Deals: Amazon's Pre-Black Friday Sales Continue With $29 Off Apple Pencil 2, $10 Off Apple TV 4K, and More

The Apple TV may be the best product Apple makes. Sure, it doesn’t perform as many tasks as an iPhone or Mac, but it does exactly what it’s built to do without issues. The UI is intuitive for all ages. And despite feeling like a premium product it’s priced low enough that it makes a great gift.

Roku is laggy, riddled with ads, and is one day going to lose one of their many contract disputes. Apple TV has none of these problems. I felt the same way you did, and one day bought one (at this sale price) on a whim to see for myself, sure I’d be returning it.

I used it, and was so impressed I bought another one to go on our cheap small Roku TV with Samsung soundbar that requires a separate remote. That tv was laggy to the point lips frequently got out of sync. The Apple TV was able to learn the codes for the sound bar so now we have one remote and a much better experience. No lag at all, apps load and content plays basically instantly. Even the volume coming out of the exact same sound bar with the same tv connection is louder and richer.

Current generation Rokus are not laggy, but older Rokus and probably some Roku TVs don't have the CPU power to keep up with updates to the OS. However, the cost of updating is a new $29 device every few years (you can always get a current generation model for that price around the holidays). The current generation also have a volume control on the remote which works great for my TVs. I agree that ads on the homescreen and in the screen savers is not preferred, but they are not intrusive and given that most time is spent inside specific apps where there are no ads I think the tradeoff of the cheaper device is totally worth it.

For example, for one TV I have purchased 3 Rokus across roughly... 10? years. Each one around the holidays for between $20-$40. Let's round up and say I paid $40 for each, that's $120 for 10 years of streaming for a single TV. I still have TWO more upgrades (and likely 6 more years) before I even hit the price of a single Apple TV.

I'm willing to pay more for a better experience, but I've been very happy with the Roku experience and especially since they added AirPlay to most models (as a free software update no less).

Anyway, not trying to diss anyone who prefers Apple TV - paying more for a better experience is literally what Apple does, so I suppose at some level this is like arguing about how a $500 Windows laptop is a way better deal than a $2500 MBP. It's just that in this case the tradeoffs are minimal, so it's clearly the right choice for myself (and probably many others).

What ads?

We watch Netflix, Prime, Discovery+, etc and do not see any ads.

We have two TVs that have Apple TV alongside Roku and we use the Roku 99% of time. Even watch AppleTV+ on the Roku

It's in the menus, screen savers, and remote.

Current generation Rokus are not laggy, but older Rokus and probably some Roku TVs don't have the CPU power to keep up with updates to the OS. However, the cost of updating is a new $29 device every few years (you can always get a current generation model for that price around the holidays). The current generation also have a volume control on the remote which works great for my TVs. I agree that ads on the homescreen and in the screen savers is not preferred, but they are not intrusive and given that most time is spent inside specific apps where there are no ads I think the tradeoff of the cheaper device is totally worth it.

For example, for one TV I have purchased 3 Rokus across roughly... 10? years. Each one around the holidays for between $20-$40. Let's round up and say I paid $40 for each, that's $120 for 10 years of streaming for a single TV. I still have TWO more upgrades (and likely 6 more years) before I even hit the price of a single Apple TV.

I'm willing to pay more for a better experience, but I've been very happy with the Roku experience and especially since they added AirPlay to most models (as a free software update no less).

Anyway, not trying to diss anyone who prefers Apple TV - paying more for a better experience is literally what Apple does, so I suppose at some level this is like arguing about how a $500 Windows laptop is a way better deal than a $2500 MBP. It's just that in this case the tradeoffs are minimal, so it's clearly the right choice for myself (and probably many others).

I think you nailed it in the last paragraph. Also we have a Roku TV and while the TV is fine, it’s underpowered for the software and the roku remote couldn’t learn the soundbar. The Apple TV fixed all its problems.

I want to like it, but given that Roku Streaming Stick 4K has Airplay and Apple TV (and all the other apps of course) for $29 right now, I find the Apple TV to be just too overpriced for what it offers. And that's coming from someone who just bought the new M1 Macbook Pro 16 and is all-in on the Apple ecosystem otherwise. Maybe someone who has owned both can explain what features or value the Apple TV offers because I really don't see it.

Roku is laggy, riddled with ads, and is one day going to lose one of their many contract disputes. Apple TV has none of these problems. I felt the same way you did, and one day bought one (at this sale price) on a whim to see for myself, sure I’d be returning it.

I used it, and was so impressed I bought another one to go on our cheap small Roku TV with Samsung soundbar that requires a separate remote. That tv was laggy to the point lips frequently got out of sync. The Apple TV was able to learn the codes for the sound bar so now we have one remote and a much better experience. No lag at all, apps load and content plays basically instantly. Even the volume coming out of the exact same sound bar with the same tv connection is louder and richer.

What ads?

We watch Netflix, Prime, Discovery+, etc and do not see any ads.

We have two TVs that have Apple TV alongside Roku and we use the Roku 99% of time. Even watch AppleTV+ on the Roku

Ads on the Roku home screen. On the right side when you're scrolling through your apps.