Hello, I haven’t used zwift in a few years. It seems my 8 year old laptop doesn’t meet the specs any more and takes FOREVER to launch zwift. My question is this: do I buy a new laptop or new Apple TV ? I have a tv to use. My sensors are wahoo hrm, speed, and cadence sensors. My trainer is an old cyclops fluid trainer ( not smart). I don’t want to invest in a new trainer at this time. What is the best route to go…Apple TV or laptop? I have an iPhone to run the companion.
On the Zwift mobile app, perhaps casting it to your tv?
Do you need the laptop for other things, or is this just a platform to run Zwift?
Apple TV versus a crap laptop is a different question to a good laptop, or a gaming laptop, or a desktop. Need far more information;
Budget
Screen - you’ve mentioned a TV but what is it?
Expectations - are you just wanting the basics or a better graphical experience?
Existing devices - are they capable of broadcasting Bluetooth?
And so on
PS: chances are you just need to install an SSD to get over the loading times. £15.
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What’s the laptop? Dreadfully slow PC laptops can often be fixed by replacing a mechanical hard drive with a solid state drive, and those have become extremely cheap. Difficulty of the job depends on which laptop you have - some are easy, others not. A Windows 10 license is extremely cheap as well.
Unless you have a use for a new laptop other than Zwift, the Apple TV will be much cheaper. If you care about getting the best video quality in the game, an Apple TV won’t deliver that and a basic desktop PC with a cheap gaming GPU will. But many people are OK with the Apple TV quality.
If you want advice about the laptop or a desktop PC build, head over to this Facebook group and check out the Files section.
The CPU in the laptop doesn’t even meet minimum specs, and doesn’t even have Bluetooth, so I don’t think a drive will solve the dilemma. No other use for a laptop, but looking for best solution. Can I link my 3 sensors? I am reading that Apple TV has limited connections.
this is true, there are only 3 open connections for Apple TV and one is used by the remote. There are ways around it, by using the companion app to connect your 3 sensors. Which Wahoo speed/cadence sensor do you have? One of the models is a combined unit that I think would only use one channel?
Best video quality for the money, and no connection limits, will be a desktop PC that you assemble.
Least effort will be Apple TV.
Lowest price might still be your existing laptop. Depending on which CPU it has, it might be OK with an SSD and a $15 Bluetooth dongle. Zwift’s published hardware requirements do not tell the whole story.
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I have the individual ones that I use with my wahoo element bolt. One on rear hub, one on left shoe and HRM. So if I connect them through my phone, which I think is how it’s working now, that would work with the Apple TV?
yes, this would use your wifi network, so as long as that is a good strong signal it should work.
Wi-Fi is good in that area, so it sounds like I may be successful with the Apple TV. Any other limitations I should know about?
Graphics are lowest quality, hard to use remote, no external keyboard for shortcuts and messaging… I’m sure there are more.
Currently updates to the game are breaking for many Apple TV users. New features (such as the home screen) came to Apple TV last, months after most other platforms. Apple TV does not seem to be a top priority for Zwift development, but it has been improving.
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Why not run Swift on your iPhone you could always get an HTMI adapter to your larger monitor