With the new 2026 Apple TV 4K reportedly set to launch on October 30th, the first-generation Apple TV 4K is now “vintage”, meaning it’s been 5 years since it was last on-sale in 2021. I picked one up in November 2019 to go along with my HiSense TV to have a better TV streaming experience, for AirPlay display mirroring, and to keep the HiSense TV off the internet entirely.
Over the last 7 years it became integral to my living space, and later on my computer desk when I started dual-purposing the 4K TV as a computer monitor as well. It’s been one of my favorite devices, so much so I never thought about replacing it.
What sparked the idea then
I saw one of these in action at a Best Buy and a Micro Center, but what really sold me was seeing how responsive the interface was interacting with one, reminding me tvOS is ultimately based on macOS. Since you could AirPlay to these and connect Gigabit Ethernet, I was also thinking about playing some Mac games on the big screen.
At the time this made alot of sense too; before the HiSense TV I’d use a Google Chromecast Gen 1, and before even that, I was straight up connecting Macs to TVs and dragging windows onto them for years. Wanting to have the responsiveness of a Mac for convenient video streaming but without the energy consumption of a full intel Mac, I barely knew these existed until I got one. Now I wouldn’t have a TV setup without it.
I wasn’t ever the type to download games or apps other than streaming services on here, but enjoy the occasional Mario Party 4 or Luigi’s Mansion for GameCube via Dolphin, which I’d AirPlay over from a Mac and use a wireless 8BitDo controller for.
Originally I was a slight fan of the remote since it had a touchpad, but it wasn’t the most comfortable to hold and was sometimes glitchy. Between 2022-24 there would be weeks-long chunks of time where this Apple remote would play dead even while being charged, sporadically click buttons, raise the volume all the way up, lock up, or it would act like a ghost was using the remote. Almost wanted to throw it out and buy the new Siri Remote. I kinda just lived with it, and these days it acts rather normal. Never dropped, sat on, no liquid damage or anything.
Now in 2026
My Apple TV 4K Gen 1 remains fast even on tvOS 26, though I’m already noticing a difference with graphical animations on this A10X-powered 4K versus a newer A15 Bionic-powered 3rd-gen 4K an acquaintance has. The first-gen 4K doesn’t lag much behind with animation speed, but when it comes to loading an app/wait times, it will take a few seconds or longer to load versus the newer iterations.
I believe the Apple TV 4K will have value as a steaming box for many years to come, long after they’re obsolete (7 years since last sold by Apple), as it still provides a responsive, upgraded TV experience. The 4th-gen will reportedly have an A19 or an A19 Pro, which will absolutely make the UI feel like a Lamborghini.