performed.

so friggin’ fast

Using the Apple TV 4K, holding its gorgeously manufactured but uncomfortable remote in my hand, I let a thought run across my mind: “This must be the closest feeling to having one of those sci-fi, telepathic brain chips implanted in my head.” Every deliciously crisp click of the remote’s button zapped a near instantaneous input to the TV.

It may be easy to dismiss the speed of menu navigation on a streaming device as beside the point, a sideshow from what really matters: speed while streaming. But you’ll spend a lot of time navigating through menus. Every time you fire up your TV, in fact. Even just a slight delay saved each time you press a button or scroll through a home screen adds up to a major savings in annoyance and time when you multiply it by tens of thousands of times over the lifetime of the device.

I tested the Apple TV 4K with 128 GB of built-in storage. That’s a lot of room for apps, games, and data, and I wouldn’t come close to storing that much on a streaming device. But it does come with an Ethernet port, which the 64 GB version doesn’t have. Even over WiFi the Apple TV 4K had no problem streaming anything and everything at 4K resolution. No lag, no stuttering. At no point did the video resolution drop to 1080p or 720p. Even nearing four years old, the processor is more than up to streaming in the highest quality.

I prefer the Roku’s interface. It’s more playful, what with its Easter eggs sprawled all out over the fictional Roku City that scrolls through the background. And it’s easier to navigate, even if Roku peppers in a few advertisements. But Apple TV’s user interface (UI) isn’t far behind the Roku’s. It’s fairly pleasant to use, and I prefer it to Amazon’s Fire TV because it requires fewer button presses to get where I want to go.

the apple tv 4k at a glance

The Apple TV 4K is available in two flavors: expensive and more expensive. The 64 GB model retails for $129. You only get the WiFi connection. There’s also a 128 GB model that sells for $149. This one has WiFi, but it also includes an Ethernet port for those who prefer a wired internet connection and don’t want to worry about WiFi’s potentially oscillating speeds and unsteady signal strength.

Other than the doubling of internal storage, which is useful for loading up on apps and games, the hardware, software, and experience of the two models are identical. Both are about twice as much my overall top pick in the TV streaming device space, the Roku Ultra 4K.

does it sync with apple devices nicely?

Well, it syncs with Apple HomePod, which is Apple’s also-ran competition for Google Home and Amazon Echo devices, but the question is why would you want to? I’m not a Siri hater. I just shake my head that Apple let itself fall so far behind the two behemoths in the smart home space. Apple’s partnerships with other TV brands, which brought HomeKit (Apple’s smart home brand) and AirPlay to other devices, have diluted the Apple TV 4K’s once somewhat unique syncing features. It just doesn’t offer anything particularly special in that regard anymore.

From iPhones to AirPods to Apple Watches, one of the unifying threads of shelling out big bucks for Apple hardware is how seamlessly various pieces sync with each into the Apple ecosystem. But the Apple TV 4K doesn’t need to sync with these disparate Apple products. It just needs to plug into your TV, and so it’s kind of a moot point. Buy the Apple TV 4K if its speed and Apple aesthetic, both in its hardware and software interface, moves you, not because it has any special abilities to sync with any particular device.

the bottom line

The Apple TV 4K is for speed demons, people who love Apple’s stripped-down and clean aesthetic in both hardware design and software UI. Unlike with Amazon’s Fire TV, Roku, and Google TV, no TV comes with Apple TV built into it. The one way to experience the Apple TV ecosystem is to buy into it with an Apple TV 4K streaming box. That means that the only people likely to have one are Apple diehards and those who value speed above all else. But once you get over the price tag, the satisfaction of such an oily slick, smooth, and quick experience becomes more than a bit seductive.