All the TVs people I know purchased in 2015 are also 4K sets.
The price differential is minimal.
This will be a relatively quick transition.
I'm an apple partisan myself, but I'm not going to call 4K irrelevant just because Apple doesn't make a 4K streamer right now.
My stepmom bought a 4K TV recently, and the price is coming down. I think from Apple's perspective, however, the issue is the content hasn't caught up with the hardware. The linch pin is 4K content uses a lot of bandwidth. Most internet services supplying data to devices like the Apple TV have tethering data caps. Often when I use Netflix it down sizes the quality because the data capacity of my service provider doesn't always keep up.
Tv companies market 4K to sell more sets, but that doesn't mean the content infrastructure is close to supporting it in any meaningful way. 4K TVs use algorithms to display non 4K content as 4K. That is t true 4K though. Why should Apple rush to support 4K on its streaming devices, when there is very little support from content and service providers?
Look at how 3D sets and Blue Ray were the marketed next big things. Plenty of 3D sets were sold, but there is little 3D party support, and blue ray never gained the steam traditional DVDs did.
Apple probably is also concerned about the performance of AirPlay, and bottlenecks in streaming 4K content from its devices to the Apple TV. For most people the experience would not be good.
I don't know what it's like in the US but 100Mbps is the average speed here in Switzerland now, 20Mbps for the real budget minded or prepaid crowd. With many opting for fiber now, myself included as we have one of the fastest growing infrastructures in the world for it. There are now only a few places that can't get it yet. Which still has it's downsides as their tearing up all of our streets to install it, I hate traffic.
Well Switzerland is a tiny country. The average speed in the U.S. is well under 10mbps. Moreover caps in data usage are becoming common. 4K streaming is not even close to being ready for rollout. There are so many issues, the most important being the cloud surrounding h.265. If you want 4K now get something else.
I assume that I'll be able to just walk into a store and buy one next week?
Yes I was wondering this. Apple themselves couldn't say when I spoke to them.
Never suggested anything about constraints; just, like the original poster, wondered whether I could walk into a shop and get one Monday or if they'd be order only then and in store at a later date. Apple UK couldn't answer that.
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My stepmom bought a 4K TV recently, and the price is coming down. I think from Apple's perspective, however, the issue is the content hasn't caught up with the hardware. The linch pin is 4K content uses a lot of bandwidth. Most internet services supplying data to devices like the Apple TV have tethering data caps. Often when I use Netflix it down sizes the quality because the data capacity of my service provider doesn't always keep up.
Tv companies market 4K to sell more sets, but that doesn't mean the content infrastructure is close to supporting it in any meaningful way. 4K TVs use algorithms to display non 4K content as 4K. That is t true 4K though. Why should Apple rush to support 4K on its streaming devices, when there is very little support from content and service providers?
Look at how 3D sets and Blue Ray were the marketed next big things. Plenty of 3D sets were sold, but there is little 3D party support, and blue ray never gained the steam traditional DVDs did.
Apple probably is also concerned about the performance of AirPlay, and bottlenecks in streaming 4K content from its devices to the Apple TV. For most people the experience would not be good.
Apple knows what it is doing.
Well Switzerland is a tiny country. The average speed in the U.S. is well under 10mbps. Moreover caps in data usage are becoming common. 4K streaming is not even close to being ready for rollout. There are so many issues, the most important being the cloud surrounding h.265. If you want 4K now get something else.
Never suggested anything about constraints; just, like the original poster, wondered whether I could walk into a shop and get one Monday or if they'd be order only then and in store at a later date. Apple UK couldn't answer that.