Man Plus Machine

The first (at least to my knowledge) review of AppleTV is ready. It’s Walter S. Mossberg from Wall Street Journal who got his hands on one of these babies.

Bottom line, AppleTV is a very nice product. It’s very easy to setup and use and it works perfectly in general (also with a slower, non-802.11n wireless network). You can share everything from iTunes to an AppleTV from up to five other computers in your home network. Both macs and Windows machines are supported - although running this kind of equipment along with Windows is for dumb people ;) It can also show your photos, although these have to be synchronized before showing up on the AppleTV - no streaming.

On the downside, the AppleTV has a few limitations. For instance, the device cannot access the internet directly (as of now). It must synchronize its content with one or more of the computers in your local network. According to Mossberg’s speculations, Apple will release a patch to open up for this capability in the future, but this is only speculations. Also, you need a widescreen TV to use AppleTV. It won’t work with older 4:3 TVs and has problems with some older widescreen TVs.

Though limited, the AppleTV is a fine product. Actually, Mossberg sums up in one paragraph, why the AppleTV is good and not just an expensive paper weight:

“Part of the secret of Apple TV is that, like most of Apple’s products, it doesn’t try to do everything and thus become a mess of complexity. It can’t receive or record cable or satellite TV, so it isn’t meant as a replacement for your cable or satellite box, or for a digital video recorder like a TiVo. It can’t play DVDs, so it doesn’t replace your DVD player. Its sole function is to bring to the TV digital content stored on your computer or drawn from the Internet. Like a DVD player, it uses its own separate input on your TV set, and you have to change inputs using your TV remote to use it.”

Read the whole review on the Mossberg Solution at the Wall Street Journal homepage.

I look forward to more reviews from other sources to see if this is the general attitude towards Apple’s newest member of the product line.