[NW_Mike]

As far as Apple TV heat goes, clearly if there was ever a great application for SSD this is it. Power supplies do get warm and I can't help but wonder why Apple could not have included a very small fan to draw heat out. Heat rises and there are no openings on the top Apple TV, like say the old G4 Cube.

[mosley]

Quite correct and I should have written "sleep" instead of "off". I assume you have have tested the power consumption in "sleep" and when "on"? But the basic question remains: why does the Apple TV give off so much heat in "sleep" and when fully operational? I struggle to think of another electrical component that gives off as much heat, except a toaster! Someone is paying for that.

[folklore]

mosley said:

Can someone explain why the thing gets so damned HOT?!!

That's how it was designed. It was a purposeful design decision.

The AppleTV is fanless. That's good for at least two reasons: 1) Fans are loud; 2) Fan bearings eventually break. I imagine it was the noise issue that made Apple design it that way, however. As an A/V device, the thing has to be dead silent. But it still generates heat. So Apple's design allows for convective heat dissipation. The chassis is basically one big heat sink.

The downside is that the AppleTV will always be hot to the touch. That wouldn't be a problem, except that I have to unplug mine about once every two weeks to restart it.

[mosley]

I can sort of understand it getting hot in operation with no fan and accessing the internal hard drive but none of my other components get even warm in "Sleep" mode so what's so different about the Apple TV?

[folklore]

I haven't put a meter on it to see how much power the AppleTV draws. But my guess is that putting it to "sleep" doesn't matter a bit.

The AppleTV never really "sleeps" in the sense that Macs do. Macs enter a low-power consumption state (sleep). The AppleTV simply outputs black video when it's put to "sleep." It does not actually enter a low-power state. At least that's the way it appears. Perhaps other more technical people can here can confirm that.

[mosley]

Thanks folklore. Finally I am getting nearer to the truth that no one has properly explained. Over here in Europe we are paying astronomical prices for energy and something that seems to draw the same amount of power on and in "sleep" mode is not good. I'm surprised Greenpeace haven't jumped all over Apple on this issue! In my case I pull the power cord out but then of course I have to go through the start up process again when I plug it back in with accompanying fancy graphics so, for a totally different reason to previous posts, the Apple TV is a pain because it takes too long to get going once I power it up.

[folklore]

Mosley, you got me wondering...

A quick Googling turned up this page where someone actually has put a meter on the AppleTV. There's no difference in power consumption when in "sleep" mode, and that page further confirms that the traditional Mac sleep functionality has been disabled on the AppleTV.

[NW_Mike]

"the Apple TV is a pain because it takes too long to get going once I power it up."

As much as I like the start-up 'show,' it is getting really old. I am assuming that the Apple TV takes so long to 'turn on' because it is essentially a scaled down OS X system.

[smax013]

mosley said:

Thanks folklore. Finally I am getting nearer to the truth that no one has properly explained. Over here in Europe we are paying astronomical prices for energy and something that seems to draw the same amount of power on and in "sleep" mode is not good. I'm surprised Greenpeace haven't jumped all over Apple on this issue! In my case I pull the power cord out but then of course I have to go through the start up process again when I plug it back in with accompanying fancy graphics so, for a totally different reason to previous posts, the Apple TV is a pain because it takes too long to get going once I power it up.

I am guessing that the lack of true sleep mode has to do with the syncing functionality. Kind of hard to sync when it is sleeping.

[smax013]

AntiGrave said:

I love my Apple TV. But it functions too much like a computer and not a part of my AV set-up that anyone can use.

Ummm...that is because it IS a computer at heart. This is also true of a DVR or a smartphone like a Blackberry or iPhone...or even something like an iPod. Face it, a lot of these devices that we use in today's world are MUCH more complicated than a simple tape player or radio. Most of these devices are little computers running some sort of operating system and user interface. And as such, they WILL suffer from glitches, bugs, and flaws. I have yet to encounter a computer that works perfectly all the time.



And I will note that even a more simple device like a DVD player can suffer from issues. Everyonce and a while, I encounter a commercial DVD that seems to be in good condition (i.e. free of scratches) the one or more of my DVD players just does NOT like (and no, it was not because it was something other than a Region 1 DVD or was a PAL DVD).



And I would bet you $50 that most people that I know would have a WAY easier time figuring out how to use my AppleTV than my AV receiver (other than maybe real basic stuff). Heck, my Mom is scared to death of my whole AV setup period...but would have little trouble learning to use the AppleTV. Now, I agree that if there are problems with the AppleTV, then she would be lost...but then the same would be true of my VCRs, my DVR, my TV, my receiver, and my DVD player.

[folklore]

smax013 said:

I am guessing that the lack of true sleep mode has to do with the syncing functionality. Kind of hard to sync when it is sleeping.

Perhaps. But the AppleTV runs OS X, right?

OS X already has the capability to set power on and wake schedules (although admittedly not complex schedules). The AppleTV could be configured to wake up every to check for updates, probably without much effort on the part of Apple. And while wireless connections couldn't do so, wired connections could be configured to wake on an attempted sync from iTunes.

All of that would take programming effort from Apple, but not a herculean effort, since the underlying technology is certainly there.

It may be that the AppleTV just doesn't draw that much power to make such things worth it to Apple in terms of the complexity they would bring to the box. At 14-15 watts, the AppleTV isn't exactly power-hungry - the average LCD TV uses about 15 times as much power.

[NW_Mike]

So, as far as cost goes, 14 watts of power @ 24 hours per day will be on average .03 per day.

Doesn't seem bad to me...

[smax013]

folklore said:

Perhaps. But the AppleTV runs OS X, right?

OS X already has the capability to set power on and wake schedules (although admittedly not complex schedules). The AppleTV could be configured to wake up every <insert time period here> to check for updates, probably without much effort on the part of Apple. And while wireless connections couldn't do so, wired connections could be configured to wake on an attempted sync from iTunes.

All of that would take programming effort from Apple, but not a herculean effort, since the underlying technology is certainly there.

It may be that the AppleTV just doesn't draw that much power to make such things worth it to Apple in terms of the complexity they would bring to the box. At 14-15 watts, the AppleTV isn't exactly power-hungry - the average LCD TV uses about 15 times as much power.

Since you asked so nicely (what you don't remember asking, you say...you really should pay attention to what you do! ;) ), I run my AppleTV (160 GB version connected with HDMI) through my Kill-a-Watt meter. It was averaging about 20 watts. Peak was 21 watts when I fast forwarded through a movie. Did not test it while it was actively syncing with the computer, but did test it when it was downloading and playing an HD movie trailer.



And yes, it is basically running Mac OS X, but I suspect that your last supposition (i.e. that it draws so little power overall that Apple did deem it worth worrying about a power saver mode similar to full sleep mode on a computer) is probably on point.

[folklore]

Thanks for posting your power results - it always helps to have multiple measures of such things. FWIW, I think the 15 watt figure was when the AppleTV was idle, which is when it would be sleeping (if it could).