KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — A new Apple TV box was a surprise addition to Apple’s line-up last year considering their last set top box was fairly recent.

You get two choices, one with an ethernet port and the other without but the extra RM100 for ethernet support also gets you double the storage.

If you think you need 128GB storage as opposed to 64GB on the Wi-Fi only model, then paying the small increase could be worth it especially if you have a lot of apps.

Otherwise the models all come with a new A15 Bionic Chip, support for HDMI 2.2, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 as well as infrared support for the remote.

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Speaking of the remote, Apple has long given up on making the remote a game controller and instead it’s about USB-C charging and a nice comfortable feel in the hand.

The smaller size does, however, mean if you’re prone to losing remotes this will be even easier to misplace—though I get around that by having a dedicated remote box where all the remotes go.

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Apple TVs have gotten cheaper over the years but they have also seen a nice upgrade in specs.

The A15 Bionic Chip means that unlike Android equivalents, you can actually run more intensive apps as well as games, whether from the App Store or Apple’s own Arcade service.

What’s also interesting is that only this newer set top box supports the new Sing feature on Apple Music that lets you turn down the vocals on songs for a karaoke-like experience.

I say karaoke-like because while you can turn down the vocal volume on tracks, you can’t do things that dedicated karaoke devices can do such as change the key of the song.

Still it’s a nice extra with the service that adds a bit more value to the Apple Music as well as the Apple TV box.

Best box for Apple things

If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem this is the best set top box to get if you don’t already have one.

It wouldn’t even be worth getting older models, even secondhand, as this one will last you years while costing less than the earlier models.

Now if you’re an Android phone user, the new Apple TV is a harder sell.

An iPhone user can calibrate the TV display but you don’t get that with an Android, plus you can get cheaper, smaller, more portable alternatives.

Still, even if you could argue this is a more iterative update (in the style of iterative Apple updates) it’s still enough of a step up from the last one to make the newer model the best choice, price and features-wise.

The new Apple TV 4K is available now at retailers and online for RM699 and RM799 for the non-Ethernet and Ethernet models respectively.